Extra rifle?

[DrMike]

Fixed it for you.

When I was invited last fall to hunt with DrMike in the mountains I took 2 rifles with me but took only one of them on the actual hunt storing the other at DrMike. When I have hunted back in the bush normally I take a second rifle & leave it at camp!!

DrMike was so impressed at having to hunt with 4 lefties :lol: I was concerned that I might not be able to find my second rifle to take home :mrgreen: only because I thought that DrMike felt left out.
Gil had mentioned to gerry and myself that he was quite sure that DrMike secretly wanted to be a lefty after seeing our combined untied skills

Blessings,
Dan

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I have always taken a spare rifle when hunting any distance from home. Only once did I need it. I was in Northern Canada hunting bears. The rain was relentless for hours. Ultimately, the scope fogged and the stock swelled slightly. The stock issue was only cosmetic but the scope was out of commission.

Now, all of my buddies carry an extra rifle even though one spare between us all would be enough.

Charlie if you take the back eyepiece off your scope you can dry out a rifle scope and continue to hunt. Is it Ideal No but it works and has no effect on sights. Just count threads when you put back on so your close to focus when reinstalled.

 

[Blkram]

The BLR chambered in 358 Win is as classic as it is classy. BlkRam "stole" my last BLR. Guess I'll have to buy another one day. :grin: It does work well in the bush.

Now Mike,

You know that I bought that BLR off of you in a moment of your weakness when you decided you could live without it! Not sure how you came to that conclusion, but I thought that I had better buy it so that some other lucky guy wouldn't become so attached to it so as you would never get a chance of rectifying your moment of reckless abandonment.

A BLR that prints 1/3 MOA! Couldn't let that walk out of your life forever.

 

[DrMike]

Well, I have to admit that we did come out somewhat even. Gill did leave behind a Remington 280 Anniversary model (it sends 150 grain ABLR bullets at an amazing clip with excellent accuracy, dispatching elk and mule deer with aplomb) when he walked off with my BLR. I may still have to buy another BLR. :wink: That was the third one that walked out of my life after a torrid love affair.

 

[35 Whelen]

Of course a different way to look at this thread is , if you cant hit anything with the first gun, there is always a chance, you will get lucky with the other one!!!!
Funny thing is years ago when guys used to call my dad about booking a trip and asked about bringing a second gun he always told em, sure bring your .22 there is lots of red squirrels around here

 

[Polaris]

I would select a rifle in a fairly common caliber (30-06, 300 wm, etc so if there's an ammo problem you might have a chance at replacement) that is fitted with backup iron sights. The most likely part of your rig to fail is the optics package, if your irons are sighted in, at least you'd have a backup. Might be cheap insurance to stock a spare firing pin also.

When I used to guide bear and sometimes moose, I gave fly-in clients the same advice, and I absolutely would not allow a spare long-gun on canoe based wilderness trips. As the guide, I carried a very ugly, very reliable, very serviceable rifle for camp and tracking. After we tagged out 2guys on a really long BWCA trip, had one client question what would happen if he were forced to use the monstrosity I was carrying (an ancient Rem 721 in 30-06). After I bounced three out of four shots off a head sized rock on a point some 400 yards away, his uneasiness was assuaged. Guides tend to have pretty serviceable rifles.

 

[CamoHunter]

Thanks Polaris those were all good points. I am committed to using my 300 H&H so I will have to make sure that I safeguard my ammo. I am thinking that it would be easier to keep a watchful eye on just one rifle since we are riding in on the ATV's. I was originally thinking of taking two rifles but now leaning on just one. This will be easier to take care of one rifle/ammo combo during the trip.
I will probably go back and forth a few times on the issue before fall arrives.

Camo

 

[Polaris]

Another thing you can do to hedge your bets is use removeable Loctite on your scope mounts. You should also find the correlation between your old fashioned bore sight (down the barrel) and your actual zero. If you are not able to fire the rifle to verify zero once you reach camp, this will at least give you some method of confirming no zero shift after a long ATV ride.

A spare compact scope on a QD mount zeroed to your rifle might not be a horrible piece of kit to pack along.

 

[tecumseh]

I take two with me when I go to Montana, my 280 is my main rifle and I carry my 444 Marlin hiking in and out where we hunt in case we cross paths with a grizzly plus I have it as a backup rifle if I was to need one, I also pack my Ruger Alaskan 44 mag too.