"The Last Frontier" Big Game Hunting

When people talk about performance on big game animals, there’s no better place to test the reliability than Alaska.

The past two hunting seasons I’ve used the 300WSM XPR and Expedition Big Game Long Range with great success. In 2017 the 180GR Accubonds performed as imagined; bear, deer, mountain goat, sheep, and caribou - they all fell to the single cartridge. The following year 2018, Winchester outdid themselves and released the 190GR offering in “Long Range”. My Mission? Test this new load in Alaska’s vast landscape on big game animals.

Deer hunting blacktails on Kodiak means you may potentially run into the famed brown bears that roam the Island famously called “The Rock.” The 180GR would work on a brown bear, and would definitely be better than a sharp stick. When Winchester released the 190GR offering in EBG Long Range, I knew I found my end all Alaska load. A load that would not obliterate a deer, but do its job at close and long ranges. A load that, if your life depended on it, would perform and protect. A load that would work on species as big as moose, yet not over kill for deer. They found the sweet spot on ballistics, controlled expansion for long range and short range, and lethality; not to mention flat trajectories and knock down energy power of 3144.

Here’s what I found out, this bullet was true to its name. The tough, deep penetrating Accubond performed flawlessly at extended ranges. The controlled expansion design penetrated thick hide and bone on moose and bear, while not sacrificing on close range performance on smaller animals such as dall sheep and blacktail deer. The perfect combination of range, knock down power, and lethality.