I live in Alaska, and have owned this rifle with the ported barrel for over 3 years now. It is by far the best woods gun I own, and I own some very expensive firearms. I carry it whenever I am out in the bush. It is the only rifle I care to trust my life to, up here. Do yourself a favor though, hand load your own ammo. This will allow you to use the full potential of this round and rifle combo. Also dont put a scope on it. There is no reason to do so if you a competent shooter. A scope on a rifle with a short range as this is useless. Put on a receiver sight such as a Williams or Lyman. I prefer the Lyman. These are an aperture sight, aka peep sight, and they are a vast improvement over the stock sight. This style of sight is fast to acquire a target, and is very accurate in good light and poor light. If you dont own the Marlin 1895 Guide Gun, then go buy one and you wont ever look back.
