Pondering My .338 Win Mag

V

Vince2

Handloader
Jan 21, 2022
287
318
As I’ve already posted elsewhere I’m planning on moving to Anchorage around July. I’m wondering what to do about my favorite rifle.

I live in the desert. It’s hot and dry so I’m unaccustomed to this thing called rain. My environment is very good for blued guns.

Now with all that said my favorite rifle is my Winchester Model 70 CRF in .338 Winchester Magnum. It is a blued firearm in a McMillan stock. It has a 26” barrel plus a muzzle break. Hence it’s kind of long. It’s great for reaching out and smacking something way out there.

Given that it is a blued rifle with almost a longer barrel than I am tall should I be looking at getting a stainless rifle with a shorter barrel? Or perhaps just having some sort of hydrophobic finish baked on the gun? Or should I just not worry about it and go with it?

Also, been thinking about adding a .308 Scout Rifle to the mix for varmints or perhaps an AR10 or M1A. Of course I’ll have my Marlin lever action 45-70 with me in Alaska too. What say y’all?

Vince
 
You won't be disappointed with an appropriate coating on your rifle. On the other hand, the blued rifle will hold up if you are prepared to invest time to thoroughly dry it, keep it oiled and ensure that it is stored in a dry environment. There are any number of ways to assist in keeping your safe dry today. It sounds as if you will be well equipped with what you have and with what you are thinking of adding.
 
I’ve packed a lot of blued rifles around Alaska with me, I routinely cleaned them. If you are in the interior, really it’s not any harder on rifles than Eastern Oregon or Washington, Idaho panhandle country or anywhere west of Billings. If you’re on the coast, that’s a different story. As far as blued rifles are concerned if you can see salt water there will be salt on your guns.
 
As mentioned above already. And/or:
Teflon and Cerakote will do fine in protecting the metal finish.
Take the gun apart and completely seal the interior wood finish of the stock.

Yes, a stainless/synthetic back up rifle in a shorter configuration, will be another option.
Just remember that stainless is not impervious to rust, just more corrosion resistant. You will still need to strip it down and dry it after each day's use in order for it to stay in good shape.
And do not over oil it, as this will get gummy/sticky in the cold and could cause it to jam it completely at the worst possible moment (Brown/grizzly bears do not truly hibernate!)

Another option is to look at the 338 RCM, if you can locate one, and the ammo.
Better yet, there is the 375 Ruger Guide guns, or Steyr 376 Scout rifle (a little harder to find along with the ammo). Would pair up nicely with the 308 Scout rifle.
 
Vince,

I agree with the others.
Another thought would be a nice stainless composite stock rifle chambered for 375 H&H Mag.

JD338
 
I have a Winchester M70 Stainless classic in .338 Win. Mag. It too has a 26" barrel and brake. Still beats me to death. I shoot a .416 Rigby and it doesn't hurt me like that .338 Mag does. Frankly, I'd like to get rid of that plastic stock and put something with a bit more weight to it in it's place. Either that or get rid of it.
Paul B.
 
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After several years of babying blued and wood guns in AK... I gave up and went to Cerakoted stainless. I clean my rifle once a year whether it needs it or not and couldn't be any happier.

I've hunted everywhere in the Greatland with it... coastal, Interior, swamps, mountains, rain forest; it's never let me down and held up far better than I thought it would or could.

The only place I've hunted where I genuinely wanted a shorter rifle was Kodiak. The brush was just ridiculously thick and the 24" barrel + suppressor got hung up on brush constantly. Your 26" barrel would be fine as is, but you could chop it to 22" and not lose a lot of MV, give it a good coat of ceramic and you'll be set.
 
Car wax works great on the outside, even wood. However, if you don't have every nook/cranny/under the butt plate/pad, the wood will end up swelling. You can seal it with a good Varathane type sealer. I grew up in SE Texas and it rained seemingly every day I ever hunted! I kept all our guns/wood in great shape just by using a rag and the old "3 in 1" oil, ha. If the rain became a downpour, I simply put the rifle under my rain parka. Alpine Innovations makes a rain slicker which will slow it down some. When I moved here to Utah and old gunsmith turned me on to simple TriLube. I just wet the metal down, let dry overnight. No rust.
 
If you’re really worried about it I’d go with nitride finish over cerakoat. I wouldn’t worry too much on the barrel length. A 20” 375 H&H stainless model 70 is never a bad thing to have in Alaska.

Blues guns will take a bit more maintenance and likely show more wear but will serve you well
 
PJGunner said:
I have a Winchester M70 Stainless classic in .338 Win. Mag. It too has a 26" barrel and brake. Still beats me to death. I shoot a .416 Rigby and it doesn't hurt me like that .338 Mag does. Frankly, I'd like to get rid of that plastic stock and put something with a bit more weight to it in it's place. Either that or get rid of it.
Paul B.
Click to expand...
Paul,

I found the McMillan stock and a Limbsaver recoil pad do quite well at taming the .338 Maggie.

Vince
 
Vince get some Birchwood Casey stock and metal wax take the action out of the stock and wax the metal good and put it back in the stock, I have done that for as long as I can remember to all my hunting guns and have had no trouble with rust.
 
Found a 375 Ruger Guide Gun with 6 rounds down the pipe for a steal of a price.

I’ll take the Ruger and the 338 to Alaska. Of course my 45-70 is going along too. I’ll likely have the Maggie Cerakoted soon too.

Now if the auction gods smile on me I’ll have some Hornady 200 grain SST’s and Nosler 250 grain Partitions.

Vince
 
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