Pick My Truck Gun

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OK now I need to know why I should not get the Enfiled..ie lets comparatively debate ruggedness ergos cold weather reliability accuracy etc....
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say neither.

While the Mosins are good guns and the 7.62x54R is .30-06 level in power, they are prone to jam in my expierence. And you won't hit the broad side of a bear's ??? at 300yds.


Since you already have an AR at home, why not one in the car too? (parts commonality if you do ever have to 'bug out' with the other rifle.) Now, .223 will just piss off a moose, so perhaps a .308 is in order. AR-10? Or possibly an AR and a bolt gun in a magnum .338 caliber is what the doctor ordered. Albit about 10x your desired cost.

Get stainless/chrome lined guns, and don't worry about 'em.

Then again, a .375H&H would do the job nicely too.
 
Well who can argue with an AR-10? Except that then you've got a bit of a theft risk. It's a truck gun we're talking about, so it can't be too $$. I don't think auto insurance would cover it.

A mismatched old 91/30 might be prone to jam, but I'm recommending an M-39 Finn. These were *made* for operating in the snow with gloves no by people who knew all about the cold. Accuracy ranges from good to excellent and if you calibrate your load to the tangent sight you don't need a scope.

Ammo is dirt cheap in town at Ammo King and Gun Runners.
 
By your criteria I think the Enfield is just about unbeatable. The only variation to that theme might be an Ishapore Enfield in .308. A bit more power and some of them came with 12rd. magazines rather than 10rd. Marcus
 
I don't know about where you guys live, but .303, 7.62x39, and 7.62 Russian are fairly uncommon, except at Army surplus and gun stores. I'd pick a more common caliber for survival, personally.

.30-30 may not have much after 200 yards, but theoretically, you shouldn't have to shoot anything that far away, anyway, right? Plenty of moose and grizzlies have fallen to the .30-30, or so I've read on Guns and Shooting Online.

IMHO a nice synthetic budget bolt action, such as a Howa/Savage, in .308/.30-06/whatever would do well.
 
lets comparatively debate ruggedness ergos cold weather reliability accuracy etc....
Click to expand...
Ruggedness and reliability have been proven from the mud of Flanders, to the sands of Africa the snows of the Italian Alps. The Canadian Rangers use them year round, including winters above the Arctic Circle. They served along side the M1 in the winters of Korea, the jungles of the SW Pacific and on every continent. A Lee Enfield in good shape is more accurate than most people can shoot. You may not find .303 at Wal-Mart, but any good gun shop will have it and you can always order it online. Reloading Dies are standard fare in the Lee and RCBS catalog. .312" bullets from 125 to 200 grns are available from Sierra, Speer and Hornaday. The light bullets for the 7.62x39 can be used to load some very sweet plinking ammo. 200grn SPs can be loaded to take bear and moose without over loading the rifle.

The Ishapore 2A1 in .308/7.62 is as good as any Lee Enfield and will handle any factory .308 Win. ammo. The Ishy also has a 12 shot mag, and can be loaded from 7.62 NATO stripper clips.

I know very few people who can actually operate the bolt of an MN with the rifle at their shoulder. With a little practise, you can work the Enfield bolt without moving you head from the stock or even loosing your sight picture. Even the Mauser with a turned down bolt has to be moved to work the bolt, even if it's just lifting your head so you don't smack yourself.

While the SMLE took 22 years to refine, it went on to serve 60 years in frontline service. The Mauser took 37 years to 'refine' and was being traded off to 2nd line units and cut up for scrap after barely 47 years active service. In fact Lee Enfields are still being used in several places. US troops have taken casualties from .303 fire in Afganistan and Iraq. One US Soldier in Iraq is reported to have used a captured LE to wipe out an enemy mortar crew at 200 yards.

Based on its features, capabilities, ease of maintianance and cost, the Enfield, or its Ishapore cousin, is the best bargain around.
 
Truck guns imo are carried alot shot seldom, in your neck of the woods it sounds like you are worried about 4 legged varmits not 2, depending on the size of your truck, I would start with the Enfield in its No-5 or 6 form up to the No-4.
Go to the www.303british.com page,, lots of info for the brit, if your thinking M-44 go from there to the forum site of Parrllax's and look at the scout mount that Darrell builds, thats the way i would go, once you decide pick one load and stay with not need to monkey around with loads in a last ditch weapon
 
WildAlaska, I don't think a Yugo SKS can be beat for all around duty. The quality is top notch on all the examples I've seen. I mean they are amazing for the price. Really puts a new Mini-14 to shame and then some. It's sad really! But I'm sure you know, running a gunshop and with all your experience. And they have been 100% reliable for me. Not even a burp with the cheap silver bear ammo or brass cased stuff.
 
I've GOTTA interject here. What about a good CZ 24? You get the advantage of the Mauser action, cheap ammo, fairly short gun, no autoloader blues in cold weather, and more knockdown power than either of your initial selections. Bending the bolt is a breeze. In the end, if you decide to do MORE with the gun, you've got a solid action to work on. Think about it. I'll trade you my Mauser for a nicely machined Remington 600 Magazine Baseplate! :D
 
Go with the Enfield. It's a No. 4, right? Then it will have peep-sights far superior to the SKS, or the Mosin Nagant M44 for that matter. You hit harder, farther, and more accurately with it compared to the SKS. I don't know how to compare ruggedness, but they are both supposed to be milsurp rifles with very good track records so it might be up to the individual rifle (I have a SKS and a No. 4, but I baby'em :rolleyes: ) and ergonomics are a personal matter. Besides, I don't think you can get the SKS with a bent-down bolt :neener: .
 
Enfield. Doesn't kick as hard as the M38/44, isn't too long, operates fast, holds ten rounds, has some real power behind it for thos bears, better sights than the SKS or MN, ten round capacity and you can always add a bayonet later if you think you might have a close encounter of the bear kind...

But the SKS is also a good choice, reliable and decently accurate. It's not like you'll be making any long range shots. If you have a car, you can outrun critters... and people. Might not be enough power in it to fend off a bear... although you get ten rounds.
 
HMMM, I just went out and checked in my pickup, (where else would you keep a truck gun?) found a #4 mk2 with a 17" barrel, sourdough front sight, synthetic stock, coupla mags, one with hard ball, one with RN soft points, a can of bandoleirs, and a swiss cleaning kit.
Conclusive proof that you want an Enfield, because, A; It's a gun. B; it was in a truck. Isn't deductive reasoning fun?
I use an SKS paratrooper also, but the predators down here are much smaller. That 215 gr Woodleigh bullet in an Enfield is a proven killer of things big and toothy, where as, with an SKS, you run the risk of annoying some of the larger critters up there, not good!
Hope this Helps, JohnAINTNOBEARSONMYBACK40Deere
 
I would go with either a Mosin M38 or M44. An added bounus with the short barreled Mosin is that you wouldn't need matches to start a fire :D
M38muzzleflash.jpg
 
It's not sport he's talking about. He can't wait till they get closer and give them a 'sporting chance' if he needs to feed or protect himself. You never know what you are going to get into up here. Bottom line is that stalking an animal through hip-deep snow is not an option and the animal WILL know you are there.
 
VZ-24 is hard to beat, but the drawback is it's a lot tougher to find cheap 8x57JS SP locally than it is to find 7.62x54R SP. There was some great S&B at Ammo King a while back, but it's long gone now. The only current supply I know of other than $$$ Norma is some 150 grain Bosnian at Gun Runners, and I'd rather have something in the 180 or 200 grain weight.

I still don't understand why people think you can't cycle a Mosin or Mauser bolt without bringing the rifle down. Maybe I've got ape arms or something, but I've always been able to cycle them without moving my head. I think the key is to not hold your head right behind the bolt. Move it back a bit.
 
It's assumed that you have to remove the rifle from the shoulder to cycle the bolt, but I agree it's not necessary.

As to the availability: Just toss one or two of them $8 bandoleers in the truck with the gun! Locally, I know that Jack (Alaska Shooter Supply) stocks it, Gun Runners of course, and Virgile at the Gun Shows can always get some. As cheap as the surplus stuff is, you can always have a crate of it standing by on the cheap. That advantage applies to the 7.62x54 also.
 
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