Starting to think about retirement and part of that thought process has got me thinking about a rifle purge. Like most rifleman, I've accumulated a lot of nice custom rifles over the years but as I get older I think about simplifying my battery to about 6 or 7 really good custom rifles. One of those rifles would primarily be built with Alaska in mind but crossover for African plains game as well.......
I value the opinions of those who post here and would like to hear your ideas of the perfect Alaskan Big Game Rifle. Goats and sheep can be excluded from the conversation with the focus being on bears, moose, caribou, deer, etc.
Go ahead and spec a your build please!
X-VERMINATOR
Last edited by xverminator; 04/08/18.
Sooner or later our heritage of hunting is going to be a rich mans sport and the words "Outfitter" and "Hunt Industry" will be synonymous with cancer and A.I.D.S. among blue collar hunters like me and my family!(A.L. Williams - 2010)
This is from a guy who has spent the past 40 years building "the perfect" Alaskan rifle and who has an entire rack full of them . In calibers from 30-06 to 338, 35 Whelen, 9.3x62, and 375,s of multiple flavors.
For a guy that can keep his cool and hit what he's shooting at, a 9mm might suffice.
He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
I don't have nearly the experience that Phil does but being a northern Canadian hunter, my conditions are similar to Alaska. To say I have downsized over the past few years is an understatement; I am down to one. A Burgess-Echols G33 in .30/06. It will do everything I need.
However, when the weather turns really bad, I would hate to use the rifle - although I know it can easily handle it. So I started building its bad weather brother. Its everything Phil stated -- stainless, synthetic, short, light and of course, .30-06.
I started with a BNIB Mauser Zastava M70 stainless steel action (slim and light stainless CRF action without being a bantam featherweight), sent it to a very good gunsmith to be reworked/smoothed, install a lightweight 21" PacNor Super Match stainless barrel, Alaskan Arms open trigger, Leupold M8 2x scope in a McMillan Interarms Mark X stock. The whole package should weight in around 7.5lbs loaded. I think this would make an ideal Alaskan Big Game rifle.
The other option would be a Blaser R8. I don't own one, at least not yet but will be changing that shortly (which reminds me I have to email a friend about one). Short, waterproof, variety of calibers with interchangeable barrels, take-down for easy travel, accurate, and most importantly, quick handling with a super fast action.
IMHO, my Model 700 stainless Mountain Rifle in .30-06 with it's 22" barrel and a Leupold 3-9 Firedot duplex scope is the perfect Alaskan big game rifle.
Ed
"Not in an open forum, where truth has less value than opinions, where all opinions are equally welcome regardless of their origins, rationale, inanity, or truth, where opinions are neither of equal value nor decisive." Ken Howell
I don't live in Alaska. But I've hunted there twelve times.
I started with a Remington 700, wood/blue, 30-06 with a Leupold VX-3 3.5x10x40 scope, gloss black. Worked fine on a moose and several caribou. But after each trip, there was enough corrosion that I had to re-blue. So I bought a Thompson Center (T/C) Icon Weathershield, 30-06 and mounted an identical scope. They are cerrcoated (baked ceramic) and nothing that was coated rusted. I have used that rifle on several more trips and the problem of corrosion is solved.
I finally figured out that the blued steel rifles did fine and did not corrode in the field. It was when I carried that cold rifle in the rifle case, into a warm building that created the problem. Moisture from humidity would condense on the cold steel and cause rust inside the rifle case. I don't think that TSA would appreciate if I took out my rifle in the airport terminal to dry and warm the steel. I think the foam rubber lining inside the case creates a nearly waterproof enclosure that makes the problem worse. The only thing that did have a minor problem was the stainless steel bolt. Now I take that out of the rifle and wrap it in a paper towel and place that in a ZipLok bag before going to the airline terminal. No corrosion.
Smith & Wesson bought T/C and started producing center fire rifles. They built a new modern computerised factory and started offering the Icon model line and Venture model line under the T/C name. All of the T/C centerfire rifles are guaranteed to shoot MOA out of the box. I don't think they are producing the Icon model line any longer. I bought a T/C Venture for my grandson and it also shoots MOA out of the box.
People have been using wood/blue rifles in AK for over two centuries. I don't think that permanent residents have the same problem with corrosion unless they take a cold rifle in a rifle case into a warm building.
KC
Wind in my hair, Sun on my face, I gazed at the wide open spaces, And I was at home.
I had a CRF .338 Winchester Model 70. I got rid of it, as I really had no use for it.
It was nice looking, carried nice, very tight groups, and not bad on the shoulder.
However.... Going into retirement... maybe you don't want the weight and recoil of a .338. Also, being an Alaskan HUNTING rifle..... the pretty stock and metal might not be best.
I suppose I'd look for something synthetic(barf), stainless, and in .30-06.
Pretty boring suggestion. But it'll do the job with boring reliability, no doubt about that.
Since I'm spending your money... A D'arcy Echols Legend would fit the bill nicely. Only like $15K..... But a Remington 700 would do the job too.
-Jake
Last edited by Bocajnala; 04/09/18.
Small Game, Deer, Turkey, Bear, Elk....It's what's for dinner.
If you know how many guns you own... you don't own enough.
I think my Winchester 70 extreme weather 30-06 is about the most perfect Alaskan rifle out there. My Kimber Montana 308 is a close second. Both of them worked on moose, caribou, dall sheep, black tails.
A Ruger SS with a "boat paddle stock" in 30.06. And, one might consider using a Barnes bullet, maybe a 150gr pushed hard. I'd even consider a fixed 4X scope.
Well it looks as though you've received some "Very" Good Intel, as to your Post & Question accordingly,,,,, but if you want to be able to go to Africa, as stated, then you will need a "Rifle" of .375 Cal. or greater, I've attached some Photos for your viewing pleasure, this is my .375 Weatherby DGR, in Stainless Steel, with added Magazine Cap. @ 4-down & 1-up, Barrel@ 22", Quick-Release Warn-Rings, with Warn-Bases, Quick Change Ghost-Ring Rear sight, fitting same Warn-Bases, all saddled-up out the door@ 8.5lbs. And Oh-Yea, and my other Rifle here in Alaska, 30-06. LJ
I've long been a fan of the .375 H&H ... my first big rifle was a Winchester 70, serial number 6xx (yes, in the six hundreds) in .375. It came to me via Alaska. Stuck with non-bonded cup-n-core bullets of those times, I'd still recommend it. Today, an '06 or possibly .300 WSM in a rifle that fed smoothly, with good bullets, would seemingly do pretty well. We seem to pick rifles and cartridges based on 2% of what we might someday do instead of 98% of what we really do right now.
Thinking of posts above, I've considered a Kimber Mountain Ascent in either .308 or '06 with a fixed 4x aboard for anything I don't want to hunt with a .257 Roberts. Oregon isn't Alaska though, so I won't pretend expertise, just share semi random thoughts.
Tom
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
There’s obviously no right answer but it’s always fun seeing what other people use. Guys like Phil and their opinions carry a lot of water as far as I’m concerned but I’ve got what I’ve got and if I can’t do the job with them then I probably couldn’t do it with anything.
My go to rifle is a stainless synthetic Sako in .308 with a Zeiss 3-9x40 in Talley lightweights. My bigger rifle is a Savage FSAK in .338. It’s stainless and I put it in a B&C weathertouch (?) stock and steelbedded the action. It’s a sub MOA rifle all day with everything except partitions (weird but oh well). I shoot 225 grain TTSX or 225 grain TBBC. I sold my Remington 700KS in .375 because I just didn’t see myself using it in place of the .338 which I have the ultimate confidence in and for close range stuff my guide gun in 45-70 with Skinner Alaskan peep sites was my choice. In a fit of indecisiveness I sold the guide gun because I want the stainless version with the wider loop. My big paws don’t have the wiggle room they’d like in the standard lever version so I’ll be looking for the stainless guide gun this summer, I might even put a low power 1-4x Leupold on it since I’m left eye dominant and right handed.
As always the perfect Alaskan rifle is whatever you want it to be but for some reason these threads never get old and the information from the professionals here are always enlightening. Good luck in your quest. 👍
�Politicians are the lowest form of life on earth. Liberal Democrats are the lowest form of politician.� �General George S. Patton, Jr.
If you plan on hunting a lot of big bears then something between the 30-06 and the 375 MIGHT (?) Be a better choice . But remember the 30-06 was the number one choice of Alaskan hunters for almost a century and was enough to take the world record Kodiak bear. If you are guiding and might need to act as backup on wounded bears then majority of those who have experience prefer something in 375 and up category.
If you plan on hunting a lot of big bears then something between the 30-06 and the 375 MIGHT (?) Be a better choice . But remember the 30-06 was the number one choice of Alaskan hunters for almost a century and was enough to take the world record Kodiak bear. If you are guiding and might need to act as backup on wounded bears then majority of those who have experience prefer something in 375 and up category.
Phil, I defer to your infinitely greater experience. But I post only to see if you can clarify something I don't understand.
You say that hunting, you need one thing, but "[i]f you are guiding and might need to act as backup on wounded bears then" you might need something more potent. But, if you are hunting without a guide, would you not need to be prepared to have something, even more so, "to act ... on wounded bears," because you do not have a backup? In other words, why does a guide need a big more potent cartridge to provide back up defense, but a solo hunter who needs to provide both the initial strike and also, as well, the "backup on wounded bears" only need something less potent?
