First hunting rifle. Stainless barrel? And caliber question.

I’ve never owned a gun with a stainless barrel, so I can’t really comment on that.

.308 would be fine for deer hogs and elk as would 30-06.

I dislike stainless. My ocd wants the barrel and scope to match, and the selection of silver scopes is slim in comparison to black scopes.

Agree with the above. Barrel and caliber choice is up to you and both are fine. Can say that I bought that rifle for my dad in 30.06 a few years ago, fantastic gun.

Thanks all for the quick replies. I knew I could count on y’all.

Not a fan of stainless other than it does look good with some stock combinations. My issue is medium and long distance shooting. I have had two and sold both for the same issue. Stainless does not have predictable flex and is very temperature sensitive to that lack of flex. A cold bore shot and a 3rd shot can be considerably off at over 200 yds. A steel blued barrel in a floating stock has that predictable flex and as heat rises you can almost predict where the bullet will move because it is consistent if you have shot enough to notice. My first stainless wouldn't hold a 4 inch group at 250 yds on a warm barrel. Cold it was good to go. Over time heating and cooling the stainless barrel I noticed more and more bullet drift on same zero. and that drift was un predictable from a 30 degree day to a 75 degree day at 200 yds sometimes as much as 4 inches. Second stainless was a 25-06 and I cold bore zeroed the gun over about a weeks time. I did this because of past learnings. Well one day we deicded to do some shooting and I put about a box thru the gun in less an hour. As it heated bullets sprayed the target with no consistency. I expected it as I had dealt with it before. Week later I pick it up and zero is significantly off. I cold bore it again. Took about a week. Never got it put a one inch group together at 100 after I heated the barrel like that. Out at 200yds it became unpredictable even on cold barrel. I sold it as well and have since never bought another stainless rifle.

Either caliber will do what you’re wanting, but one will do it with a tad less recoil. You won’t notice the difference with an animal, but you will when you’re practicing. .308 should be a little easier on the shoulder (not that a 30-06 is horrible). Generally speaking, the .308 typically comes in a lighter and shorter rifle, which will make for a better experience carrying one for miles at a time while stalking elk through the back country. Maybe in the 60s you needed a 200gr bullet to reliably kill elk, but with today’s bullet technology that’s not necessary. Randy Newberg breaks it down for elk calibers in this video. Randy Newberg Elk Caliber

As far as stainless vs blue goes. That’s all personal preference. I own both and never had a problem with either. The deer haven’t been able to tell much of a difference. Good luck. Congrats on the new gun and hunting opportunity!

30-06 offers a wide range of rounds and bullet weights that you can use to match your hunting situation and animal, not sexy by today's standards but gets the job done every time...

Stainless is usually more accurate but in a factory tube it's almost neglible. Personal preference.

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possibility of making an elk hunt in Alaska

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You realize that there aren't many elk opportunities in Alaska right?

They only live on two islands (I believe) and it is considered one of the hardest, non sheep/goat, hunts in North America

30-06