Whitworth express 375HH

[Heym 88]

I have a chance to get a Whitworth express rifle in excellent shape..matter of fact like new condition. I thinks its interarms MK X. Does anyone have any experience with this rifle..good or bad? Thanks. It's in 375 H&H.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

I have a chance to get a Whitworth express rifle in excellent shape..matter of fact like new condition. I thinks its interarms MK X. Does anyone have any experience with this rifle..good or bad? Thanks. It's in 375 H&H.

I don't but have certainly read about them here on AH. So a free bump to keep this out there for others to see. You may also want to do a search on them here. As I recall not all of these are created the same, i.e. some are better than others.

 

[Nyati]

Zastava, yugoslavian Mauser, should be a solid rifle.

 

[ikeda]

I would love to have had one but you can't get them left handed.
A friend had one in .458 and it was a very nice rifle

 

[AkMike]

I've got one. It's a well built rifle with a very good barrel. Typical Mauser action.

 

[Heym 88]

Well..I bought it today at the gun show. The stock is gorgeous..bluing is deep and rich...action fairly smooth for what it is..trigger very crisp and rifle weighs 9.0 lbs exactly like it should. Its the express model with express sights and hooded front sight as well as ebony for end tip. I want it as a spare rifle to go with my double rifle. The guns new never fired and at $850.00 I thought it was a decent deal. oh yea...it's the made in England one. Hope it shoots as good as it looks. Thanks for your help guys.

 

[AkMike]

Most of the Whitworths say Manchester(?)England on the left of the reciever. BUT I doubt that you'll find real proof marks. There will probably be some tiny marks on the RH rear of the barrel at the reviever. But you won't find and real British Proofs that look like that. I suspect that they were brought in as barreled actions and just finished in Britian.
No matter where they were made they are a nice rifle and good shooting to boot.

 

[sestoppelman]

Mike is right. The guns are based on Yugo commercial Mausers and barrels which are both very good. Same as Remington used a few years ago for their Mausers. They were then assembled into complete rifles in England and nicley. I bought mine in 1984 and used it on my first 3 safaris, excellent rifle! At $850 its a fair deal today, I got mine for under $500 but that was some time ago. Does yours have the inside the trigger guard mag release or the later cross push button? Either is fine, the push button came later along with a couple of minor cosmetic differences. Some early models made in the late 70's had more Whitworth markings, like being stamped on the barrel as well as receiver. Would love to see a pic. I will never sell mine. If you look in my pics you will see mine in the Tanzania, Botswana and first Zim trip.

 

[Heym 88]

Ses...mine is the cross button later type. floor plate closes real tight like it should. Hope it stays that way during recoil LOL. Thanks for the info.I sure do like it.. definitely a classic look. I see yours has barrel band on barrel..mines on forestock..i'm jealous LOL.

 

[sestoppelman]

I have seen some with the swivel stud on the stock too, though I prefer it on the barrel for the classic look. I never bought into the hurting the hand under recoil thing, especially on a .375, but it just looks right. I think you will like that rifle, mine is a superb shooter.

 

[Heym 88]

A little dissapointed with this gun. It loads extremely finicky. If I load it by simply putting rounds in and sliding to rear of magazine like normal it wont allow the first round to chamber. Sometimes if I load them nose up a bit..it works fine...just a bit finicky in my opinion. A hunt is not going to allow me to finagle with this thing. It should load reliably every time. I dont have this problem with my other mauser actions. Any suggestions?

 

[sestoppelman]

How many are you putting in the mag? Mine has always been reliable with 3 down and one up the pipe.
I used to try to work a fourth in and hold down the top round in the mag, but that got me into trouble one time so I quit.

Whatever it is can be fixed by a smith.

 

[Heym 88]

I was only putting in three rounds. I looked for obvious defects but didn't find any.

 

[sestoppelman]

Is it finicky with all bullets types or one particular style? When you say it wont chamber; how exactly? What happens? Does the bullet jam against the inside of the chamber before seating all the way, does it pop out of the magazine, or what?

 

[Heym 88]

I loaded three rounds of 270 gr federal round nose in it. They lay in nicely but the top round wont push forward at all..not the slightest bit. I have to dump the floor plate to get them out. I really like the feel and looks of this rifle. I have also tried Superior ammunition in 300 gr monolithic bronze solids with same effect. Then sometimes I load it and they work. I just cant trust the rifle like it is..maybe i'm doing something wrong..but I doubt it.

 

[sestoppelman]

It should feed anything you put in it. Is it at all possible that the rim or belt is hanging up on the back of the follower? Possibly the wrong follower.
If thats not it then it must be a feed ramp issue and that is best left to a smith to fix. I think its worth getting right, these are good shooters.

 

[Heym 88]

I'm no expert..but looks like follower is awfully short compared to length of the 375. Maybe it could still be a 458 follower..i don;t know.

 

[Heym 88]

I just looked at how the mag box fits in stock. Looks like there is a lip that shouldnt be there. Isn't the outer part of mag box supposed to be flush with inner edge of stock...only follower stops at bottom of bolt rail right?

 

[sestoppelman]

Hard to envision exactly what that may be. As to the follower, what I said before would only impact the bottom round, not the top. But a too short follower might create problems. It may be that the side rails need to be trimmed back a tad to allow the forward end of the top round to point up a bit and not be too level, if that makes sense. That or the feed ramp angle may be the problem.

 

[Red Leg]

There is something going on between the magazine and feed ramp. I suspect a competent smith could figure that out and get it running right fairly easly.