I’ve only ever shot one brown bear…but I’ve had 3x tags…..which gave me plenty of time to chat with my guides while glassing for bears.

My first 2 hunts were in the Alaska Range/ Little Delta area. I took a Blaser R8 with Federal factory 180 partitions. First hunt never saw a single bear. But I realised that if I had have seen a bear then I’d probably have to shoot him at somewhere around 200 yards. If I was lucky then maybe I’d get within 100 yards. I’d set myself a maximum range of no more than 250 yards. I now understood why the guides liked to recommend 300 Win Mag or bigger.

3 years later I hunted the same area with the same rifle. Saw just one legal bear. I could have shot him at about 150 yards. He was small, probably about 6’. I passed him up. Never saw another legal bear.

Next year, Spring hunt on the Alaska peninsula. Same R8 but with the 9.3 x 62 barrel. Guide carried a .416 Rigby. Same guide as for my 2nd hunt. Hadn’t seen him carry the.416 until that hunt. I asked him why. The bears are bigger around here…was his response. Saw several big bears and climbed enough mountains that I thought I was hunting sheep. Finally killed my bear with a 60 yard shot. First shot made him awfully sick. Emptied the magazine and he was dead. Not more than a metre from where I first shot him.

So….if I was a guide I’d probably be carrying a 375 H&H for interior bears and then for coastal bears….well a .416 Rigby or at the very least a 375 H&H.

If I was to go back for another hunt…I’d probably take my 30/06 for an interior bear….and just accept that I’m not going to do any longer range shooting.

For another coastal bear hunt. I’d happily take the same rifle again in 9.3 x 62. I would not take my.416 Rigby or anything of similar weight. I just don’t want to have to lug a cannon up and down hills, while pushing through alders and that devils club crap.

In my opinion, 9.3 x 62 is not a 375 H&H . But it’s close enough that anything shot with either wouldn’t be able to pick the difference.

Rod