The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Rifles Big Bores A-bolt in .375 H&HGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Any thoughts or comments on Browning A-bolts in .375 H&H? | ||
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A friend has one, are they all in stainless? His is, and so are the two others I have shot. His will shoot under an inch with my 16X Weaver on it for load testing with 300gr solids and soft points at 2600 +/-. He was able to drop 2grains on the soft points and get them to group five of each in about an inch and five-eighths at 100 and a little over 2 1/4" at 200. The rifle has taken about eighteen head of African plains game and three buffalo, and Brown and Polar Bear up in Alaska. It feeds perfect, and kills everything he has shot with it, usually one shot. I have a CZ, but I could find room for one at my house. Rich DRSS Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost... | |||
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Overall I am not impressed with A-Bolts. I find them to be overpriced. I find the overall quality of the A-bolt to be poor. They have one of the weakest extractors in the business. They are a push feed action and over all I find them to be tinny and cheaply constructed. I'd stay away from the A-bolt especially in a .375. | |||
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Idaho, I assume your friend loaded his own ammo...did he have any suggestions for factory rounds? | |||
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Is your friend an Alaskan Native? _____________________________________________________ A 9mm may expand to a larger diameter, but a 45 ain't going to shrink Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. - Winston Churchill | |||
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....They were plentiful up here when they first came out and usually some chechako will buy one ....But every one of them that I know of in 338 and 375 have broke down and quit working ..They do wierd things like when shot they can and some do refuse to alow the bolt to open ,,, something in the trigger comes apart I think ..You can poke your thumb thru the butt stock if you try .......They pit like no other stainless rifle I,ve seen ...  .If it can,t be grown , its gotta be mined .... | |||
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Interesting Gummy, of course here in Idaho we don't see the harsh climactic changes y'all do. 15-25% humidity is the norm and 18-22" of rain a year. You guys can do that in a week. I don't think he is NA, he shot the white bear and a muskox up there somewhere... Rich | |||
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Idaho Ron, Is there something different about a 300 grain 375 bullet @ 2600 fps from an A bolt then from another rifle?  Mike Legistine actu quod scripsi? Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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I "had" a blue A bolt Medallion with spectacular wood. Top loading the rifle required angling the rounds in and back to get it in the magazine. Not so hot if the critter is dangerous or making haste out of range. It could get you killed with a dangerous animal. It was the slowest loading rifle I ever used. You could load and empty a Mauser in the same time. | |||
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I have one of those A-Bolt Safari .375H&H's with the BOSS on it. Stubby, UGLY, evil looking gun. You won't be afraid to low crawl through the thorn bushes with it. Shoots everything including my favorite .375 H&H load. 300 gr woodleigh softpoint over 76 gr of WW760 to sub MOA. All factory .375 H&H bullet weights also shoot to the same POI. It's trigger could be better and the SS action is not a good one for a organ donor, but I've killed maybe 30 African critters including a big bull Eland with it. I carried it for 4 days on the Coburg Penninsula in 100 degree heat while hunting Banteng in OZ. I really appreciated its light weight. If it gets stolen, banged up etc, I will morn it but know I can find another. Damn good meat gun in my book.-Rob Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers to do incredibly stupid things- AH (1941)- Harry Reid (aka Smeagle) 2012 Nothing Up my sleeves but never without a plan and never ever without a surprise! | |||
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I have a 375 A Bolt and it has always worked the first time every time. I have killed two elephants, two cape buffalo, a lioness, and numerous plains game including eland and giraffe. I took it to Oz and used it for several scrub bulls, dingos, and roos. All of these were with factory 300 grain ammo. It cycles smoothly and I have never had a jam. I bought it second hand with leupold QR scope mounts for $ 800. It isn't pretty, but it is a very reasonably priced pragmatic rifle. I was perfectly happy with it until I started coming to this forum. I never realized before that I was taking my life in my hands by not have a CRF rifle or 500 NE. Damn you guys! You can borrow money, but you can't borrow time. Go now. STAY IN THE FIGHT! | |||
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Saw a used one one the rack in Kansas City Cabelas for around 5 or 600 dollars. It was stainless steel and it was in left hand. Nice rifle for the money. I have one A-Bolt in 270 WSM and it does all things good that it is not suppose to do if you read this forum. The new X-bolt is coming out and it is about 4 0z's lighter with a better trigger and you can remove the magazine without opening the trigger guard. Maybe that will trip some of your triggers. | |||
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what factory ammo would you shoot from this gun? | |||
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Gee. I guess I made a mistake when I bought that A Bolt 7mm Rem 15 years ago. I love the rifle, have taken game in Texas, South Africa and Canada with it, not to mention a whole bunch of whitetail in SC beanfields and fire breaks out to 350 yards and a one shot killon a Gemsbok at over 300. Never a hiccup and accurate as hell. Just goes to show you can't believe everything you read on AR. | |||
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Or possibly a varied group will have varied experiences with a product that is of variable quality. Besides myself I've known three others who've had extractor problems with an A-Bolt. Would you rather I lied and told everybody what a wonderful experience I had with mine even after the friggin disaster that my A-Bolt was. Holy smokes we wouldn't want to offend anyone by telling it like it is!  | |||
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I find it pretty funny, WBY bashers praising A bolts.  | |||
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There you go...... In typical AR fashion.... No matter the subject it will ALWAYS turn into a shit storm. I guess this is bound to happen when you put a bunch of ego maniacs in the same place and start them bragging about their toys. Especially when the intellect level tends to be around the puberty level and there is no "school marm" around to keep the conversation friendly with an occasional whack to the knuckles. This should be about an exchange of information. Not the age old my dog is bigger than your dog contest! And hey if your favorite dog is hound and somebody else had a hound who bit someone it's OK FOR them to talk about it. IT DOESN'T affect your hound or your personal standing in life even a tiny little bit!  | |||
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Here's the facts! The Browning A-bolt is a fine rifle, as along as you think it is, and it floats your canoe. That will last till it lets you down in a situation where a cartridge like the 375 H&H is needed, then it is too late to wish you had bought something better! I see absolutely no reason to chamber any PUSH FEED bolt rifle in a chambering that is to be used for anything more dangerous than a whitetail deer! That said, others may do as it suits them! ..................  ....Mac >>>===(x)===> MacD37, ...and DUGABOY1 DRSS Charter member "If I die today, I've had a life well spent, for I've been to see the Elephant, and smelled the smoke of Africa!"~ME 1982 Hands of Old Elmer Keith  | |||
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My friend has a stainles/boss one at his shop for sale. I think he will take around $650 for it. It also comes with 100+ pieces of brass. I think it's a pretty good deal. | |||
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I have owned two, both blue and walnut. They looked nice and shot MOA, but they just didn't blow my skirt up - the action/bolt just felt cheap. My only remaining 375 H&H is a Sako AV and it's the last 375 H&H I'll ever need - and it's a push feed. Lou **************** NRA Life Benefactor Member | |||
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No, but what is true for one obviously isn't always true for another. My .375 is a Mod 70. 1100 faultless cycles.  | |||
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I've got a stainless one. Got it for a song and immediately had it rechambered to .375 Wby along with some bedding work and a trigger job. It's 8 1/2 lbs. scoped, has the best trigger of any rifle I own and goes just over 1" for 5 shots at 100. I'm still in the earlier stages of load development and think it's got more accuracy potential than that. It's gone off every time I've pulled the trigger. The bolt's opened every time I've pulled the knob. It's tossed an empty and fed a live round every time it was supposed to and never when it wasn't. Yes...the mag box clipped to the floorplate is a pain in the ass. As far as the non-CRF deal........I ain't got a dog in that fight nor could I give a crap. I have no intentions of crossing any ponds to shoot DG and there's nothing in N.A. that would cause me to want any other rifle than this one. I'd say "go for it" to anyone who could buy one right. Founder....the OTPG | |||
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My first 375 was an A-bolt stainless it shot 1-1.5" groups with whatever I stuffed in it, but the slim footprint of the recoil pad gained it the nickname of "the knife blade" from my friends, recoil was stout but not unmanageable. It accompanied me on my first trip to africa and it functioned flawlessly and performed perfectly but after I had had it a while I discovered my particular gun had two main problems the most serious was the stainless on my gun was soft and the mounting screws stripped under recoil even after having them retapped to a larger size, the second problem was if the action screws were not super tight and locktighted they also would shoot loose. My particular gun was an early model and they were supposedly prone to these problem. I still like the A-bolt just not in a larger caliber. LostHorizonsOutfitters.com ---------------------------- "You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas" Davy Crockett 1835 ---------------------------- | |||
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I bought my ss a-bolt in .375 after giving up on finding a winchester and not wanting to pay remington custom shop $ bcs i need a lefty. I've shot three black bears w/it w/ factory ammo:remingtn core lockt 270's and federal 300gr partitions. the federals came w/ the gun and i got a good deal on the remington stuff. It positively knocked the bears flat, all were taken in thick cover necessitating anchoring shots, all were 325lbs to 385lbs and were each shot twice. I've tried some different handloads in and the 260gr accubonds and 230(?) gr woodleighs shot the best so far, not sure of the powder chare off the top of my head. That being said, I've recently bought a .375 ruger and am thinking about building a .375 wby on a montana 99 action. I think the browning's a good gun and does the trick but i think, ultimately it'll leave you wanting more. chance favors the prepared mind | |||
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Whats the differents in a a-bolt and a reguler say 700 Rem. | |||
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I'm going to have to fall in with the side of this discussion that has had bad experiences with A-Bolts. My Dad took his Stainless Stalker in 338 Win Mag to the Alaskan Peninsula in 1993. When he got back, the rifle started to feel sticky on opening and cycling the action. He handed it to me to figure it out, and I found the bolt lugs were severely pitted. The pitting was on 1/3 of the lug seat areas. Enough so that it appeared to be a safety issue. The bolt raceways were galled so much that the bolt would almost jam. His would not stay in zero either, we found the same as another poster here that the scope mount screws were pulling out of the receiver. A friend of mine has a Stainless Stalker in 30-06 that has galled the bolt raceways too. I have no experience with the blued models, but after what I've seen I wouldn't take an A-bolt except to turn it over for another gun I had more faith in. NRA Life Member | |||
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About $200. My experiences with the A-Bolt mitigate against my ever buying another one. Unsealed wood in the magazine well, poor accuracy, heavy trigger, crappy (potmetal?) trigger adjustment screws; it just wasn't a very positive experience owning that gun. Even after sealing the wood and having it rebored to .35 Whelen and recrowned by Cliff LaBounty, the poor accuracy persisted. They may have fixed all those problems, but for what they charge for a rifle, someone else can be their beta tester. George  | |||
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I wouldn't hunt with one up here, day in and day out. | |||
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I bought mine slightly used at a Miami gun show, looking for a '06 in LH and found the 7mm Rem instead. It's been a fine rifle, a blued Medallion. I've had none of the problems mentioned, but I wouldn't buy one in .375. My Mod 70 is a good bit sturdier and has CRF and the accuracy is excellent. So I'll go along with the other poster who said he'd take one in lighter calibers. There's nothing personal in this for me, BTW. I just happened to buy one out of circumstance and it's been a very dependable and very accurate rifle. It's been replaced by a Dakota 76, if they can ever get it working right. The jury's still out on that. | |||
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