Moose Rifles...new The Alaska Life piece.

Nice read, thanks for posting the link

JD338
 
Excellent article Mike and very true

I have been fortunate enough to hunt these brutes in Alaska, Russia and Europe. And Mike makes an excellent point about the 6.5 x 55 and the size of "moose" in the world. I have used the 6.5 x 55 in Europe. But in Alaska and Russia I used the 375 H & H. The animals in Russia and Alaska are HUGE, at least where we hunted them. I admit that all the Moose that we hunted were under 100 yards, so I can not relate to 300 plus yard shots for moose. I do remember being told, that they are dead after you shoot them, they just dont know it. I found that to be true in Alaska and Russia but not Europe.

It is encouraging to me to see people like Mike and Cheyenne promote, "more" rifle, instead of less. Cheyenne swears by the 348 for Moose, Bear, Muskox. and Bison, which makes me ask you this question Mike. The "old-timers" in Alaska loved it and now a young hunter in Canada loves it--why did it fall out of favor ? My gut feeling it was just replaced ( like the 340 Weatherby ) by something new-different anyway.

Great article, enjoyed reading it, thanks Mike
 
Thanks again Mike!

I sure do enjoy hunting, reloading, and shooting rifles.

I think I’m becoming a crank.

Some of my co-workers, will take 3-5 shoots a year between sight in and hunting.. makes no sense to me and is obvious when they complain about a lost critter.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Good article. I enjoyed!

Never shot a moose. Hardest part seems to be drawing the "once in a lifetime" Washington tag.

Next hardest part (and I might rearrange these) seems to be packing it out! Yikes!

Hopefully a moose tag, someday. I'd settle for shiras moose here in Washington, Idaho or BC.

Those BIG BOYS up in Alaska are just that... Giants.

Guy
 
Guy, I took a Maine Moose back in 1999. Live weight was 802 lbs. I can remember the guide going to his son's farm, driving a tractor back, maneuvering it through the woods and putting the moose in a position where we could get it behind his pickup truck. He then hooked up a line in such a way that he was able to winch the moose into the back of the truck. I was lucky that my moose dropped near a logging road. I've seen moose dropped off the beaten path and boy were they nightmares.
 
Europe":2fsgy8xv said:
Cheyenne swears by the 348 for Moose, Bear, Muskox. and Bison, which makes me ask you this question Mike. The "old-timers" in Alaska loved it and now a young hunter in Canada loves it--why did it fall out of favor ?

I think the .348 had a couple strikes against it... like the Model 12 shotgun, it was simply expensive to manufacture. It was also impossible to scope just as scope sight became the norm.

It was replace by the Model 88... a product vastly inferior.
 
hodgeman":k7xsak4s said:
Europe":k7xsak4s said:
Cheyenne swears by the 348 for Moose, Bear, Muskox. and Bison, which makes me ask you this question Mike. The "old-timers" in Alaska loved it and now a young hunter in Canada loves it--why did it fall out of favor ?

I think the .348 had a couple strikes against it... like the Model 12 shotgun, it was simply expensive to manufacture. It was also impossible to scope just as scope sight became the norm.

It was replace by the Model 88... a product vastly inferior.

Mike, I will agree to the first two but the 88 being vastly inferior I cannot get behind. The 88’s are still darned good rifles, accurate and the ones made Pre 1964 were darned nice. I do love the 71’s but the 88’s made more more sense for the times as they fixed the reasons why the 71 went extinct and did it in a respectable rifle.

Only one moose here so far... The little 7 Rem worked pretty well. If I was to go on a moose hunt today I’d spend a week trying to sort out what rifle I’d take. Might be one of those old dirty 71’s or a 35 of some form or fashion.
 
SJB358":23ro5oqo said:
I will agree to the first two but the 88 being vastly inferior I cannot get behind. The 88’s are still darned good rifles, accurate and the ones made Pre 1964 were darned nice. I do love the 71’s but the 88’s made more more sense for the times as they fixed the reasons why the 71 went extinct and did it in a respectable rifle.

Maybe I wasn't as fair to the M88 as I could be. For the period they were pretty nice rifles. My biggest gripe with them is the triggers were just straight up horrible. I get that they wanted to make the trigger travel with the lever, but it adds a bunch of linkage and odd geometry. A gunsmith friend once remarked that they not only made a rifle with a bad trigger, but arranged it so it couldn't be fixed.

Most lever guns come up short on the trigger quality at best, but the M88 (and M100) was just a new level of bad.
 
Mike, thanks good point, but I think the Browning 348 eliminates the no scope point

I like the 71 348 and think it is one of the best mid to upper caliber made, especially for up close and personal hunting in places like Alaska. The looks and design is not chopped liver --of the original 71 and/or the Browning

Scotty, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in my humble opinion the 88 does not look like a mans rifle,-----to illustrate my point you never saw John Wayne shooting an 88. Maybe a "pilgrim" might have one in his movies, but not him
 
Europe":4s598z2v said:
Mike, thanks good point, but I think the Browning 348 eliminates the no scope point

I like the 71 348 and think it is one of the best mid to upper caliber made, especially for up close and personal hunting in places like Alaska. The looks and design is not chopped liver --of the original 71 and/or the Browning

Scotty, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in my humble opinion the 88 does not look like a mans rifle,-----to illustrate my point you never saw John Wayne shooting an 88. Maybe a "pilgrim" might have one in his movies, but not him

Point taken.... I suppose... :mrgreen:
 
A really good article. With my health, I will never go for a moose or elk but enjoy reading about them. I still want a 71 and and enjoy shooting big bore but for what I hunt I don't need them. If I'm having a bad week, a few rounds of 375 H&H always seems to settle my nerves and lower my blood pressure!
 
Very informative article. Thanks for posting.

On the model 88 comments, I could be wrong but I never viewed the 88 as a replacement for the model 71, some might have used it that way once they started chambering it in the 358, but even the little 243 was produced at twice the numbers of 358, and the 308 was about double the 243.

I always looked at it as a gun brought out to compete against the savage 99. As far as to use and not for a collector, personally I'd walk by 5 model 88's to look at a decent 99, but that's my opinion.
 
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