Advice on hunting rifle to purchase? Something that takes rimfire (inexpensive ammo) Can take down Grizz.?

Question

Newbie to guns and planning a 3 month wilderness trip up into and deep into the ALASKA Yukon. Trip is planned for next summer. That gives me lots of time to practice and understand the gun I purchase. I want something that is inexpensive, has good stopping power, enough to take down a grizzly. Ammo must be cheap. Easy on the recoil.

Also, if you could comment on a shotgun / rifle. An all in one. Would this be a better road to go down with my purchase?

Answer 1

there is no such thing as a rimfire round that will stop a grizzly you would just piss him off even more. For a handgun i would recomend a .44 magnum at minimum the new S&W .500 would be much better tho. As for a rifle dont you dare go any smaller than a .30-06 if i were you i would carry a winchester .300 magnum. Man I live in Alaska and i know how big and powerful these bears are. Seriously have you seen one? average grizzly bear is about 10 to 12 feet tall. Please dont be stupid and go out in the woods up here with a little pea shooter, take a real gun that can stop a bear because your life depends on it. It wont be a cheap gun the ammo is kinda spendy and it will have a kick to it but the expense is well worth your life.

Answer 2

what you are asking for isnt posible..sorry

a lot of the answers above are good and some aren't..
That being said here's my 2cents..

I wouldnt get any of the "magnus" if cost is a concern..the rifles are expensive and the ammo is expensive.Even 30-06 and 308 are somewhat expensive, when compaired to the m-44.the m-44 is a mosin nagant carbine that is chambered for the 7.62x54r cartridge. The 7.62 is more powerfull than a 30-06 or 308 and ammo is cheap along with rifle.
here's what i would do. First buy an m-44 and lighten it up..remove bayonet and maybe cut down the handguard. Then buy 250 rounds of surplus ammo(about $30) and get comfortable with shooting it.Then when you go on your trip load it with 185 grain ball ammo and 180 grain soft points alternating each round. the whole package (ammo and rifle) should be $100 to $140, you may also want a rubber pad for the recoil, but all the powerfull chamberings have recoil.
All of what i stated is if you are wanting an inexpensive "insurance" weapon, my choices would be different if i was HUNTING bear.
-k

Answer 3

If I were to go on a wilderness trip to alaska I would want at least a 30-06 or a .308, but most likely I would take something in .375, or 458. Cheap ammo is not an option here and you're looking at spending a minimun of 600 for the gun. Buy it early and use it alot, but as it doesn't sound like you hand load, you will be paying around 20.00 for 20 shots. Shoot a minimun of 500 from varing ranges until you are competant. I would also recomend a dependable .45 cal sidearm (pistol) to take with you. When your talking about bears the most important thing is not the power behind the cartridge, but the size of the shell you are throwing at it, and how much it will mushroom when it hits. Bigger is better in this case. Good Luck

Answer 4

Assuming you are serious, nothing rimfire is adequate for the Yukon. Believe me, your life is more important than saving money on ammo.

Absolute minimum, the .308 Winchester which will shoot 7.62x51 NATO military surplus ammo which will be cheap enough. A .30-06 Springfield is even better. Both will have noticeable recoil, but hey, its your life.

A 12 gauge with slugs would be good, or at least buck shot, but slugs are better. If you can find an old Savage over and under 12 gauge/.30-30 Winchester combo you'll be doing good. Remember, this should not be your primary rifle. Go with the .308 or .30-06. You might also consider a minimum handgun of at least a .357 Magnum, but a .44 Mag or a .10mm would be even better.

Good luck!

H

Answer 5

There are several points to carefully consider here.

First, you are a self-professed newbie to firearms. Since you have a year till your trip, you have enough time to become well acquianted with basic firearms safety and operation so that you are not a danger to yourself or the others in your group. Whichever firearms(s) you opt to purchase, you should practice at a local firing range with an experienced instructor. Should this not be readily available to you due to your location, ask your local police department for the names of local certified handgun instructors. These people will usually instruct you for a nominal fee.

Second, rimfire ammo is only used in small caliber firearms, suitable for squirrel hunting and the like. Your requirements will require centerfire ammo for a larger caliber rifle.

Thirdly, a shotgun/rifle combo is not recommended. Although several companies make such a weapon, it's the hunting equivalent of "half-baked" for your needs. You need a weapon dedicated to one form of ammunition or another, and one that does the job well.

Fourthly, it would be highly unreasonable and dangerous to intentionally hunt a bear on your first ever hunting trip of any kind. Add to this your inexperience with the surrounding terrain. Perhaps you should consider focusing on merely enjoying the trip? Even should you take this option though, it would be wise to go armed, obviously.

When it's all said and done, here's the deal...

Taking into consideration all the complications listed above, your best bet is to purchase a new (or used) AK-47 semi-auto assault rifle for $300 to $500. The Kalashnikov AK-47 (and all variants) is specifically designed to work "loosely" with regards to internal component interaction. It's made to shoot the cheapest, dirtiest ammunition under the harshest conditions with little to no failure rate. At most, from time to time you will want to remove the charging handle/gas piston assembly along with the recoil spring and wipe them clean with a cotton rag. Then, you should apply a thin spritzing of RemOil (made by Remington, contains Teflon, available at Wal-Mart or your local hunting store) to those two parts, wipe the excess off, and replace. The exterior should be cleaned likewise.

The point of that little spiel if this: The AK-47 is monkey-proof. It's highly unlikely you will accidently or incidently screw it up, and it will be there when you need it. It WILL NOT kill a bear with one shot (unless it's a head shot), but several shots will. Since the AK holds a 30-round magazine, it will fire as fast as you can pull the trigger. Recoil is relatively light, and so is the weapon's weight. New or surplus military ammo is dirt-cheap. Additionally, an AK side-mounting scope can be purchased from $60 and up, depending on the quality and source. Also, the AK-47 doubles as a close-in weapon, eliminating the need for a large-caliber handgun as backup.

The AK will kill anything you're liable to run into with one shot (provided you're a decent shot) EXCEPT for the bear as previously mentioned. IF you run into a bear, don't stop firing till he hits the ground dead. DO NOT fire once or twice and run away...that would be unethical, merely wounding the bear.

Think long and hard on what I've said. Your dedication to your weapon and common sense is what stands between you, a fun trip, and a safe one at that.

Answer 6

I must agree with the previous post stating that the odds favor the grizzly. Nothing rimfire has good stopping power, unless you're a squirrel, then anything rimfire has good stopping power.
Stopping power doesn't even exist until you get into the .30 caliber centerfires. If it were me, I'd get a 12 guage pump action folding stock short barrel shotgun with (READ) 3.5" magnum slug loads. You cannot... no, you MUST not go trudging into the Yukon armed with a .22. If a grizzly mother (or even a youngster with a bad headache) starts your way, I would not feel comfortable with anything less than a .35 remington, 8mm. Mauser, or, if possible, bigger. Like somebody said before, it's not the powder behind the bullet, it's how messy it gets when the bullet hits.
A good .45 (READ) double action revovler would serve well too.
Oh, and one more thing...
Aim for the brain...

Answer 7

As have been stated, rimfire is .22 caliber, or .17 caliber.

Can you take down a grizzly with a .22?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact you can. But the odds favor the grizzly. If you want to take a .22 rimfire with you, make out your will before you leave and make certain your affairs are in order.

I wouldn't use anything less that a .30-06. I would probably use a .458 Winchester magnum.

Not cheap, but I would want to return alive.

Answer 8

For good value in a .22LR you can't beat the Ruger model 10/22...I'm afraid it would not have much of an effect on any bear, other than to piss it off...You're going to need at the very minimum a 30-06. I would not think of carrying anything less than a 300 Weatherby Magnum, a 340WBY, 378WBY or 460WBY would be better...A couple of others that you might consider would be the 375 H & H or 458 Win Mag...

http://www.gunbroker.com

A combination rifle/shotgun I like is the Savage model 24, 30-30/20ga...

Answer 9

Assuming you are serious....

Like other people have answered, a rimfire and bears do not mix. People have killed large bears with 22 rimfires before, but it is usually out of desperation or it happened to be what they had in their hands. I would equate shooting a bear with a rimfire about as smart as attacking an NFL lineman with a thumbtack. You will lose.

If you are looking for a rimfire to carry as a survival rifle in case you get lost, Henry Arms makes a collapsible 22 rimfire called the "U.S. Survival Rifle". This rifle is something to carry in a pack to shoot small game to survive if you are stranded or lost. It is light and the rifle comes apart and the pieces fit into the stock.

If you concern is about bears, I'd recommend one of two things.

1. Get a can of “Bear Repellant” or a similar brand of pepper spray made for bears. I’ve never carried this personally, but I hear they work quite well, but I believe the spray comes out in a cloud, so you have to consider wind direction when using it. If the wind is blowing in your face, you will get yourself and baste yourself for the bear. I personally never carried pepper spray as I figure if I get lost, pepper spray will not help me kill something for food. Do not confuse the small key ring canisters of pepper spray with the spray made for bears. The bear pepper spray comes in a large canister and it about the size of a can of spray paint.

2. Get a rifle. I wouldn’t waste my time with a handgun, unless you have a magnum caliber handgun already. There is much debate on how big a rifle to carry. When I hunted in Admiralty Island in SE Alaska, which has a large bear population, my rifle of choice was either a 35 Whelen or a 308 semi-auto with 10 round mags. I loaded either rifle with premium bonded bullets (bullets made for controlled expansion and deep penetration). My father carries a 338 Winchester Magnum with premium bullets. When my father was young, he killed every animal Alaska had to offer with a 250 Savage and regular bullets.

So which rifle to carry? I’ve carried rifles as small as a 243 Winchester and as large as a 35 Whelen in bear country and everything in between. I’d recommend a rifle of 30 caliber or larger and use premium bullets. If you do not like recoil, try a 308 Win. If you are a “larger” person and an experienced shooter, perhaps a 375 H&H Magnum would do the trick. Some common cartridges I’d recommend (roughly in order of increasing recoil) would be a 308 Winchester, 30-06 Winchester, 300 Win Short Mag , 300 Win Mag, 325 WSM, 338 Win Mag, or a 375 H&H Mag. There are many other cartridges that would do great such as most of the 30 caliber + Weatherbys, the 35 Whelen, 308 Warbird, etc. but unless you are a handloader, I’d shy away from those due to difficulty of finding ammo in some places. As others mentioned, a shotgun with slugs might be a good choice. The recoil can be on the heavy side for a 10 or 12 ga, but they are effective when they connect.

When you make your final choice of rifle, you need a rifle that is light, you are comfortable shooting, and you can handle the recoil to make a quick follow up shot if needed. If a bear charges you, chances are you only have seconds before the bear is dead or you are eaten. If you miss or wound the bear the first shot, you need a very quick, aimed second shot. Most people (including myself who have been shooting for 25+ years) can not do this with the large magnums like the 375 H&H.

If you have more questions, I’d recommend posting on the “Shooting” or “Hunting” sections of this website: http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/

That site has the largest collection of gun nuts I have seen on the web.

Best of luck to you.

Answer 10

the rem m700 in 300 mag is the most widely bought high power rifle for a reason. at 56% of all elk hunters buying this gun that is an impressive number Among gun makers around the world. i own a ruger m 77 in 30-06 and although i love this rifle would still buy a rem 700 for elk or larger game