Note that bullet drop becomes serious as ranges increase. Which initiates the next rule.
If you insist on shooting animals way out there, buy, carry, and use a range finder.
The devices now on the market are reasonable in cost and light to carry. Examine the drop you are dealing with at 500 yards range and consider what those figures will be even further out
Can you handle that kind of trajectory? If you have figured your bullet's drop from your zero at various ranges, using a range finder will greatly improve your chances of making too long shots. In my opinion, neither the .375 H&H or the .458 Winchester Magnum are suitable for extreme range game shooting, but—unlike most cartridges—if you do hit your animal way way way out there, your KO value will still be decent
Flat trajectory is most notable in the 300 Weatherby, but the .338 also does well. A point to consider is that the drop figures shown here were calculated for a one hundred yard zero. I have no idea why anyone would zero at point blank unless he was going into brush after bear or moose. Zeroing for a greater distance makes drop look less.
I believe that except for the .458 Winchester Magnum and the .375 H&H Magnum, two (2) inches high at 200 yards is perfect for Alaska. Remember that 300-yard rule?
Perhaps the figures shown above will support my contention that the .338 (or perhaps the .300 Weatherby) is the best all-around cartridge for Alaska. Recheck those KO figures at 500 yards—they mean something.
Ah well, let us turn to the godfather of big bore weaponry, and if readers would listen and apply the teachings (preachings) of Elmer Keith, there would be dramatically reduced missing, wounding, ammunition wasting, and embarrassing shooting failures.
10 - Elmer Keith
I have mentioned Keith in regard to large bore cartridges. Elmer died in 1984, and some readers may not be familiar with his books and articles. I suggest that anyone interested in big game hunting, particularly in Alaska, should study Elmer Keith's works before believing that they understand hunting in general and cartridge and bullet performance in particular.
Doctor Art Troup's photo of Keith, shown here, was taken on one of our visits to Elmer's home in Salmon, Idaho.
Keith (as he was often called) hunted all over the world with both handgun and rifle. His vast experience taught him—as similar experience teaches most—that a big heavy bullet, in pistol or rifle, does a better job than a skinny light bullet. Elmer preached the big bore philosophy without reservation and was regularly chastised by most other scribes for his beliefs.
Until his death, Keith's was a lone voice decrying the use of small caliber, high velocity cartridges on big animals. Nearly everyone else was caught up in the high velocity craze and was swept along in that slick current. Keith stood like a rock in the channel, and more than a few writers and armies of biased readers ridiculed him for his contrary opinions.
Since Keith's death, no widely known gun/hunting writer has seized the big bore banner. Too bad, because Elmer was right. His opponents were and are basically wrong. If you doubt, study Keith's books with an open mind. Then read John Taylor's African Rifles as a dessert. Your eyes will be opened, and you will probably agree with Elmer—and a host of genuinely experienced but unpublished big game shooters—that we should hunt with larger diameter and heavier bullets.
Recognition of Elmer Keith's importance to the shooting fraternity has been long overdue, and it is the author's hope that this volume and those that went before will help focus attention on Elmer's voluminous contribution to the arms and hunting fields.
In researching Keith, one could begin with his final book, Hell, I Was There. The title is odd, but really, Keith was there for so many significant incidents and occasions that the title fits.
This author's description of Keith would endeavor to show a hardy man of average physical stature with large hands and experience-blunted features. He was a proud man, confident of his abilities. He was friendly, yet wary of those who sought to ridicule his positions. Keith lived clean and simple amid the trophies and mementos of his accomplishments. He was concerned that his place in gun and hunting history be secured, and belated recognition of his outstanding contributions was balm to his soul.
Elmer Keith was a patriot who loved his country and its traditional freedoms. He feared for his nation's future as he saw old ways crumbling around him (as so many of us still do).
Keith was a man who lived by his word. His handshake was his bond, and he was dismayed by actions that were less than straightforward.
Elmer enjoyed his Chivas Regal. He puffed on awful cigars. He loved a bull session with real men. As the years took their toll, his hunts shortened and he lived evermore in his memories. In that he was fortunate, for he had done much in his many years.
Yet, how can you adequately describe a man who has been bronc-stomped, dragged, and tossed, and who safaried in Africa shortly after incurring a broken back? The reader can try to visualize what manner of man this was that seemed physically indestructible while accomplishing rarely matched feats with six gun and rifle over a more than seventy year period.
But, unless you knew the man, you cannot get it right. Next best is to read Elmer Keith's stuff. From his writing you will gain at least a partial picture, and let me assure you ahead of time, when Keith said he did this or that, or made some marvelously improbable shot believe what the book says. Keith did not lie, and he did not exaggerate. His detractors could rarely understand that about Elmer Keith. Too bad for them. I hope my readers can examine the evidence more squarely.
I corresponded with Keith over the years, and his answering letters were always lengthy, unedited, and full of meaty information. We never discussed anything except guns, hunting, and conservative politics. When I visited Salmon, Idaho not long after Elmer moved there, our face-to-face conversations were exactly like our correspondence—a lot more salty, perhaps. (I had been a US Army First Sergeant, and Keith? Well, he was a man's man, and our subjects remained the same.)
When I began hunting with .44 Magnum pistols in Alaska, Keith became very interested. That was in 1956, and the cartridge was new and it was his baby. Our letter exchanges increased remarkably. I enclose one from 1977 because it concerns Alaskan Hunter, my first book on hunting up here. Consider the letter shorter than usual, but typical Keith.
11 - A Bit about Double Rifles
Heavy caliber double-barreled rifles are fine guns for bear and moose at closer ranges. You will rarely encounter double rifles in our hunting fields because they are themselves rare in this world and most are inordinately expensive. A new double rifle of Ferlach make will cost many thousands of dollars. Fine English rifles are nearly out of this world, probably costing twice the amount of a Ferlach gun.
Although I have owned double rifles, most were used, and for this discussion we will examine only one as an example of what an Alaskan shooter might choose.
This rifle is interesting because it is a complete weapons system possessing four sets of barrels for the one action.
The double, side by side rifle barrels are in .486 caliber.
A second set of barrels combine one .486 rifled barrel with a 16 gauge shotgun barrel.
Third, is a pair of short, twenty inch shotgun barrels in twenty gauge.
And fourth is a pair of twenty-four inch, full choke sixteen gauge barrels.
As all barrel sets fit the same action, the shooter need familiarize himself with only one setup of safety, triggers, and ejectors.
My particular rifle has a partial history. It was spirited out of Germany while World War II drew to a close. The rifle lay unused for twenty or so years until a widow made it available for purchase. I happened onto the scene and snapped the kit up at a bargain price.
The rifle was built by Rausch, a German gunsmith about whom I know nothing—except that he was a master craftsman. The rifle was built about the time of the switch over from black to smokeless powder, and only the shotgun barrels are nitro-proofed. I normally shoot black powder in all
barrels. Firing an old weapon is certainly the only time I can enjoy the rotten egg smell of burning sulfur, but every time I touch off the trigger on that fine double rifle, the sulfur stench seems almost a necessary part of the fun.
In this photo, Mickey Weston tries out the double rifle on a target.
The .486 caliber is an odd one, and as with many foreign calibers, I had to work up my own loads. As there were no sample rounds with the piece, I made chamber castings and send them to various companies for identification. I settled on .500 x 3-inch nitro cases which I necked down in a homemade swage to grip a .486 bullet.
Lyman mailed me a .509133 bullet mold, and we cast bullets in it and squeezed them through the .486 swage. The finished round, as shown below, was a deadly looking thing right out of a King Solomon's Mines movie. We were not sure, however, just how it would shoot.
A great amount of experimentation followed, and that is always enjoyable. An empty case held a comfortable 115 grains of black powder. Although wanting full power, we still had to arrive at a loading that would print both barrels together at about seventy-five yards.
We conducted experiments rating paper patched bullets against lubricated ones, and both against an odd type we worked up with a zinc washer screwed onto the base like the old Harvey Protex bore pistol bullets, and some even wilder rounds using epoxied-on felt and cork base wafers.
The bullets from our swage weighed 525 grains and were first made of Lyman #2 bullet metal.
In other experiments we tried pure lead and regular wheel weight metal. There was a severe problem in developing a bullet that would open up on game. Low muzzle velocity, plus a heavy, pointed bullet gave immense penetration, but the bullets did not like to expand. Hollow pointing the bullet with a lathe center drill helped—a little. A copper plug placed in the hollow point did no good. Finally, soft lead, a hollow point, and an epoxy on zinc base washer to scrub the bore gave us our best bullet.
Our final loading calls for 115 grains of FFG powder with a number 172 Berdan primer, pushing the zinc based bullet. Expansion occasionally runs to .700 caliber and penetration is awesome.
Why wouldn't it be? The old .45/70 with its 500 grain bullet and only 70 grains of powder was a powerful load fit for most game. The not as famous .50/100 with a 450-grain bullet and 110 grains of FG powder was a super-blaster.
Applying Taylor's KO formula we get a 525 grain .486 diameter bullet traveling at 1500fps giving a KO rating of 54.6, which is up there with the biggest ones.
Recoil in this rifle is kindly and might be favorably compared with any .50 caliber Hawken. The recoil is a sort of long shove without the jolt accompanying smokeless powder.
Only one moose and a fine bull caribou have been taken in Alaska with this .486 double rifle. Both animals expired on the spot with the bullet making complete penetration and little meat destruction due to low velocity. As we like to say, "You could eat right up to the hole."
Because this rifle is now an almost century-old piece of gun-making history, we no longer take it afield.
Experiments with the .486 cartridge included the cast bullets displayed here. The completed round shows an unwanted crimp a bit above the base that the author's full length resizing die insisted on leaving. Note that the bullet in the finished cartridge is a solid point. Solid tip bullets expanded poorly. If the nose was cast completely flat with an almost full .486 meplat, the lead bullet expanded, but penetration in our wet telephone books could be erratic.
The cork-based bullet was intended to scrub away bore fouling and to seal against escaping gas (a gas check).
It was not effective, and screwing on the pad was ludicrously laborious. The hollow pointed bullet proved to be the most effective—if the hollow was huge and the bullet was made of pure lead. Hollow pointed alloy bullets still would not expand with certainty.
The bullet with a bit of brass rod inserted into the hollow point was a failure. It acted like a solid and did not expand at all.
The last bullet is a joke. The fuzzed end was created by feeding in the hollow pointer too swiftly. We called it the Brush Point and claimed it dusted the wound clean before entering.
Every double rifle this author has ever seen has been a quality piece. It should be safe to conclude that any double rifle of .375 caliber or more will prove satisfactory for flatland Alaskan game.
Double rifles balance about as perfectly as guns ever will. The balance is always between the hands with just enough muzzle weight to ensure steady holding. The guns come up fast and point naturally in the double barreled shotgun tradition.
Stocks are quite straight because double rifles are meant to be off hand weapons. Actions are glass smooth, and the triggers crisp with little movement. Many, as does our example, have individually adjustable triggers.
Safeties on double rifles are sometimes non-automatic. If the shooter desires to use the safety he must deliberately put it on. A hunter reloading against a charging or wounded animal might prefer to do without the extra move of snapping off a safety. Elephant and Cape Buffalo (perhaps bear) hunters may not want the unnatural sound of a safety being snapped off at a critical moment
A scope on a double rifle has never proven satisfactory to this author. The tube destroys the symmetry of the rifle and makes it clunky to handle. Although the double rifle discussed here has a 3X scope, I never use it.
If the above descriptions and the following photographs are intriguing, do not be surprised. Double rifles are gorgeous pieces. Barring their expense, they have a lot going for them. So, if you own a chunk of ground on the North Slope with a pumping well or two, do not hesitate. Buy a few.
The photos that follow show how a double rifle can be fired four times quite rapidly—if the rifleman is as competent as Doctor Troup.
The technique is to hold two live rounds between the fingers of the left hand. After firing both barrels, the rifle is broken open and the spent cases plucked out with a fingertip. Automatic ejectors would remove this action, of course. The live rounds are then dropped into the chambers, the action closed, and the shooter is ready to fire. It is harder than it sounds! Those live rounds try to wander and avoid going where you want them.
12- Pistol Thoughts
I am not overly enthusiastic about hunting big game with a pistol. Some hunters have what it takes to kill cleanly with a handgun, but most do not. I know of no way to keep the poor shots from trying, and that is not good.
My personal philosophy on hunting with pistols was spelled out in a Letter to the Editor of the Fairbanks News-Miner on September 21, 1958. I find, these forty-seven years later, that my feelings have changed little.
The late Al Georg had just made his first splash as a pistol hunter and received some publicity in the paper. I thought little of it until I encountered a young man I knew out in the bush stalking grizzly bear with a .22 Colt Woodsman pistol. No joke here. My hair stood on end because the man was in grizzly country. The lad believed that he could take a grizzly bear by shooting both its eyes out when the bear came at him. Then he would "finish off' the bear at his leisure.
We discussed this concept at some length, and he quoted Al Georg's taking of a rather average Dall ram with a scoped pistol as his inspiration. I then wrote as follows to the News-Miner:
Dear Editor
I have been slightly perturbed by the publicity recently given an individual for shooting a Dall sheep with a .44 Magnum Revolver.
I shot and killed a running caribou with one shot through the spine from my Ruger .44 Magnum at 165 paces. I did not and still do not consider this a great feat I personally know a number of pistol shooters here at Fort Greely who could do the same.
A disturbing aspect of all of the publicity given long range pistol kills is that it encourages unskilled hunters to try their luck with pistols and, too often, results in wounded game.
If it is necessary to publish stories concerning the feats of pistol hunters, it would seem correct to ALWAYS mention that the taking of big game with a pis
tol is for top pistol marksmen properly backed up by another hunter armed with an adequate rifle. Any big game animal deserves to be killed cleanly and suddenly, not wounded and lost.
It should be remembered and emphasized that the pistol should be carried as a defensive weapon, not as a game getter.
Even the tremendously powerful .44 Magnum does not equal in energy the puny .30/30 rifle, which knowing hunters realize is not powerful enough for Alaskan game.
Sincerely,
Roy F. Chandler
Well, I would not word my thoughts quite that way anymore, but the lesson is still the same. Pistols take special expertise and should be used with discretion.
Some weeks after the letter appeared, I received a lengthy rebuttal from Al Georg which implied that I was full of hot air. I answered in the same spirit, and we insulted each other for a few letters until I almost became fond of Georg. He is long gone now, killed in a plane crash in Alaska.
The pistol, in the hands of an expert shot and hunter, CAN be an efficient game getter. Its primary' value, however, lies in its handiness and effectiveness as a last ditch protector. A quick grab at the hip is far more efficient than a frantic scramble to reach a rifle lying across a pack.
In the practical sense, it can be argued that extremely few hunters or woods travelers are ever attacked by anything. Of the few who are attacked, most escape with only minor injuries. Quite naturally, those who do not escape with their lives are written and rewritten about so regularly that the occasions of attack seem far more numerous than actually occur. The fact is that a man will probably never need that heavy pistol swinging at his hip.
The Hunter's Alaska Page 8