Gun Models and Calibres for Artic Conditions

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Originally Posted by Fox

I hear those were jam-o-matics, but my uncle has one in 308 Win and it seems to be fine.

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When not maintained properly you are correct otherwise they work fine.Having said that would I trust my life to one against a polar bear in -30 weather? prolly not. I would prefer a bolt in any of the calibers already suggested.Or a 12 guage pump with slugs.

An old reliable bolt action is what I would take and in 30-06.
Condensation is your enemy in the North. Once your rifle is cold keep it that way.

HA

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Originally Posted by line052

Surprised KiloCharlie has not chimed in, he is in Yukon and is very knowledgable on guns for up north.

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He can't type...he's using both hands to keep the skeeters and blacklies away.

A good Browning XBolt or Abolt in 7mm mag, 300mag or WSM and up.
A Stainless Stalker would be a great partner up there or anywhere!

I like 45/70.

Buy yourself a good bolt action 30.06 or .308. I would stay away from anything that is plastic. Like trigger guards, Bolt strouds, cheap stocks.



I would lean towards a nice Ruger MKII, Remington M700, Winchester M70 etc. Mostly the older guns, Stainless would be a good idea as well.



I seen a thread on another forum, Two local guys from Nunavut going Polar bear hunting, One has a .243 and other a .270 LOL

Harpoon.

G'day, my first post but figured I could relate since I lived In Iqaluit for three years.
In regards to what folks used for hunting two things surprised me.
First was how guns were cared for , in general they are not. I've witnessed the locals crawling into their boat which was left on the beach (winter storage) root around in the cargo hold and pull out a shotgun and when they worked the action an empty case flew out , lol. It's just a different mind set up there. It's nothing to see a what was a nice Rem 700 just bouncing around in the back of a kamatic, jammed in or tied onto a snowmobile running board, etc etc
Second thing was the use of light calibers, .223's .222's and .22-250 are common and used on pretty much everything. The only time the locals told me they needed something larger like a .338 etc was when they were shooting Narwhal.

Anyway in my opinion a good pump 12gauge and a bolt action in .308, .30-06 etc and you're good to go.

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Originally Posted by Alleycat

G'day, my first post but figured I could relate since I lived In Iqaluit for three years.
In regards to what folks used for hunting two things surprised me.
First was how guns were cared for , in general they are not. I've witnessed the locals crawling into their boat which was left on the beach (winter storage) root around in the cargo hold and pull out a shotgun and when they worked the action an empty case flew out , lol. It's just a different mind set up there. It's nothing to see a what was a nice Rem 700 just bouncing around in the back of a kamatic, jammed in or tied onto a snowmobile running board, etc etc
Second thing was the use of light calibers, .223's .222's and .22-250 are common and used on pretty much everything. The only time the locals told me they needed something larger like a .338 etc was when they were shooting Narwhal.

Anyway in my opinion a good pump 12gauge and a bolt action in .308, .30-06 etc and you're good to go.

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I read that too, .223 for caribou, I guess cheaper ammo and less weight is big up there.

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Originally Posted by Fox

I hear those were jam-o-matics, but my uncle has one in 308 Win and it seems to be fine.

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There were a number of years Remington made them, that if you got the longer caliber ( 30-06, 270) if the gun got even slightly fouled, it restricted the gas port, and they didn't get enough pressure coming back to cycle the extra length, ( which in the shorter calibers like .308, wasn't needed).