Thoughts on "entry level" .375 H&H

[woodsrunner]

I see you chose the Winchester, they are handsome guns with great actions. For anyone else in the same position, I bought a CZ 550 magnum baseline model as grizzly backup (i am in grizzly country as soon as i leave the house) after being unimpressed on a number of occasions by my .45-70 performance on the largest animals. I have customized the thing to suit over the years and am now supremely happy with it. I think if you are willing to put some money into it this rifle (or the BRNO) is an excellent choice. What i've done to mine is shorten to 23" and recrown the barrel, rework the stock to the proportions of the vintage Jeffery's and Rigby's to enhance both handling and aesthetics (it did both); address action where feeding was being negatively affected; take off the rear safari sights (polished buffalo horn to fill notch) in favor of a Skinner peep sight; have a gunsmith replace the original bolt with a proper Mauser magnum bolt (some merely straighten the bolt handle and fill the hole) for much better ease of access; remove and recontour the extractor claw/tang to be more parallel to the bolt as opposed to slightly bowed-in. I have not replaced the safety, though it has been an issue in fast cycling occasionally coming on-safe. The longer Mauser bolt has helped with this as has committing a technique to muscle memory in palming the bolt where the ball of my thumb automatically bumps the safe on the forward thrust "just in case." The recontouring of the extractor tang solved the occasional binding issue in one easy fix. Mine came with crossbolts but i have indeed seen those that have not, but also seen discussion where some opined that in a .375 H&H you may not be up against the same stock issues as with larger calibres. I haven't bedded it, it has been very accurate since new, but i may some day in a bid to potentially extend stock life. Anyways, i think this rifle is now on par with the best premium guns (and looks like a vintage example-of) still at a fraction the cost. It is a supremely confidence inducing arm that covers many, many miles annually in good weather and bad and has been dropped and fallen on to no ill effect.

 

[BillyJack1975]

Congrats on your new Winchester. I recently picked up a current production Safari Express in 375 HH. I couldn’t be happier with mine. Sights are dead on at 50-100 yards.