Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Rifle for moose / bear (Big bore lever)

What was his reco?

I can promise you that you or your son dont spend even a fraction of the time I do in the bush. In an average year I will be out more than 6 months; always in a wilderness environment and a rifle in hand daily. I know guns and how to take care of them. The BLR is fine for a weekend hunter, its a very poor choice if you are out in remote areas and rely on it. Just to complicated. The failure to fire issue is well documented, even among weekend hunters. Some BLRs never seem to have the problem, but some certainly do.

Mainer talked about dumping his canoe and how his mauser was full of silt by the time he got things sorted out. He was able to take that gun apart and have it cleaned up and ready to go in minutes. Try that with a BLR. Mainer uses a BLR at times too.

Yup. The BLR is the Humpty Dumpty rifle. Designed by the one and only Rube Goldberg.

I love the BLR for some hunts. It is a bit finnicky. My 358 Win BLR has a short throat and handloads from my Savage 99 were too long. I jammed a bullet into the lands realized I would have pressure issues and so jacked open the action. The bullet staid in the lands and the powder dumped all over the inside of the action. (I KNOW THIS WAS A DUMB MOVE ALL AROUND!!!!!)

Point is it took me hours to pick all the grains out of the action so that the rack and pinion would work. If it gets dirty it wont work. The Savage 99 and Winchester 71 will.

On the plus side I have never had the cold weather failure to fire if I keep it degreased. It is accurate and my son loves it. Very smooth and easy to use. Probably not the 1 rifle for the Zombie Apocolypse though.

I’ve also very cleverly performed this same trick 😉...but I was not going to push a cleaning rod down the barrel and tap on a live cartridge, even if seemingly on the wrong end. IIRC, recently, there was a kaboom and wrecked rifle posted here related to that maneuver.

Better to spend time cleaning up powder rather than picking up pieces. 👍

I would love to hunt the great bears with my original '71 in 348, 250gr Alaska Bullet Works Kodiaks or Woodleigh Weldcores would certainly do the job, as would the Turnbull '86 Winchester in 50-110 WCF, 700gr cast lead flat nosed bullets would completely penetrate the biggest bear from any angle, 200 yard hunting with either is simple, however, they're pretty nice rifles, plus, with the cost of a hunt, unknown weather/lighting/shooting conditions, I'd most likely take a cerakote/syn stocked VZ-24 98 Mauser in 416 Taylor, 400gr partitions would do the work guided by a 1.5-5 leupold.

As long as i'm wishing, In a perfect world and weather conditions, two quick shots from a 303 British double rifle delivering a couple 215gr Weldcores through a bear would be a be all end all hunt of a lifetime for me.

Gunner, there is a video floating around of Jeff Rahn, the African PH on a Kodiak bear hunt using his double Holland in 300 H&H Flanged. Yours is also in the uber-kool list! That said, I agree with you on the realities of the weather up there. When I go, it'll be my 340 Weatherby Weathermark with a Zeiss 3X9 and 225gr TTSXs.

Nice, Thanks for the tip Jorge, i'll try to find it, that 340 WBY is a perfect all game cartridge afaic.

I really like my Winchester 1886 Extra lite, my model 71 348 win and 348 Ackley, and 94' 30-30 but they are very complex compared to my Marlins, Ruger 77, and Mausers. It would be unthinkable for me to attempt a field stripdown on a winchester levergun packed with silt and debris. I can do it on Marlin, Ruger 77, and Mauser 98 type bolt actions. Im not so certain about the Savage 99 though, as i just dont know it and the mechanics that well? Maybe i just need more tine with the winchesters?

Being a lefty its just difficult to beat that Ruger 338RCM carbine and my Ruger scout rifle and one of my stainless Marlins. 308 win and 30-30 is common ammo and ive got plenty of 338rcm put back. The big thing is i can easily strip these down without much issue. To me thats a very big plus to that Mauser 98 pattern rifle in its strengths and super simple and tooless bolt takedown.

Couldnt agree more. I have the same guns you do with the exception of the 348. The Marlins are so easy to strip down that it really makes them a great choice. I do love my 86 extra light too though. The Savage 99 is a great rifle and they are well built and simple. I dont carry mine much because I dont want to beat it up, but I wouldn't hesitate to trust it in bad conditions. Wish they would start making them again!