I’m particularly interested in a very lightly used Alaskan in .338 Win Mag at my LGS. It checks a lot of boxes for me; stainless, short coupled, rifle sights, controlled feed, and rugged.

I’m interested in accuracy, any issues you guys may have had, and also what type of ammo you like for hunting moose, bear, elk…..just want to know what you fellas have to say.

Ex-Guide Gun owner here. If I was to jump on the 45-70 bandwagon again, it would be the Ruger/Marlin trapper. For me a lever gun is handier, faster and with aftermarket improved sights (not needed with the Trapper) very accurate. I only sold my Guide Gun for one reason:
Ammo cost.

Yeah, ammo cost is a little crazy but I think I’ll be able to afford to put enough rounds through it to be competent. I don’t see myself amassing the same amount of stock as my other firearms though.

I have one of the new Ruger Marlin Trappers in .357/.38. I’ve only had it since early Spring but I really like it. It may be my favorite long gun now. I plan on getting one of those in 45-70 at some point as well.

Not sure what your plans are for it. I have an MK77 MarkII in .338 win mag. Very good rifle. But are heavy. I am a huge fan of Ruger bolt actions of that era. Not sure about the one you are considering.

Fusion is mostly my go to ammo these days as I don't reload. Plenty good accuracy usually.

It will do the job on any No. American big game animal without question in .338win mag.

This is the gun I am looking at.

https://ruger.com/products/HawkeyeAlaskan/models.html

I want it for Brown Bear/Moose/Elk.

I can't speak to that model. I have a gen 1 Ruger 77 in .270. It is a fantastic rifle, with superb accuracy, gorgeous build quality, and excellent function.

I would buy a Ruger CRF rifle without hesitation.

I'd post pictures of mine, but postimages is being fucky.

ETA: Posimages unfucked itself.



A

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ArtieS,

That looks like a fine rifle. 20" is a barrel on the shorter side. Do you plan to shoot open sights?

I plan to put a scope on it with quick detach rings. I like having the irons as back up. I do not like the fact that the vast majority of modern rifles do not come with iron sights.

That's a beauty Artie!!! Thanks for posting!

I can't speak to the bolt gun, but I have had both the original 45/70 and .444 Marlin original guide guns. I only have the 45/70 now as I gave the .444 to my friend. The best thing about both calibers was how ridiculously easy they were to reload. And yes, if you want to shoot a lot, you'll want to reload, but reloading is a lot easier with straight walled brass.

All I used was a $50 Lee hand loader (about $70 now.), a set of Lee dies, and a Lee factory crimp die to load a 20 batch while watching TV in a couple hours. With the thin straight walls of the 45/70, the hand press is super easy to seat the bullet and then factory crimp it for consistency (although not necessary, it showed better consistent accuracy using the factory crimp die). These straight walled old cartridges are much easier to resize and reload then bottle necked cartridges with something as simple as the Lee hand loader, especially with hard-cast, gas-checked bullets I liked to use. In fact, I wouldn't even bother resizing the brass on most loads because with proper rifle-bore sized hard cast lead, it's larger around at the seat so the bullet end was fatter than the walls of the rest of the brass and appeared to have no effect on accuracy unlike bottle neck cartridges that have a shoulder that must conform to the chamber properly. For the straight wall cartridge, as long as I seated the bullet out to where it overlapped the rifling a tiny bit, the accuracy was consistently great. Once I settled on a good load, I'd just use dippers to put in the powder and not weigh each powder charge at all. Being a .45 sized mouth on the brass made it easy to drop the power in too. Lot easier than bottle neck brass.

Using Reloader 7 or Hodgkins H4198, it would be difficult to overload (at least with heavier bullets). My most hot-rod heavy 450+gn cartridge loads were compressed loads with these two powders, to the point where without the factory crimp, the bullet would want back out from the powder compression.

The heaviest bullet I loaded in the 45/70 was a 525 grain LFN, I hot-rod tested the rifle to the point it would bulge the brass base then backed off 10%. I shot the end of a large dry log about 1 and a half foot in diameter and about 3 foot long and the hard-cast bullet passed through end to end cleanly. I also reserved these for the space alien bear attacks, as these kicked pretty damn hard! A 350-425 was the norm for most of my shooting and plenty heavy to take down anything on this continent. The heavier bullets were generally more accurate than the lighter bullets. I think it was due to the very long bearing surface of the heavy bullets vs the lighter ones. After a combination session of fire lapping and finish hand lapping, my 45/70 was easily a 1.5 MOA with all properly sized cast bullets (larger OD than jacketed bullets). All my bullets were made by Bear Tooth Bullets, but unfortunately, they are no longer in business. Good thing I bought a larger amount previous to them going out of business.

An equivalent 45/70 heavyweight cartridge loading from some company like Buffalo Bore would be about $60+ a box of 20.

I lapped the barrel because the original Marlins were known to have a tight spot in the barrel under the rear sight dovetails (don't know if they still have the tight spots on newer production rifle barrels). Marlin originally punched the dovetails with a machine press rather than "cut" them. This caused a tight spot, that while not noticeable with regular jacketed bullets (which are undersized compared to properly fitting lead bullets), really messed with cast lead bullet accuracy. You could feel the barrel tightness on a lead bore punch passing these areas. After lapping, the tightness was gone, plus the bore was beautiful smooth!

I like lever guns way more than bolt guns, but that's just my preference. Nothing the matter with bolt guns, I just prefer working a lever over a bolt handle. Now if I shot prone a lot, the bolt would be far easier to actuate, but I hate lying on the ground so the lever is more fun!

The Original Guide gun had a 18.5 inch barrel, thick forend, and a short magazine tube. I cut down a cowboy model mag tube to match the 18.5 inch barrel length and hand cut a dovetail with file to mount the magazine tube into place. I also thinned out the fore end significantly and shortened the rear stock for a length of pull to match my little boy length arms! TO finish it off I mounted a rear receiver ghost ring sight. The only thing I wish were different is that this is the "original" guide gun and also came with porting near the muzzle. I wish it did not have the ports like later models. I also drilled out and re-threaded the fore arm metal cap mount to accept 4/40 thread because the factory thread was much finer and stripped out too easy. The original Guide gun had the straight stock, not the pistol-ish grip of the newer models.

Here's a link to a page where a guy took an Elephant (with pics) using the same gun and same bullet as my heavy loads. Probably near exact same load. Marlin Guide Gun takes Elephant

Xer0,
I appreciate your detailed response. I think if my LGS would have had a Trapper in 45/70 in stock I would have probably gotten that before the .338 Win Mag Ruger Alaskan. Both are on my list, so I went with what was available.
I do not have the ability to reload yet, but it is also in my plan for the relatively near future.

quote:

Originally posted by Browndrake:
..lightly used.. .338 Win Mag

They tend to go hand in hand.

While not a Guide Gun, I have a Marlin 1895 Ltd. IV and love it.

It is in the category of firearms I will never get rid of, although I may lend it to my son for an Alaskan moose hunt.

Yeah, it is helpful to reload for rifles with higher recoil. I was kinda jonesing for a ‘big bore’ & went to the 375 Ruger.

Not trying to be too much of a wuss, I’ve only loaded mild rounds so far. For the most part, I think my 300WSM is as much as I’m likely to use hunting.

I’ve had a Guide Gun in .450 Marlin for years. It’s accurate and reliable. It’s got ghost ring sights so it’s easy to shoot fast. Recoil is stiff but not prohibitive with 350 grain soft nose bullets. I kinda wish it was in .45-70 with all the ammo options available today.

quote:

Originally posted by Paddy314:
I’ve had a Guide Gun in .450 Marlin for years. It’s accurate and reliable. It’s got ghost ring sights so it’s easy to shoot fast. Recoil is stiff but not prohibitive with 350 grain soft nose bullets. I kinda wish it was in .45-70 with all the ammo options available today.

Is there any reason you can't reload the 450 Marlin? The only difference in cartridges is that the case capacity of the 450 is a "tiny" bit less than the 45/70, with the bonus that the 450 Marlin brass case is much stronger should last more heavy reloads than the thinner walled 45/70 brass. Powder types, charges, and bullets for reloading are near identical for both. 450 Marlin commercial ammo is pretty much relegated to hot ammo and is NOT cheap. However if you're looking for more plinkable lower power loads, any soft shooting 45/70 loads should be duplicates in terms of brand, type, and charge volume in the 450 Marlin.

When I wanted a heavy hitter I went with the Weatherby Dangerous Game Rifle (DGR).
I bought mine in 375 Weatherby Magnum (now discontinued) as it will shoot the 375 Weatherby cartridge or a 375 H&H.
It has a tolerable recoil in 375 H&H but is nasty when shooting the 375 Weatherby cartridge.
I made one trip to the range with it and learned respect for the thump of the 375 Weatherby cartridge. My buddy asked to try it and immediately found a new gash above his eye after one trigger squeeze.
I sent the rifle to Weatherby to have a muzzle brake installed.They could not do the install because the front site was too close to the end of the barrel. I asked that they forward the rifle to Randy Selby for the brake job. Randy did a great job of removing the front site installing the brake and re-installing a new front site.
I would have no problem using this rifle in 375 H&H for anything that I would use a 338 magnum for. To chamber a 375 Weatherby I would need a life or death situation.
I have yet to shoot this rifle with the brake installed.

https://weatherby.com/store/ma...angerous-game-rifle/