Yukon Men and AR's

[PA PATRIOT]

I don't know how many of you may have been watching a show on the Discovery Channel called Yukon Men but it has been running non stop on the channel for the past day so I sat down to watch several episodes.

One of the things I noticed is that three of the six main families featured on the show use different types of AR for hunting everything from Caribou to Grisly bears.

Now it appears one gentleman is using a full sized older A-1 and Remington .223 FMJ and will not hesitate to grab it to hunt bears.

Another younger and much less seasoned member uses a RRA M-4 clone with M-855 FMJ and is shown taking out a Grisly Bear at less then 40yds with a single shot and the bear never moved.

Another was seen using a unk brand 16" with unk ammo to take a Caribou at about 150yds which dropped in placed.

Seems like it is acceptable in those parts to hunt large game with such rifles and the results are successful. Now I know shot placement is key and I would still say they are well under gunned but these guys survive by what they can hunt or gather and have no issues using the AR for everything that walks.

Now I also ID most of the other rifle calibers used in the show and they are as followed,

30-30 from a Stevens Bolt gun
300 Win Mag from a Remington Bolt gun
7.62x39mm from a CZ Bolt gun
35 Remington from a Marlin lever gun
30-06 from a Ruger and Winchester bolt rifle.

They also showed the 7.62x39mm CZ bolt gun taking a Black Bear at under 75yds that dropped in place with a unk ammo type. And a Caribou at under 200yds with a 300 Win Mag from a Remington Bolt gun.

Crazy?
Maybe they just don't care?
Or do they know something we don't about the .223/5.56 AR?

[Beat Trash]

Shot placement?

I've seen a lot of things killed with a .22 lr round. But it doesn't mean I'd want to use the .22 lr for the same purpose.

[currahee]

Is "unk" unknown or is it "junk" without the j?

I would not trust any of those shows to be particularly accurate, but I know they edit the shit out of them for time, drama and to look cool. I would not look to that show for info on Alaskan hunting anymore than I would look to Bear Grills' and "Man vs Wild" for advice on how to survive.

[Moose-Knuckle]

Not my first choice but then again I don't live there. African poachers have used chopped Kalashnikovs to take every species on that continent for decades.

[Artos]

funny, guess I'll have to catch the show...talked to a guy yesterday who killed a B&C griz and took 5 shots with a 416 to finally get him to stop. 3 of them made it into the vitals with the first being right in the boiler room and should have done the trick since it was only at 100yds broadside. Said he still moaned and groaned for 60 seconds after went down. One thing I have learned is that large game do different things after being hit.

I would not want to chance always having to ear hole any dangerous big game...smaller cals don't go together if I'm gonna play eye to eye on their play ground.

[filthy phil]

Not my first choice but then again I don't live there. African poachers have used chopped Kalashnikovs to take every species on that continent for decades.

The 762 has better penetration

[MountainRaven]

I seem to recall hearing about a man moving to Alaska, into the middle of nowhere. He took with him all manner of firearms. The locals told him that the only one he needed was the .22-250. It did not take him long to come to the same conclusion.

Craig Boddington wrote in his book The Perfect Shot, North America that the Mini-14 is or was quite popular among the Inuit for all their hunting needs.

Not that it would be my first choice, either, but it does sort of illustrate the utility of the AR as a sort of post-Cooper scout rifle.

[Moose-Knuckle]

The 762 has better penetration

I understand, but from an ethical standpoint I do not want to chance putting down an animal with standard 5.56 or 7.62 Soviet fmj. I'd rather have something like a .45-70 for Alaska wildlife.

[PA PATRIOT]

I understand, but from an ethical standpoint I do not want to chance putting down an animal with standard 5.56 or 7.62 Soviet fmj. I'd rather have something like a .45-70 for Alaska wildlife.

The Tula Ammo 7.62x39mm 124gr H/P which uses the 8M3 bullet is on DocGKR's recommended ammo list and is in the same class as a light expanding 30-30 loading. Now I would not want to take on a Grisly but a smaller Black Bear and Deer would be within its realm at close range with proper shot placement.

One day I would like to acquire a CZ-527 7.62x39mm rifle to help shoot up several cases of Russian ammo at a slower pace then my AK would allow. Plus with expanding ammo like the 8M3 and the 154gr soft point it could pass as a short range deer rifle during Doe season.

[Littlelebowski]

There's at least one Alaskan LEO on here that has had to put down 5 bears, one of which he used 75gr TAP on after his 12 gauge failed.

Shot placement is apparently what these guys believe in. Not explicitly endorsing their exact choices but I've lost count of the times I've seen locals outshoot out of staters with battered old hunting rifles that are less powerful and have far less glass than the out of stater's fancy rigs.