Ruger Alaskan

[Marine Cpl]

I know how much you love shotguns. Be a man and carry this in bear country sir. Leave the intermediate cartridges home.

Nah. That's outdated technology with hardly a hundred yards of range and no MOA to speak of. There's a video somewhere called the "Evolution of the Rifle" or something like that showing the early musket evolving into Rifled Bullets through a Smoothbore, and later the Rifled Barrel. I'll take a Rifled Barrel any day.

If be better served with a .458 Socom if I wanted something heavy.

 

[ECU Pirates]

Nah. That's outdated technology with hardly a hundred yards of range and no MOA to speak of. There's a video somewhere called the "Evolution of the Rifle" or something like that showing the early musket evolving into Rifled Bullets through a Smoothbore, and later the Rifled Barrel. I'll take a Rifled Barrel any day.

If be better served with a .458 Socom if I wanted something heavy.

Because range and MOA are important when defending against a large charging bear haha

 

[Marine Cpl]

Because range and MOA are important when defending against a large charging bear haha

Um. Yes. If you had a .300 Win Magnum in the woods, would you deliberately do something to the barrel to decrease it's accuracy?

 

[meketrefe]

The 44 mag came into the discussion because the inteded thread was around Ruger Alaskan / revolvers .
Of course many long guns are going to provide a lot more punch and accuracy but I think
the objective of the OP is for a side firearm. There are many tasks done in the woods like installing
a fence, cutting trees, etc.. where one might have to put the rifle aside and a side arm might give
faster access to adequate defense.
IMO talking about guns and calibers w/o a context and considering all circumstances and needs is
a bit arbitrary. Also w/o concentrating in specific bullets can become meaningless because in the
end there are many calibers capable of putting the same or similar bullets or on the target.
The bullet, speed at impact, consistency and terminal behavior are more important than calibers
and firearms. Everything starts and ends with a bullet, hopefully a good one.
The rest is just the means of delivery and how we are getting the mail to the destination.
Perhaps it would be a good thing to open another thread to discuss some of the calibers and
then talk about rifle options including the 30 caliber "fetish".
I am saying this just because this is deviating a bit from the revolvers and predator defense loads.
Whatever you guys think is best.

 

[meketrefe]

Um. Yes. If you had a .300 Win Magnum in the woods, would you deliberately do something to the barrel to decrease it's accuracy?

The win mag is brutal no doubt. I think in many situations other slower calibers with higher grain are preferred because
they are also brutal and they minimize the possibility of bullet deflection when hitting small branches and brush.
The 308w tops at 180gr. the 30-06 at 200gr so that is why the corresponding offspring like the 358 winchester
and 35 whelen are preferred with 225gr to 250gr bullets. Same capacity but able to move more grain much better
at the distances people normally hunt. Similar way why the 338 win mag became the first choice among Grizzly hunters.
More grains is preferred in order to hunt with authority. A lot of guides will not let parties shoot with anything smaller.

you see, the most deadly bullets for rifle probably land on the 338, 35(358) and 375 that still have decent ballistics,
have a good assortment of hunting bullets, and already provide enough grain to tackle the largest animals on the planet.
There is nothing on the planet one cannot hunt with a simple 375 RUM or the 35-300 RUM cat.
When approaching the largest most dangerous game there are other considerations one will not
normally have with other game.
Of course the .416 and 50 calibers provide good options too but then the selection of premium bullets is very restricted
and they are really designed for super large cases and exclusive cases and actions like 378 Weatherby, 416 Rigby and BMG derivates.

I think this is a whole new discussion like I mentioned before.

 

[ECU Pirates]

They still make factory 220 gr for the 30-06. In my
Opinion it's a great one rifle for almost everything.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[meketrefe]

220gr are popular in Europe but they are a tad too heavy for the 30.06 and therefore slow. They
are of course serious rounds and reliable bullets but have some shortcomings.
They are round nose so also overall length is not a problem but they come out too slow and can be problematic
at extended ranges (poor trajectories). That is why ammo manufactures rely on the flatter shooting 180gr premium/bonded
bullets for their best 30-06 offerings.

This is also the reason why the 358 Winchester as well as the 35 whelen became so popular because they can be
reloaded with the same cases simply necked up to take the heavier 35 caliber. Very simple, accurate and reliable fast killers
yet still a lot more economic for practice than the 375 and 416 alternatives.

Just to give you an idea the 358w (308 necked up) can launch a 225gr bullet 100-150fps faster than the 30-06 can launch a 220gr one
and with better ballistics and more frontal section they are favorites for heavy game in brush country.
Same thing with the whelen that can propel the 225gr bullets to even faster speeds than some popular 30-06 180gr loads.
you also have 250gr 300fps faster than a 220gr 30-06 and even 310gr for the whelen that are barely a few fps slower than the 220gr in the 30-06. 35 caliber 280gr-310gr need 1:11-12 twist though.

Of course the 30-06, as well as the 308w are very capable and very popular due to versatility and availability but I am trying
to explain other simple, popular and more lethal choices vs. getting into the heavy-for-caliber rounds.

 

[Tinman]

I have the Alaskan in .454 / .45 colt. It is a fun gun to shoot. I got it because I have other handguns and a rifle that shoots .45 colt. The recoil with .45 is very tame. The recoil with 454 casull is pretty stout. Still a real hoot to shoot. Nothing like carrying a revolver with 6 rounds of 300 gr. hollow points. I got mine just because I liked it. Sure no need for it.