Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Dedicated elk rifle - Stainless/synthetic or Blued/wood

Blued 338/06 in a Model 70 with a Bell and Carlson stock.

It definitely works ... sometimes. I've seen it fail often enough I won't count on it. Depends on the piece of wood the factory gave you to start with. Just as steel with residual stresses can change shape and push groups around or have them open up or shrink as the metal heats and cools, wood can also have residual "stresses" that shrink and grow unevenly as the wood gets damp and dries. Get a stock made from good wood that's relatively consistent through the stock blank and what you're suggesting may do fine. Get wood that is not so consistent and it doesn't work worth a [bleep] sometimes. Your luck getting nicer wood may be better than mine. I've had special order factory rifles show up with wood that looks like it came off the lumber pile at the mill rather than wood meant for gun stocks. What we call "pond dried" 2x4s.

Tom

A lot does depend on the wood. How many years has it been drying, was it kiln dried, what was the moisture content when it was made into a stock, how straight are the grains and what direction do they run....

Was it properly sealed? If wood is not sealed properly it allows moisture to be absorbed and swelling occurs.

It also depends where you hunt. Coastal areas (like parts of Oregon and Alaska) are hell on steel. Some from the salt air, some from condensation that occurs in a humid environmet and going from cold/ very cold to warm temps.

Colorado surprises people with its very low humidity. Even the snow here tends to be "dry". As long as you don't expose your rifle to a constant stream of water, wood should be no problem.

264guy: I have Hunted Big Game for 25 years now with my Remington 700 Classic in caliber 7mm Remington Magnum!
It and its Leupold 3.5x10 scope have been out in all manner of adverse even hellaciously adverse weather!
I have Hunted Mt. Goat, spring and fall Black Bear, Elk, Antelope and 3 kinds of Deer with it!
It looks just about as good today as it did before it went to Alaska and all over the west!
Yes you must simply take along on your Hunt a simple cleaning kit!
I hope in fact YOU do find a Remington 700 Classic in 7mm Remington Magnum - they are a handsome and VERY universal Big Game Hunting Rifle!
Best of luck come Elkin time.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thanks Varmitguy,

I think a 7Mag Classic would do me just fine or maybe a 30-06,

06 kill's em just fine.

These are non-issues with laminate, plastic, and glass stocks...

Face it, walnut and blued steel are obsolete!

(ducking for cover.....)

I use both wood/blue and syn/ss. Bear in mind that stainless steel is not throughly corrosion proof and should be wiped with at least Remoil or the like after use particularily after time spent in the rain or snow. If you hunt horseback insist on or better yet purchase a high quality scabbard that preferably fits your rifle and scope. Chap leather lining is best on the inside of stiff cowhide. This system protects your rifle from dings and the elements to some degree depending upon the design and how you place it on your horse. Such a custom made scabbard will cost $300 to $500 but if you hunt off horses much you will soon discover that it is worth the price. Never ever use one of the fleece lined cloth scabbards as they gather horse sweat and will rust your rifle in a day. You will be amazed how wet your favorite old pre'64 M-70 in .264 is when you yank it our of that cloth bag come time to unsaddle. You will be as mad as a mashed rattlesnake. Actualy an old well worn scabbard is usually a decent choice if you oil it with Bick-4 or something similiar. A poorly fitting scabbard will allow your rifle to jiggle and rub the bluing in short order. As much as I love my wood and blue rifles I have to confess that I prefer the synthetic and stainless best. From 1970 to 1990 you couldn't give me one. Then I had a .338 so built and realized the merits of that combination for following elk in the rough Rockies.

Blue and wood will work-and so will wool, unlined leather boots and two wheel drive pick-ups. But, there are a lot of upgrades in equipment available today that have fewer maintenance issues, provide comfort and safety as well as utility beyond what was provided by the historic tools of the sport. In my view, stainless/synthetic rifles are an upgraded hunting tool that reduces a lot of the fussing and feuding that I went through with blue/wood rifles during long wet hunts. I have blue and stainless walnut stocked rifles, and I like and use them. But if it storming hard or I am wall tenting miles from the trail head, you will find a stainless/synthetic rifle in my hands. CP.

I would go with the SS/Synthetic option. I have both and rarely hunt the one piece wood stocked ones in bad weather.

At the very least I would run a synthetic stock.

I had a wood stock on a pre-64 FW'06 freeze on me and change the zero. I had hunted it the week before on the coast.

I like to hunt blacktails in the rain and have geared up accordingly... when I get home with a soaked rifle at night, I lean it in the corner by the woodstove (not too close). That's it. Then back in the rain the next day.

When I hold a fine blued/walnut rifle I appreciate the nice qualities they have. And they do have a real patina to them that a stainless/synth rifle won't ever posess. Good, honest wear on a quality tool, be it a rifle, guitar, or a hammer, shows the investment and appreciation that the owner made in the item.

So that's all cool. But, in the end, as much as I hunt in the rain, the practical considerations of rust and pitting, moving zero, and so just make the choice pretty obvious for me..

But western Oregon ain't Colorado, and an all-day drizzle ain't dry Rocky Mtn powder.

I'll just stick to what I said before. If the OP is worried about a shifting zero, put the rifle in the shower for 30 minutes, wait a day, and shoot it. Just see for yourself if there is a problem. and if you can't stomach putting the gun in the shower (I'd put any of my hunting guns in a frikkin' BATH with no worries) then perhaps that answers the question right there...

Never tried the shower trick.
Of course, I hunt in pretty dry country compared to you, Jeff.

I have a hunch my Montana and 700LSS would pass with flying colors, however.

Seems like a reasonable test for a rifle, IF a guy is worried about it pre-season.

I like hunting in the rain because it levels the playing field down to my level <grin>!

I don't mind hunting in the rain, but I don't get much practice with it.
I think that Montana would be up to the challenge, though.

It'll get little spots but the rain won't hurt it functionally. That's my prediction.

Here's a picture of me in the shower with my rifles:

I have gotten a few spots of rust on the trigger-guard on that Montana, from my sweaty hands, I would guess.
Perspiration is pretty corrosive!

Well since 1996 a Sako 75 SS in 338 been my go to rifle and since 2006 a Blaser R-93 in 7mm Remington Mag. I expect a rifle to get looking like its been carried and shot. What would be the point if you don't? Each one of my current rifles has a story to tell, each little ding or worm bluing or surface rust tells the tale of hunts that have very successful and abject failures. This is not to say my rifles are abused in any way or manner, more like a pair of good boots, broken in worn and well cared for.

if i hunted the rain forests of washington/oregon i'd use s/s. everyplace else i'd use wood/blue.

I built a lot of dedicated elk rifles back in the 80's but my favorite back then was a 300 Win Mag on a M70 action with stainless 24" barrel and Brown Precision stock. It went everywhere,horseback, foot,all over.Worked great.

I've hunted elk with wood/blue,too.

The best solution is to have both....today though,as back when I got my first synthetic along about '79-'80,it is hard to beat the utility of a stainless synthetic.

I've used both. Nowadays all my elk rifles are stainless and synthetic stocked.