Just arrived: 375 H&H Mod 70 Alaskan

[Edge]

I shot the following for velocity:

H4895 - one shot each

USE WITH CAUTION - these loads may not be suitable in your rifle!!!!

Start low and work up!

1. 69.0 @ 2809
2. 69.5 @ 2825
3. 70.0 @ 2828
4. 70.5 @ 2857
5. 71.0 @ 2876
6. 71.5 @ 2881 - slight resistance
7. 72.0 @ 2898 - slight mark head of case
8. 72.5 @ 2908 - I can feel you now!

These loads are close to what @BRICKBURN posted a few years back in a thread.

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/i-blame-all-of-you.17339/page-6

Edge

 

[Edge]

I should 3 shot groups of the previously listed loads except for #8 as it was too warm. Best groups were loads #3, 4, and 5, will focus in on those powder charges. Any thoughts?

It was a real challenge shooting that many 375's off the bench! I caught myself pulling my head off the stock once or twice. The wind also started gusting when shooting #5 and I noted when the shot broke there was a gust. Could have been me also!

Shot 50 rounds of 223 off the sticks to end the day.

One more observation, Leupold adjustments suck. They do not track to the clicks and were not repeatable. 10 clicks down and it barely moves, next shot make a left adjustment followed by a shot and it shifts down 3 inches. I won't be dialing this scope so once I get it set I hope it holds.

Should have bought the Leica ERi or its replacement the Visus.

Edge

 

[PARA45]

Beautiful rifle, and good looking reloads.....congrats on your purchase!!!!

 

[Edge]

Played with seating depth on the 250gr TTSX and I think I found the sweet spot.

Three shots all touching...3.580" is the winner!

I shot Speer 235gr loads after shooting about 15 TTSX and they were scattered to say the least. I wonder if the accuracy was bad due to shooting the mono-metals. Need to take a look inside the bore for any signs of copper build-up.

Edge

 

[sierraone]

They named it the Alaskan because, aesthetically, it is patterned upon the M70 Alaskan of yesteryear.

Agree CT, Bear guides of the 50s, 60s and 70s, maybe longer, primarily relied on the earlier version of this rifle as a primary tool for the job!

 

[The_Wanderer]

interesting with what you say about the scope. i'd be sending it back to have leupold check it out.

 

[siml]

Beautiful looking rifle, wish you happy hunting. What's the dream animal going to be?

 

[Rob404]

For my Safari Grade I came up with 3.69 OACL, for my practice 270s and set back to 3.59 I also swapped out scopes to a Leupold VX2i because it had a parallax adj and the magnification I liked

 

[Edge]

Beautiful looking rifle, wish you happy hunting. What's the dream animal going to be?

@Traditional Mozambique Safaris - Roosevelt Sable, a giant Eland and a monster Kudu with you next year in Mozambique!

@The_Wanderer - standard junk adjustments from Leupold. Thought the VX-6 would be better than the past but doesn't appear they have done anything to fix the problem. I won't be dialing the scope so I'm not worried as they usually are fine once you get them dialed in and leave them alone. The glass is very nice, much improved.

You do bring up a good point, I need to send in a Leupold scope that quit adjusting from sitting on a 300 Weatherby.

Edge

 

[The_Wanderer]

Pretty disappointing especially when you outlay hour hard earned on scopes and they don't function. Especially with Leopold who market the VX6 as one of their "premium" line scopes.

 

[colorado]

I've got several 1-5x 20mm scopes on a 416 Rem and a 500 Jeffery that are fine after several hundred full power loads. Seems like the newer ones are more fragile or I just got lucky?

 

[WildRose]

Congrats on the new rifle working out so well for you. I too found the 250gr loads to shoot very well in mine.

Very surprised you're having issues with the VX6. I have six of them all on various magnums and have been very impressed with all of them.

The first thing I figured out on my trip was that I had way too much scope on my .375 Ruger. I was fortunate enough to be able to just borrow one for the balance of the trip, and old 1-4x Swarovski a friend had sitting around so the first thing on my list when I got home was finding the right glass for it for the future.

After lots of shopping and looking for recommendations including several from members here I settled on the Trijicon 1-6x24 with the German Reticle and green dot.

It has worked out so well for me I now have the same scope on two of my AR's that I carry for "truck guns" mainly to deal with coyotes and hogs.

Definitely some of the best money I've ever spent on glass.

 

[Edge]

Follow-up from my previous report, lots of copper in the bore. Cleaned it up with a couple applications of CR-10.

Back to the range this morning looking for a mid-range load with the Speer 235gr for plinking and whitetail hunting here in the Eastern US.

65gr of H4895 printed this group, measures 0.65" but prints about 6" lower than the 250TTSX load I detailed earlier. I'm guessing ~ 2600fps, will throw the magnetospeed on the next time I hit the range.

@WildRose - when I get serious about a DG hunt, will probably put a 1-4 or 6 in place of the 2-12. The 2-12 is pretty wide, can certainly see the front sight!

I'll do a tracking test on the VX-6 when I have some time.

Edge

 

[Ridgewalker]

Nice Edge! That’s minute of prairie dog! Wow 235 gr would make a mess of one! Hmm...good practice for crocodile! Never thought of that before.

 

[bassasdaindia]

Played with seating depth on the 250gr TTSX and I think I found the sweet spot.

View attachment 206210 View attachment 206211

Three shots all touching...3.580" is the winner!

I shot Speer 235gr loads after shooting about 15 TTSX and they were scattered to say the least. I wonder if the accuracy was bad due to shooting the mono-metals. Need to take a look inside the bore for any signs of copper build-up.

Edge

Great group , please post the load information:
Powder
Grains
Bullet
Primer
Brass
COL

Thanks in advance

 

[WildRose]

Follow-up from my previous report, lots of copper in the bore. Cleaned it up with a couple applications of CR-10.

Back to the range this morning looking for a mid-range load with the Speer 235gr for plinking and whitetail hunting here in the Eastern US.

65gr of H4895 printed this group, measures 0.65" but prints about 6" lower than the 250TTSX load I detailed earlier. I'm guessing ~ 2600fps, will throw the magnetospeed on the next time I hit the range.
View attachment 208149

@WildRose - when I get serious about a DG hunt, will probably put a 1-4 or 6 in place of the 2-12. The 2-12 is pretty wide, can certainly see the front sight!

I'll do a tracking test on the VX-6 when I have some time.

Edge

Well my brother let me know this morning he bought us another .375 Ruger, this time a 24" Montana Rifles "extreme" I think it's called, basically their version of the stainless/synthetic Winchester Alaskan that came in .375 H&H. I hate my VX 6's so bad I picked up another 3-15x50 TMOA reticle model to go on it HA!

The Trijicon 1-6x24 has been great on the Ruger with the 20" barrel even shooting out to 300 yards.

This one we intend to play with at 300-600 though to see just what the capabilities of the cartridge really are. I'm overrun with big hogs right now so it's going to be fun.

Congrats on the new rig shooting so well.

Alliwyn is sending me some of his new Peregrine VRG and VLR4's in I think 230gr, 250gr, and .270gr to run through it and see how they perform. I've been his guinea pig for a couple of years shooting prototypes and it's been a lot of fun. It seems like with every new generation they just get better and as fast as they are moving to innovate that's pretty impressive as usually speed leads to more frequent failures, not rapid improvement.

I never quite know what's coming in the next box so it's kind of like Christmas every time I open one.

Keep us informed as you progress, I'm really enjoying the thread.

 

[Rob404]

Those are some nice groups, my African is still a little wide but I'm not overly concerned since I'm still breaking in the barrel. Winter has arrived in Ludifisk Land so I'll have to wait til Spring or June which ever happens first to finish it off. I'm glad your 375 likes lighter loads that means mine will to, my Whitworth would only shoot 300s with any accuracy

 

[tarbe]

65gr of IMR 4895 with the 235 Speer was my go-to load for deer for a while. With the IMR version and a 22" bbl I was getting 2,450 and it was very good on whitetails without undue destruction.

 

[Edge]

Great group , please post the load information:
Powder
Grains
Bullet
Primer
Brass
COL

Thanks in advance

Apologies for the late reply, all the info requested is on the target.

Edge

 

[Edge]

With deer season finally over, back to the range with the .375 and a clean bore. Bought some Federal 300 gr Woodleigh Hydro Solids to try out, the ammo was on sale and was cheaper than buying the Hydro's as components.

Notice the trend to the left, apparently after each shot the forend worked its way left on the soft front bag. I need to pay more attention. I did shoot one round @ 100 yards with the Magnetospeed attached and the velocity was right at the box velocity of 2500fps.

One other observation, well really two. First, I was surprised at the recoil, much less than I expected. In fact, it felt less than shooting 235gr bullets @ 2700. Second, the 3 shots were done quite quickly and the barrel was just warm. Wondering if the bore-rider design is a factor. I also shot Peregrines out of my 30-06 today and noticed the recoil and barrel heat were both much less than I expected.

Removed the scope and tried to shoot with the open sights. Couldn't see the front sight! The eyes are aging and will have to wear glasses if I want to shoot with the irons.