.375 21" barrel?

[Milehighshooter]

My Winchester M70 .375 H&H originally had a muzzle brake installed on the end of the barrel when I got it. I pulled this off first thing but then I had an unsightly ring of threads on the end of the barrel. I didn't want those so I had a gunsmith cut an inch off the barrel and move the front sight back a bit. It turns out the guy already had 1" chopped off the end of the barrel, so I now had a 22" .375 and you know what? It still shot 1.5" at 100 yards and 270 grain loads hit 2,700 fps easily and 300 grainers left the barrel at 2,550 using RL17 powder and no where near max charge. It was a handy little rifle albeit a bit heavy.

I think I may have purchased your 375's long lost cousin! Mind was shortened and turned for a brake, I intend to have the remedied. Would you mind sharing your loads? I will shortly have a 21-22" 375 M70, and I have a can of RL17 that has been waiting for a purpose. Thankfully the previous owners "improvements" significantly lowered the resale value

 

[PaulT]

The very first .375 that I ever bought, in the early 90's, was a Win M70 with a shortened 20" tube.
I hunted with and shot that rifle like a mad-man.
Best handling .375 I've ever owned.

The only reason don't have it anymore is that I re-chambered and re-barreled it to .458 Lott for a little more grunt on our Asiatics.

I still miss that gun.

 

[ChrisG]

I think I may have purchased your 375's long lost cousin! Mind was shortened and turned for a brake, I intend to have the remedied. Would you mind sharing your loads? I will shortly have a 21-22" 375 M70, and I have a can of RL17 that has been waiting for a purpose. Thankfully the previous owners "improvements" significantly lowered the resale value

Sure! My load is direct from Alliant.

I have been shooting a Hornady 270 Grain Interlock using 79 grains RL17. I am getting around 2,700FPS. And My hunting load is a 300 grain Woodleigh PP Weldcore with 75.0 grains RL 17 for right around 2,550 FPS.

 

[BobT]

Sure! My load is direct from Alliant.

View attachment 237396

I have been shooting a Hornady 270 Grain Interlock using 79 grains RL17. I am getting around 2,700FPS. And My hunting load is a 300 grain Woodleigh PP Weldcore with 75.0 grains RL 17 for right around 2,550 FPS.

I just tried Rl17 today for the first time and was getting 2559 fps average with a 300 grain A-Frame, 74.0 grain charge and a 23" barrel. Accuracy was similar to your results at slightly over MOA. The same charge with a CEB 300 grain Safari Solid produced a 2570 fps average and sub moa accuracy. I plan to experiment a bit more over the next couple of weeks.

 

[mikee]

Tried out some ADI BM2 in my 16 inch barreled .375WSM, 250gn TTSX chrony'ed at 2705fps average for 5 shots 6fpsES so pretty happy with that but the TTSX' s might be a bit much for Red Dee, pigs and the odd goat.
Its only drawback so far is its very loud with out the suppressor fitted

 

[TTundra]

Tried out some ADI BM2 in my 16 inch barreled .375WSM, 250gn TTSX chrony'ed at 2705fps average for 5 shots 6fpsES so pretty happy with that but the TTSX' s might be a bit much for Red Dee, pigs and the odd goat.
Its only drawback so far is its very loud with out the suppressor fitted

Do please give a better description of your rifle and a picture or two would be great to see as well!! A 375wsm rings a bell with me.

 

[mikee]

Nothing that special, Remmington Long Action SPS (Shity Plastic Stock) with 16 inch barrel chambered in .375WSM
I run a suppressor on it as well. Photography is not my strong point

.223 shown on left for scale

 

[ChrisG]

Tried out some ADI BM2 in my 16 inch barreled .375WSM, 250gn TTSX chrony'ed at 2705fps average for 5 shots 6fpsES so pretty happy with that but the TTSX' s might be a bit much for Red Dee, pigs and the odd goat.
Its only drawback so far is its very loud with out the suppressor fitted

I don't think they'd be too much. Honestly, TTSX is one of the fastest bullets to expand. You just might have trouble once velocity falls below about 2000 FPS. I haven't tried the 250s but I have a boatload of 270 grain TSXs and I have pushed them to about 2750 FPS out of a .375 H&H and They still expand well out to about 250 yards.

 

[Daga Boy]

The general trend over here is 22-23"
Personally, I would not cut a. 375 shorter than that.
If you want a shorter, handier rifle then buy a 9.3. Or a. 375 Ruger .

 

[BeeMaa]

The numbers are the numbers and if you are willing to accept the numbers with a shorter barrel, so be it.
The rest is personal preference and how the rifle will be used primarily.

Myself, I like my hunting rifles with a barrel around 22-24 inches.

 

[bassasdaindia]

Make no mistake i am a fan of 375 , i have owned 7 of them and i am now down to only 2 .

The 2 i own are :
- CZ 550 with a 23” barrel
- Ruger Alaskan in 375 Ruger with a 20” barrel

My Ruger Alaskan with 20” barrel is one of my favorite rifles i own , and probably the first rifle i pack for most PG hunts that i go on , this little 20” rifle is truly magnificent , it easily shoots out to 250m

I wouldn’t hesitate to shorten your barrel .

 

[WAB]

My Winchester M70 .375 H&H originally had a muzzle brake installed on the end of the barrel when I got it. I pulled this off first thing but then I had an unsightly ring of threads on the end of the barrel. I didn't want those so I had a gunsmith cut an inch off the barrel and move the front sight back a bit. It turns out the guy already had 1" chopped off the end of the barrel, so I now had a 22" .375 and you know what? It still shot 1.5" at 100 yards and 270 grain loads hit 2,700 fps easily and 300 grainers left the barrel at 2,550 using RL17 powder and no where near max charge. It was a handy little rifle albeit a bit heavy

As @Red Leg had mentioned, Americans aren't really good at mass producing practical, well thought out but fine firearms and so it was with this Winchester, it was produced by bean counters back in the 80's where they determined that they could save time and money just making all the "safari weight" barrels the same profile. So the .375 had the same profile as the .458 and the gun still weighed in at almost 10 lbs with a scope on it. With the 22" barrel it was still a little muzzle heavy which is preferable to butt heavy I guess. Still shot good enough!

I am VERY thankful it wasn't during the current zombie/tacticool/sniper/mall ninja fad of today or Winchester might have painted it OD green and slapped picatinny rails all over it and snapped a 20 round detachable magazine to the bottom of its tupperware stock.

My.375 M-70 has that same barrel contour! It was incredibly muzzle heavy with the original barrel length. It has been cut to 22” which has achieved what I feel is good balance. I don’t know your experience but mine is incredibly accurate with 4 loads that will consistently shoot 1/2” groups. I guess the accountants accidentally got something right. The comments on balance are spot on. A standard contour barrel at that length might prove a bit light up front.

 

[WAB]

My Winchester M70 .375 H&H originally had a muzzle brake installed on the end of the barrel when I got it. I pulled this off first thing but then I had an unsightly ring of threads on the end of the barrel. I didn't want those so I had a gunsmith cut an inch off the barrel and move the front sight back a bit. It turns out the guy already had 1" chopped off the end of the barrel, so I now had a 22" .375 and you know what? It still shot 1.5" at 100 yards and 270 grain loads hit 2,700 fps easily and 300 grainers left the barrel at 2,550 using RL17 powder and no where near max charge. It was a handy little rifle albeit a bit heavy

As @Red Leg had mentioned, Americans aren't really good at mass producing practical, well thought out but fine firearms and so it was with this Winchester, it was produced by bean counters back in the 80's where they determined that they could save time and money just making all the "safari weight" barrels the same profile. So the .375 had the same profile as the .458 and the gun still weighed in at almost 10 lbs with a scope on it. With the 22" barrel it was still a little muzzle heavy which is preferable to butt heavy I guess. Still shot good enough!

I am VERY thankful it wasn't during the current zombie/tacticool/sniper/mall ninja fad of today or Winchester might have painted it OD green and slapped picatinny rails all over it and snapped a 20 round detachable magazine to the bottom of its tupperware stock.

My.375 M-70 has that same barrel contour! It was incredibly muzzle heavy with the original barrel length. It has been cut to 22” which has achieved what I feel is good balance. I don’t know your experience but mine is incredibly accurate with 4 loads that will consistently shoot 1/2” groups. I guess the accountants accidentally got something right. The comments on balance are spot on. A standard contour barrel at that length might prove a bit light up front.

 

[Daga Boy]

Quite a lot of PH's over here have their rifles cut down to 22". I don't know anyone who has gone shorter and also haven't seen any chrono results. What I can say is that cutting a CZ barrel down to 23" (older models were 25") does make the rifle a lot handier. However if a really compact rifle is the major objective then maybe look at a cartridge which fits in shorter action. For this reason I prefer the Ruger 375 over any 375 H&H I have ever handled. Ditto 9.3 x 62 and .338WM.

 

[BeeMaa]

Just sent my CZ550 375H&H off to Wayne at AHR for a #2 upgrade.
We spoke briefly on the phone and agreed on 22" barrel length for the upgrade (originally 25").
Just my 2 cents.

 

[sgt_zim]

Vodka?
Yes, I keep a bottle of it in my bar for cleaning the beer tap.
So you see, we're not totally opposed on the most important things in life.

Cheers,
Velo Dog.

 

[sgt_zim]

Quite a lot of PH's over here have their rifles cut down to 22". I don't know anyone who has gone shorter and also haven't seen any chrono results. What I can say is that cutting a CZ barrel down to 23" (older models were 25") does make the rifle a lot handier. However if a really compact rifle is the major objective then maybe look at a cartridge which fits in shorter action. For this reason I prefer the Ruger 375 over any 375 H&H I have ever handled. Ditto 9.3 x 62 and .338WM.

Yessir. If you give up too much length on a 375H&H, AND you're not compressing loads (where published as safe, of course, which is probably most of them), you're down in 9.3x62 territory on velocity anyway. I can't think of any practical difference between a 286 gr bullet at 2300 and a 300 gr bullet at 2350 or 2400.

 

[TOBY458]

Yessir. If you give up too much length on a 375H&H, AND you're not compressing loads (where published as safe, of course, which is probably most of them), you're down in 9.3x62 territory on velocity anyway. I can't think of any practical difference between a 286 gr bullet at 2300 and a 300 gr bullet at 2350 or 2400.

My Sako Kodiak with a 21 1/4" barrel will do a chronographed 2540 fps with a 300 grain Barnes TSX and Win 748 powder. This is not a max load in the Barnes manual either. So, with certain powders, you don't lose that much velocity. The same bullet and RL15 powder are good for 2450fps. So, it seems the faster burning 748 powder might do a bit better in the shorter barrel.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

I shortened my CZ 550 in .375 H&H to a 21" barrel. It changes the balance of your rifle tremendously, in a positive way. I would not worry about the velocity too much.
My .416 Rigby, also a CZ 550, is at the gunsmiths as we speak, busy being cut down to a 21" barrel.