Before the contraversy starts up about whale hunting, I'm living in the arctic where it is common practice. Yesterday the whales were spotted off in the distance and so they will be here within the next few days. I have been invited to go along on the hunt this year. Most people here use their Enfield 303's. I've been asked to bring a gun along so that I can get a bit trigger happy as well. So I have a choice between a Remington 700bdl .243 or a Tikka M695 458wm. The 243 has iron sights and the 458 has a Burris scout scope. If you were me, which would you choose and why? Oh, and if you just want to make a post bashing the Inuit tradition of whale hunting, please bugger off. Thanks.
Beluga hunting
- Thread starter Jeremy
- Start date
Belugas, man I wouldn't know what to suggest, lol. I'm going to assume that the .458 mag would be mucho over kill. I'll bet that there are guys using smaller than the ole .303 for hunting up there and so I'm going to suggest the .243. I have absolutely no experience in this though, and don't know how far you're going to shoot, what it takes to kill a Beluga, or anything like that, but it's not like you're shooting through 10 feet of water at them, lol. I see in your sig. line you list a .270 Tikka, why don't you take that?
I'd take the Tikka .270 except for that toy is in Montreal. It's my favourite overall hunting gun so far. In regards to the distances that we'd be shooting from, well we are going to be using boats (15-20ft w/outboards) and getting very close. Realistically I'd say within 20-40ft, maybe less.
No .270, well then I still stick with the .243. Since you'll be within 40 or 50 feet when that white head pops up give him a 100 grain bullet in the mellon and he's done for. Like I said though, I'm completely ignorant when it comes to that sort of thing. I've only seen Belugas once in the wild when I was in Churchill 11 years ago, and never really considered shooting one, lol. Oh and not to mention it would likely be easier to make that kind of shot with open sights too, another point for the .243.
Bigger Calibre needed.
I met a guy at Lebarons a couple of years ago and he came down south from Nunavuit. He told me his wife hunts whales (narwhales I think) with a .338 win mag. So I think you should go for the bigger calibre. Post pics of the hunt Jeremy.
I met a guy at Lebarons a couple of years ago and he came down south from Nunavuit. He told me his wife hunts whales (narwhales I think) with a .338 win mag. So I think you should go for the bigger calibre. Post pics of the hunt Jeremy.
