Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Arctic Gunworks 458 Lott

Picked up a custom built 458 Lott made by Arctic Gunworks today, this things has seen years of backcountry carrying judging by the look. Built on a Montana 1999 action, Borden Rimrock stock and weighing precisely 8 pounds 0 ounces, this thing was clearly somebodies stopping / guide rifle. Took it out and ran full house 500's through it today and it kicks like none other. No muzzle brake, damn near uncontrollable. My unbraked 378 Weatherby that I also took out today was absolutely a tame pussycat by comparison...

Anybody seen this rifle around before?

Arctic Gunworks was in Fairbanks for many years....Gary Junk was the owner/gunsmith. He closed the shop several years ago and last I knew he was doing some things out of his house in the North Pole area. I left that area in 2019 so maybe someone still there will have more info and you may be able to track him down.

That rifle is cool!

Gary is still around
https://arcticgunworksak.com/

Nice…..that appears to be “one sweet rifle”! memtb

Gary has some very good deals out there. Its a nice little shop.

He's a crabby bastard but he knows his s***

Called him up, sent some pictures, and spent a bunch of time chatting. Enjoyed talking to Gary and am shipping the rifle back to him for restoring to working order and a little bit of barrel porting to make it useable. It's pretty beat up right now, missing the rear sight (broke off with one screw still in the barrel!), the bolt stop is AWOL, the blueing is mostly missing, and the ejector is no longer springy but loose. Excited to get this one cleaned up and running right.

After you get it ship-shape, and shoot it again, who are you going to get your eyeballs turned around facing forward again?

Neat gun. I dont like recoil but have shot a few Lott rounds over the years. I didn’t find it any worse than 12 ga slugs we use for deer hunting here.

question is ... is the barrel one of those "air gauged " super duper $50 tent pegs that the smiths of old charged a premium for, plus the work ?

cracks me up every time some gundummy ol fart lays it on thick with the "air gauged" crap then I tellem "that's old shyte tech, now it's all oxygen gauged for superior accuracy, lol

OP,
Do NOT allow Gary Junk to touch any firearm.

His B.S. porting is drilling holes & drilling the muzzle w/ no regard to facing the crown.

Sight screw hole(s) may enter the bore w/ a few threads obstructing projectile exit.

I personally would NOT allow Gary Junk to touch a Red Rider BB gun.

Gary Junk is a HACK Master,beyond Bubba Smithin' & needs/deserves a good ole down home AZZ woopin'

You have been fore warned.

Thank me later!!

TFF
😆

This is the general consensus around fairbanks, he would probably send it out to reblue anyway.

You would be better off finding a local smith that you can deal with face to face...just my opinion

what a cool rifle....how fun it would be to know about the adventures it's been on.
I remember shooting a friends 458 Lott, his elephant gun, it left an impression for sure and it was 10+ pounds.

Well this is good info, thanks everyone who posted, I was going to ship it back to him early next week. Rethinking that plan now... Not to be rude, but does anybody have first hand or eyes on experience with something he screwed up?

The website has text written by his grandchildren ?

"WHY TRUST US
You can speak directly to our gunsmith, in person, about any questions you may have regarding the status of your service or any gun-related queries you may have.
We offer a 72-hour turnaround time after drop-off.
Our gun repair services and parts sales are extended to Alaska Bush communities.
We offer one of the most extensive ranges of guns, both new and pre-owned, ammunition, equipment, and gun parts in the state of Alaska.
Our product range and customer service are world-class.
Our workmanship is backed by decades of experience and skill.
Our gunsmith has decades of experience in restoration services."

Sappy as a Hallmark Channel movie.

That .458 Lott might have a SAAMI chamber if it was put together on an MRC 1999 action. Kind of newish.
If so, fix it by running a SAAMI .458 Win Mag chamber reamer into it,
for more velocity at lower pressure.

No problems at all with Gary. He has mellowed out to a greater level and his new shop and area is nice. He does live at the ends of the earth in North Pole but he is extremely knowledgeable and great to talk to. I would trust him but I have other gunsmiths in the area that I have a better relationship with. That is my take.

Every major gunshop in the entire state of Alaska has done work on rifles for me, to include Gary. Never a bad experience yet. I'm not saying others haven't had a bad experience, just that everyone in this state did good work for me.

Garry was even kind enough to send me home with some free hard cast bullets for fire forming brass in one of my wildcat creations.

Gunsmithing is a hard profession to make a good living. Even if one of them needed to de-do something, i wont sht on any of them smiths, on a public forum. I always leave a good tip, these guys don't get paid enough.