MauserRifle -

I'm pretty sure the fellow I bought the rifle from bought it new, so no it was not an Alaskan rifle. I did shoot the rifle a few times before he cut the original barrel down, in fact we had argued at length on the subject as he prefers barrels which stretch out to the horizon, but I think it hung up on him when he needed it badly, and that scared him enough to come around. It's just too bad the fellow who did that original cutting spoiled the front sight, but it worked for me. I wanted a 602 badly and as a result of the poor gunsmithing job I was able to trade a Whitworth .458 for it.

Now my pal has another 602 in .375 - again with the long barrel and a muzzle brake (yuk), which he absolutely refuses to cut. It is a nice looking rifle with a monte-carlo stock and the Ziess scope arrangement as seen in the pics from Alf. My pal used this rifle last year to kill a bear which was playing tether ball with one of his dogs, then tried to push in the front door of his house.

I've simply found that short barrel rifles are handier for my life style which includes walking miles of willow infested polar bear habitat, jumping in and out of jeeps and helicopters, and occasionally hunting in thick cover. If I can find another 602 action I'd sure like to build a .460 G&A.