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My sister lives in Alaska and their whole family hunts. All their friends hunt too. I have met and talked to about 30 of them myself.

There are 2 classes of hunters in Alaska (as with everywhere else too, I guess) Residents and non-residents.

My sister uses a 308 in a Winchester M88 lever action. My Brother in Law used a Mauser in 30-06. My nephew and Niece both use a 30-06 one Mauser and one older Mossberg. A few of their friends shoot other rifle calibers more, but most shoot 30-06, 270 and 375.

The most popular rifle calibers used by residents are:
#1st place 30-06. In front of other calibers in sales of ammo, by over 30%. (Note of interest. MOST factory 220 grain 30-06 loads are shipped to Alaska as compared to the other 49 states)
#2nd place 308 Win, 223 and 270 Win, ( a 3 way tie)
#3rd place 300 Win Mag, and 375H&H (another tie) Some years the 375 ranks in the 2nd place line.

22 LR and 12 gauge are also big sellers, and 44 mag is a big seller in handgun ammo.

That's according to ammo sales in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau. My nephew worked at the gun counter in both Anchorage and Fairbanks and inventoried the ammo, so he was responsible for the re-orders. They sell some of about every caliber, but most non-residents bring guns and ammo with them, so the sales of other caliber are quite small compared to those I just listed.

He finds the articles like that one a bit amusing when the "experts" write so much about the latest's and greatest, but by far the largest majority of those that live there and hunt dismiss it as a sales pitch, for those getting paid to write such things.

I'll ask him what he thinks about a 284 as his next rifle......but I bet I know what he'll say when he's done laughing. It would be interesting to see how much 270 ammo they sell in a week compared to 284 Win in a decade. (A caliber designed to try to duplicative a 270 but in a modern lever action.)

According to the Alaska Fish and Game department, the caliber that is used to kill the largest percentage of Moose and Grizzlies is the old 30-06 by resident hunters. But that fact doesn't sell a lot of new stuff if it were printed in articles, so we don't read that very often.

Guides mostly carry big powerful rifles when working because they only shoot when things go bad, but nearly all of them also carry one of the gun/calibers above when not guiding. One of my B.I.Ls buddies (who died last year) had been a guide for 50+ years, and he carried a 375H&H and sometimes a 45-70 when guiding, but for his own hunting he preferred his old Winchester M70 in 270. He said he didn't know how many moose he's killed with that 270 since he was young and told me he's killed 12 grizzlies with it too.

Gear is great and fun to buy, use and discuss, but it's the man doing the shooting that is the most important part. Not the gun or caliber he's using. The new magazine articles don't motivate many residents in Alaska.
(or Wyoming, for that matter)
My bet is that it's the same in Oz, and also the African countries, where residents can still own guns and hunt.

Edited by szihn (15/12/21 10:28 AM)