Well I went to Cabbalas and got to fondle the rifles.
They had a M77 African 375 Ruger and a M70 Alaskan 375 H&H. Both walnut and blued so they were ascetically very similar. I wish the M70 was a Safari so I could do apples for apples but the sights and action are identical, if I am correct, so all I needed was to picture an ebony forend.
Although the 70's bolt was a bit less 'sloppy' the 77 was by no means bothersome. Especially when you consider that a Mauser bolt was built with play for a purpose, as were the 1911's. The Winchester was more smooth and the bolt was jeweled but the Ruger ran fine, (at least with no cartridge in it), and I have a mill in the garage so I could easily jewel the bolt if I so desired. The Ruger was used but it looked like it had never been fired. I say this because perhaps the bolt had been worked. Both bolts locked up nice and tight. No play. The 70's bolt is fancier without a doubt, although it appeared to be a two piece unit whereas the Ruger is a solid unit. You could fend off a irate ANTIFA crowd with the Ruger bolt with no fear of damaging it.
The safety on both is similar enough to be unremarkable with the Winchester being a bit more elegant and having a larger surface area. In a pinch the 70's greater surface area might be nice especially with gloves in the cold.
Ruger has scope rings, threaded barrel, break and break replacement doo-hickey and thread protector included. Nice for practice and about $200-300 if you wanted to add them to the M70. The Winchester seems to have a better butt pad but without shooting it I cant tell.
As for sights I preferred the Ruger. I found it much easier to shoulder the rifle and get the sight fixed with it than I was able to with the Winchester. This is due to both construction and visibility. The Ruger's sights are just THERE, big and bright.
Fit and finish were really very close. I expected side by side for the Winchester to be the clear winner but this was not really the case. They are both very nice but not overly poofy if you know what I mean. As for heft they were close enough that I did not notice the difference. Without any coaching my 13 yr old told me he liked the feel and look of the 77 better.
Could not say why, he just did.
For me the Ruger felt better but I do own a Scout and Guide Gun so the action and stocks are familiar and could easily make me biased towards the Ruger.
This said I would be proud to own either rifle and now the only considerations are cost, cartridge and name (pedigree). The Winchester is now FN and no matter how good it is the fact that it is no longer Winchester USA means that the pedigree is tarnished in the eyes of purists. Not to insult anyone, but that is simply a fact when the angle of ones snoot is taken to measure. This I found that out when I became the proud owner of a Winchester 94 30-30, post 64, and realized it just did not measure up for the cool kids. I love the gun but being post 64 means it's just not in the club and waving it about will only garner smirks and catcalls from my betters. So if pedigree was a deciding factor for me I would have to get a pre-64, otherwise I would always feel I had missed the boat. This said the 375 H&H has the pedigree and apparently deserves it. + 1 Winchester.
So now I have to decide on the H&H vs the Ruger, but if the M77 was in H&H there would no decision between the two at this point. I just liked the M77 better. Did not see any CZ550's.
Actually, the only thing I am really considering now is African VS Guide Gun as I see no real downside to the Ruger in most practical terms.
Whoooo...that was long winded.
Thanks guys, you are a source of inspiration and most excellent co-signers on my flights of fancy. Without your guidance I might have decided to squirrel away my money or perhaps tell the wife to buy a new chair for the living room. Silly me.
