Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Got a different rifle for Alaska

Most of my Alaska hunting was done with an 8mm Remington Mag on a rebarreled Browning A Bolt. Since I am older not going to be climbing mountains any more I sold it and made a switch to a Savage 99, in .358 Winchester. Won’t have it till next week if all goes well.

Now, you’ll just have to change your name from 8mmRem to..

Ran a 358 savage 99 in Alaskan conditions for a few years, but gave up on em after they couldnt handle Alaskan river conditions, requiring frequent disassembly of too many parts.

The rotary mag had to be kept squeaky clean and the spring re-indexed as it was too weak for heavy 358 bullets.

Had a jam on the early season moose in velvet. Its how i discovered the weak rotary spring.

It was hard on brass, and loads could not approach bolt action level.

A smidgen of wind-blown river silt, and the roatary mag would have to be cleaned again. It is a real pain to do in the field.

If chamber be the slightest dirty, the cheesy/puny extractor would slip right off the case.

Back to mauser style for me......

That’s a sharp rifle!


Mainer, you’re just a damn beast! Always tearing stuff up

8mm, That’s a beautiful 99 man! What bullets will you be running?

I am thinking of 225 grain Swift if I can find them. Will probably try nosier accubond, barnes. With the technology of bullets today unless I was actually hunting big bear I don’t see a need for a heavier bullet. Mostly it will be Moose, Caribou.

Nice rifle, I hunted with a Savage 99F and a 99A in 358 Win for a few years.

There's people that own guns and people that use guns. You learn the most from the people that actually use guns. This post proves that

I had a 99A in .358 with a straight grip, and thought of taking it to SE AK on a spring black bear hunt. It kept eating scopes on me, so I took my stainless Encore. As much as I tried to like that rifle it just wasn't for me. It was a cool rifle, but I would never appreciate it as much as the guy who bought it off of me.

I can't speak to the Swift but predict the Accubond will be too long and pointy to load to the required OAL without the ogive being below the case mouth. I haven't seen 225 Partitions in forever but would love to find and try some in mine.
May I suggest the Barnes 200 TTSX? Mule Deer's load (slightly reduced to 51 grains) of TAC worked out great in mine. I used a CCI 250. An OAL of 2.82" cycled perfectly and put the ogive .050" off the lands. Averaged about 1.5 MOA and is a solid 400 yard load for big critters. Note the attached dope card is for 7300' MSL, might not be right for your planned hunt area.

Nice looking rifle that should work great for you.

Cheers,
Rex

Congratulations on a fine rifle. That should do for just about any hunting needs in Alaska.

I don't doubt Mainer's experiences, but I have to think they are a one-off. Any make can have a lemon. I have used several different 99's for hunting in Alaska in 300 Savage and 30-30. They work exceptionally, tho they can take a little figuring out to make them reliably accurate. I have also had ones that due to modification were real turds. Savage made these rifles to work the way they were supposed to, but any home gunsmithing can cause them to be problematic. AR-15 Lego rifles they are not.

I have known more than one old-timer in bush Alaska who used the Savage 99 as their only rifle. These men lived by the rifle and swore by the 99.

Many more early explorers and sourdoughs revered the 99. Roy Chapman Andrews (the real Indiana Jones) was an admirer of the 99 in both 300 and 250-3000 after his use of them in the Gobi. The Blue Parka Man was reported to always have a 30-30 Savage, although he had to replace his rifle more than once due to losing it to the Law. The Mad Trapper of Rat River used a 99 to kill several Mounties despite being outnumbered and outgunned during the long winter chase for his capture.

They do have a good reputation, but Mainer is also correct that interior river silt is no joke.

I have half a box of 225 Swift A-frames left over from when I had a .350 Rem Mag. Send me a PM if you are interested in them.