Leaving out the extremes, such as Alaska, and the steamy rain forest. Which would you all consider to be the best material for your next hunting rifle? Stainless, or Chrome Molly.

Phil

I would like a Dakota 76 in .375 H& H and one in .458 mag with a poly resin coating over all metal parts. And a synthetic stock.

I don't know which brand or caliber best, but during the moose season in September I can see rust building on my hunting partner rifles, but not on my stainless steel Ruger. In order to understand why I feel stainless rifles and synthetic stocks are a good idea for hunting Alaska, please allow me to explain some of our hunting conditions first:

I hunt in the interior of Alaska where the weather changes from night to day. For example, during the day the temperatures could range from around 60 or 70 degrees, then drop to around 20 or 30 degrees at night. Sometimes it rains for days, then it may turn to snow. Other times it may just be cool and dry around 40 or 50 degrees, and lots of sunlight.

My rifle had a "boat paddle" stock that could take anything you could throw at, but this year I replaced it with a Hogue Rubber-Overmolded stock just to change its looks to "cuter" I guess. There was nothing wrong with the old "macho" stock, except for the sling swivels. These swivels were very sharp, and their edges cut through the sling until I filed them properly. The .338 MK-II action "dropped" in the Hogue stock perfectly, so it now rests on two aluminum pillars. I will shoot it when the snow melts in April, but I think it will shoot just the same or better than before.