Another just for fun, what caliber to build thread

[bruce moulds]

have you considered the 8mm rem mag?
bruce.

 

[JPbowhunter]

Buy the 7mmRM just to rebarrel seems like a waste of money in my book. In that case just buy something better straight up.

One thing I notice and this isn't directed at anyone here is that on forums, in gunshops or blokes out in the bush have their pet calibres. Some of these guys for whatever reason feel the need to champion that calibre and push it on others.

My favourite is 275 rigby/7x57 but I wouldn't claim that it's the greatest cal going around.

I haven't hunted africa but I also don't buy into the "animals are tougher there" thing, animals are flesh and bone whether they're in africa, europe, america or wherever. Any medium cal put in the right place means dead animals in a short time. 7x57, 270, 308, 30-06, 300win, 7mmRM, 8mm, 300h&h, 375 etc. All of them are going to kill anything outside DG comfortably with good shot placement. Yes there's positives and negatives to each but in the end there's no wrong answer.

Take advice but do whatever feels right.

 

[Backyardsniper]

Well. after careful consideration of all the info I've received and some serious reflection on the issue I have decided to go with a plain old 375 H&H for the following reasons;
1. I don't have one and have not previously owned one and I like new projects.
2. It seems that the 375 is to Africa what the 30/06 is to us redneck deer hunters, kind of the old classic and the cartridge by which all others performance in this particular arena are measured. Plus and most important to me there is a lot of history and romance involved with the 375.
3. Availability of factory ammo coupled with the availability, relatively low cost and wide range of reloading components as well as a plethora or ready to go off the shelf factory rifles means I can be banging steel next week with one if I want and not waiting on a gunsmith. Not to mention I can afford to practice a lot more with it, and with a great rifle range only 10 min down the road from my house I burn a lot of powder practicing,
4, The 375 with most of its loads seems to shoot a very similar trajectory curve to the 308 with a 175 class bullet which is something I'm very familiar with and which I believe is very capable of target work out to 500-600yds and actual hunting out to the 400 yd range which is plenty for a sporter sized rifle that will be primarily employed off of shooting sticks and from various field positions.
So, there it is, I appreciate all the advice on this issue that you guys have offered. I do love the CZ rifles and since I already have a 550 in 458 and I am a big fan of platform continuity so I will probably simply buy another 550 in 375, is there any particular rifle makers out there that I should keep an eye on that make especially great rifles in these heavier calibers. I've seen the win model 70's, the Sako brown bear, the CZ of course. Is there anything I'm overlooking that I should check out as far as accuracy, handling, good out of the box trigger, and very important to me i s a good set of iron sights. I love shooting iron sights and will likely shoot this rifle quite a bit with the Irons.

 

[BeeMaa]

Another member here is trying to sell his CZ550 375H&H in the classifieds.
https://www.africahunting.com/threads/cz-550-in-375-h-h-with-aramid-stock-for-sale.47773/

Also saw a Sako Brown Bear in 375 for a very good price in the classifieds.

Seems like you have your pick at this point.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Thinking about building another rifle and I've got a few unique specs so I thought I'd throw it out here for everyone to weigh in with thier 2 cents. On gunbroker right now there are a couple of CZ 550 actions for sale. It looks to me like they come complete with mag box bottom metal , trigger, and screws. Now I'm a big CZ fan and I already have a 550 safari in 458 Lott and I love it. I'm planning to do a safari in the next few years hopefully. Buffalo and Kudu and hopefully some other plains game if I can fund it..so I've got the buffalo covered with the 458 but I was thinking about grabbing one of these actions and building a hot rod plains game/elk/brown bear type rifle. The interesting thing is these are 416 rigby actions so that means they have a .585 bolt face, so we're in the 338 lapua, 30/378 weatherby, 30/338 lapua realm. I'm a big fan of the lapua, but with the heavy 30 cal bullets available now something in the 30 cal could be very tempting. The CZ action allows for a mag capacity of 4 or 5 I believe with these diameter rounds plus CRF which is a bonus and I love the CZ triggers so no need to change any of that. I've seen the CZ Kevlar stocks for sale in the $350 range and McMillan also makes one for this action which only leaves to to chose a caliber and purchase a barrel and find a Smith that works on CZ rifles. If you all have any suggestions in that arena please let me know. Also, just for curiosity sake I'm going to post this same thread on longrangehunting.com and we can compare the different suggestions and perhaps the different ideas on what each group feels would be the best use of these components. Let me know what you think!

Pheroze can hook you up with the .400 h & h magnum! AND, if your patient, maybe he can make some .465 h & h magnum cases for you from .460 Weatherby cases, if you decide on that caliber?