Annual Caribou hunt

[mdeland]

Some on the river shots of this spectacular country! My son-in-law and his hunting bud in the green raft.

[bobw]

Nice pics Mike ,but you know if you would have built that gun on a FN you probably would have got to use it. bobw

[mdeland]

Yeah, maybe so Bob! I used a commercial FN to build my brother-in-law a .300 Win Mag some 30 years ago and he really liked the gun.
Never did like the bolt handles on FN's though and the safety needs replaced with a model 70 Win style.
I prefer to re-build and customizing the better Military actions after re-heat treating them. The 09 Argentine 98 actions with original bottom metal make the best looking Mauser's in my opinion.
The one on my gun was a Chezk Mauser that I had re-heat treated and the rings contour ground. I welded on the model 70 style bolt handle and added the Win style safety.

[mdeland]

I got to looking at the pictures of my rifle this AM and realized there was another story there and that is of the weather checked Latigo shooting sling on the rifle. That sling has been on every rifle and big game hunt I have ever experienced in the last 48 years of living here. Man I wish it could talk and remind me of all the miles of rivers , alder thickets and mountains we've been over together.
She's getting a little long in the tooth but still firm and works as good as ever.

[bobw]

Understand about slings and knives that have been with us forever. Been using the same Green River Russell sheepskinner knife I bought in 1974 all this time. The simple 1" leather sling Remington put on their BDL model 700's in the 60's and 70's is still the most used favorite sling I use. By FN model I simply mean the real ones with the cocking piece safety, the trigger safety model copies are ok but I like the ones like on Sears model 51's and Huskavarna's. My objection to military 98 actions is the short mag box and having to short seat your bullets because of it. bobw

[mdeland]

Yeah, that can be an issue but it isn't to bad of a job to lengthen the end of the magazine a bit and shorten the feed ramp about .125. The 280/338 seats the Nosler 210 grain base of bullet at the shoulder neck junction and they feed perfectly. Even with the Hornady 225 grain feeding is perfect. I'm getting 2900 on the 210 Nosler and a bit over 2800 with the Hornady so the overall cartridge length is optimum.
Going to Mag cartridges in the standard Mauser is where the work begins as feed rails need to be altered and here a little bit goes a really long way, plus the bolt face and extractor has to be opened up.
By far I feel two major things must be done on any action rebuild. Lapping the bolt lugs level with their seats and facing the front of the receiver square. I've even rebarreled new Remington's that did not have both lugs touching the seats evenly or at all on one side.
In the 98 Mauser the trick for good accuracy is to get both the internal barrel face seat and the barrel shoulder seat to bear compression as evenly as possible. This can only be done by spotting them in simultaneously. Most just do the barrel shoulder and leave the barrel face with some slack but the closer you fit both the more ridged the joint and the deeper the case wall is supported by chamber.
It's not so much the single things that are done well that contributes to accuracy as it is the accumulation of all the little things done well.

[Michael Johnson]

Mike if you did not use an aircraft how did you get your gear and yourselves to the put-in? Two trucks, one on each end? Just curious as to the trip mechanics. Love the photos! - Mike

[bruce m]

bobw,
I too have an affinity for the rem700 bdl sling.
I have 2 of them and look after them.
they fit into the groove of your shoulder as you walk, and try to slip off much less than those wide abominations popular today.
they also catch the wind less than a wide sling when shooting offhand.
bruce.

[Glen Ring]

These may be dumb questions..but I'm a detail guy when planning. What did you do for water? Did you process it before drinking and if so how? How much and what kinds of food did you bring and the amounts for each Hunter??

[mdeland]

Yeah, a truck at both ends Mike. It can be done with one truck and a 4 wheeler course it is a 42 mile trip one way back to the put in. We have also done it with trucks clear into Clinton Canada.

[Michael Johnson]

Glen, when the boys and I did this hunt we filtered our water out of the river (Charlie river) a tributary of the Yukon. We used an MSR water filter. My son and his friend Erik made up freeze dried meals that we quickly supplemented with Caribou tenderloins. Dave and I (the two 60 somethings) brought along spices, seasonings, Single Malt scotch and wine. We ate very well for our ten day trip.Caribou, unguided is a very affordable, doable hunting trip in the great state of Alaska. The Caribou tag was 350 for a non resident. The airfare on Alaska was done for free on Alaska Air credit card points. The most expensive part was a bush flight with 40 mile air out of Tok, AK for 1895 dollars per person.To do a fully guided trip you could spend 6000-8000 per person.I highly recommend this adventure.

[mdeland]

We carry some jug water and a couple of water purifiers. We cook and have coffee with boiled river water so it can be done without carrying any jug water. As for food we usually take lots of bacon, potatoes, onions and cheese to make Gorilla barf every morning. That stuff will last you all day long and then some. This year we did lots of snacks and freeze dried stuff. With a raft you can take quite a few lbs of comfort stuff course if you get a couple of caribou and a bear there is hardly any place to sit on the float out. Chris was perched on top a pile of meat on the outbound leg in 2017. Looked like a meat barge the last day with two caribou racks on top of our meat pile and gear.

[Michael Johnson]

Glen, we each had a 50 pound pack plus our rifles. I carried a 375 (the camp bear gun), my son had his 270, his friend Erik carried my 300 WSM, my friend Dave had a 257 Weatherby. We had a 3.5 pound electric fence that we put around our campsite as well as another around our meat cache 100 yards downwind. Numerous signs of bear activity but no problems whatsoever. I had a rented Iridium Sat phone, mainly for contact with the air service.

[Lumpy Grits]

mdeland-The bolt rifle you use...........
Would love to hear the details of how you built it, and the load used-and info on the scope.
I have never seen the fold down sight before-Does it interfere with loading the rifle in any way??
What finish do you use on the metal?
Thanks again for the great pictures and the follow up
Gary

[mdeland]

Mike, how did you get to Tok? Did you eat at Fast Eddy's across the road from 40-mile Air? We make sure to always stop there on the way in and out! Kind of the local water hole/restaurant and place to see what hunters have gotten in the area. Every one likes to come through and show their racks off. Great food at a reasonable price and large portions.