Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Question for Alaskan`s on brand of rifle

Many a young guide starting out goes with Tikka. Right now I can think of four young assistant guides with their Tikka SLs. The SW exclusive TX SL is favored over the others. Most put a Leupold vx3i 4-14 on them and just go. I have noticed that the young guides move up to Christiansen and then they go straight custom after a couple of seasons. It is also noticeable that some outfits do not have their guides carry a rifle of all relying on the client rifle which the young guide carries during most of the trip to insure it doesn't get knocked out of alignment.Too me, this is a little risky as in Alaska two is one and one is often none.

I know that the chassis rifles are making inroads. I am seeing more of the Sig Cross rifles that fold up and the MDT and KLG chassis are being mentioned more because a foldable rifle that doesn't get caught up in the alders on the way up to above treeline is a wonder.

There are a lot of Christiansen mesas and ridgelines being sold. They took a lot of thunder out of Remington sales. I still see Brownings sell but have not noticed as much movement with the savages that were a hot item not very long ago.

One must not forget that "guides" are not the supermen most make them out to be...

Aside from a few gun savvy notable guys, most of the others are just reg gundummy dudes who are followers & have no clue... in regard to ballistics.. internal nor external

Opinions from them are simply regurgitated bs from others

What a fuqking blaviating lard ass... Swamplard

if i was on Alaska brown bear hunt i would trust my guide and hope he has a good 3 position safety on his rifle or a good Ruger rifle period . i also never realized how popular the 375 Ruger cartridge is . there are some great posts from some great people too . thanks again,Pete53

The Rugers will work well. Just never seen one in our guides or clients hands.

Mauser action 458 win mag has never let me down and has stopped enough brown bears to know it works.

And now I have lied. All this and I forgot a buddy had a client with a Ruger 416 ruger leave it as a tip and he now uses it. no flies on it.

Another has a blaser straight pull rechambered to 416 ruger. Thats a sweet rifle for sure.

So yup, I forgot, one ruger.

As to 3 position safety why? myself and other guides, never use safety. if there is a round in the chamber IE the need for it, the last thing I want is a safety failing. Hunt safety off, and may well remove it eventually, cold chamber as a guide until....and I maintain control of my rifle at all times so I know if the bolt might open... YMMV

I"m sure they are out there and if I hunted for myself I might see them. But even then I hunt away from people and don't really see much other than clients stuff generally speaking. The folks I hunt with locally when I have time don't run rugers. Though Iv'e run a #1 some. 338/.378 and 416 Rigby. I just see a lot of other rifles out there.

I suspect years ago the ruger may have been the bigger norm. I"d have assumed I'd see a lot of boat paddle rugers and again they may be out there.

What a great thread and interesting read this morning!

I absolutely concur with with this statement. Go to any LGS or a hunting club and listen to the absolute ignorance……many guides making near nothing in wages are no different. memtb

I've noticed that a bit. But I'm fortunate to work with most that are a bit above average. Although I've yet to run into a true loony like me.

Kind of like cops I suspect. They aren't cops because they are gun loony for the most part. Military too. Most barely get by.

Which kind of amazes me that you don't see more savage axis type rifles out and about so to speak. Though Ruger 77s where kind of that in the day. Back in the days when I wanted one of every 77 they made. Until Bill became dumb... digressing again.

Correct! I left out the police, and while it’s been years since I worked in law enforcement…..the firearm aptitude was beyond a low score. The same for the majority of ex military……except those in specialized units, which is a small minority of the total numbers listed as veterans! memtb

It is true in my experience that guides in general are not gun enthusiast. In some ways, that makes them more perceptive, as they simply care about what works, not what they want to work, or what they dreamed up in their head. Most guides I know do not do a lot of personal hunting, and may not own very many firearms, especially expensive, fancy ones. But they do get much experience seeing what works by sheer volume. Each client is a new rifle and a new lesson. When you do something for a living you note what tools work and what don't. There will still be differences of experience and opinion but you do notice trends. One of the most notable and universal is that those who brag a lot about their skill or equipment are rarely much good with it.

I see this as mostly accurate. However, many are only in the field a short period of time before finding other forms of employment (low wages). Couple this with it takes a bit of time to determine (in one’s mind) what works best and what doesn’t, with the aforementioned limited income. This severely limits the numbers of quality firearms in the field carried by the typical guide.

Another possible problem ….. many of the hunters that the guides contact are wealthy, less than firearm knowledgeable hunters. So the guide sees firearms he/she can’t afford, and often see failures in the field by hunters that themselves are less than proficient with therir firearm!

In the guide’s defense…..often they don’t have a great hunter/client base with which to learn from! JMO. memtb

Fair enough and appreciate you sharing your experiences rost495.

Never really saw many clients with M77's. Then they started showing up in the camps I worked in on the Peninsula when the 375 ruger came on the scene. A lot of non rifle looney guides (and looney guides!) stared carrying them as well it seemed. Solid rifle in 375 at a decent price point got the attention of working guides and the more blue collar client on a once in a lifetime hunt. I had my H&H so I never did get one.

Traveling in and out of rural villages I've always noticed MKII's and now Hawkeyes too.

Like yourself I gravitate away from the crowds when hunting so outside of guiding and passing through places where guns are hanging on wheelers and boats I'm out of the loop on what the average AK hunter is packing. I haven't seen another person when out sheep or moose hunting for myself other than my lady in years actually. Not seeing people while out and about is a bigger draw than shooting something anymore!

I totally agree with you on the 3 position trigger. I carry with safety on fire on an empty chamber too.

The only brand rifle I would not hunt with again on the Alaskan coast would be a Remington 700. Took me about 5 trips to Kodiak and experiencing the trigger freezing up before I ditched them and went with Rugers, Savages, or Winchester (my favorite).

My boss guided the Aleutians for years with a 700 and never an issue. 30 days appx in the field a season. YMMV.

I'm no fan of Remington stuff. Buts it's hard to deny that scores of seasoned and novice Alaskans have had great success in very harsh conditions, using Remington 700's.

It's simply the case, regardless of narrow points of view and opinion.

Many Remington 700 variants are still very popular and the push feed vs crf nonsense is overated.

THE most reliable gun I've ever hunted with, was a push feed.

A browning 95 scout in my 41-9.3x62 wildcat. It easily out-did my oberndorf sporter and two ruger Hawkeyes.

From 30-50 below zero winter hunts, to being full of river grit along the upper Yukon tributaries, I NEVER cleaned it.

We had and I still have a number of Remington 700 Rifles that were used for everything. Oftentimes my father would buy them from busted down folks needing a planeticket/ or gas money to the L48. We saw them as accurate rifles that were easy to get on target. We were packing out moose meat from an area that was infested with high numbers of grizzlies as it was along a king salmon spawning stream. We put the gun, a Remington 700 ADL in 270 winchester in the center area of gutless our 2wd wonder 1978 Pickup and my brother moved the safety from safe to fire. We had an accidental discharge. The bullet went through the baseboard but luckily missed anything vital but my father chewed him up one side and down the other. We were rocking Winchesters soon after that. I still have all of those old Remingtons. It is kind of interesting. I never had bad luck with them.

That reminds me of a very funny story…….for another thread! memtb

Kaboku68, I've always admired your passion, and keen eye for history around rifles.

You take a fairly mundane tool and extract as much fun and storied information as possible.

Very few Alaskans get as much joy out of it, as you do. It's interesting.

The push feed of the 700 did not bother me in the least. It was the water getting caught inside the enclosed trigger then freezing. We all have different experiences. I wouldn’t hesitate to use a 700 when hunting the interior. But never again on the coastal areas when the rifle is exposed to a lot of moisture and sub freezing temperatures.