This is perhaps the strangest question I've ever posed, but I really need some ideas.

My wife has decided that she would like to hunt buffalo and hippo in the future and now needs a rifle chambered for a suitable cartridge. All of her hunting to this point has been with a Tikka in .308 which has had the stock shortened to an appropriate length of pull as she is just barely 5'3".

My first thought for a suitable cartridge was, of course, the 375 H&H. But here's what I don't know and feel stupid asking:

If you shorten the stock on a .375 length action, will a short hunter be in danger of hitting their face with the ass end of the bolt while cycling the action? Even if they have just enough room, would the bolt coming that close to their face create any potential for short-stroking the action?

I want a rifle that is also very similar to the Tikka in terms of it's layout and operation, so bolt action with two position safety at rear right of bolt handle. I'm thinking CZ, Sako, Savage, in roughly that order.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Get a 375 Ruger or a 9.3x62. You are a better man than me if you have taught your wife to cycle the action while shoulder mounted.

My Daughter is 5 foot even and she shoots a 243 Savage and Weatherby Mark V 7mm Weatherby Magnum.

This might be a good excuse for you to buy your wife a double rifle in say, 450/400 or such.

Could get her a Tikka in 9.3x62.

Look for something in the WSM line which has the shortest bolt throw. I know you said 2 position safety but B&M rifles would be perfect for her.

While the 9.3x62 Tikka is a great rifle ... I have one, I would be darn sure that caliber is "legal" wherever you plan to hunt buffalo and hippo. I'm not saying it wouldn't do the job, you just don't want to travel half way around the world, and then end up having to borrow a rifle that she is unfamiliar with and obviously doesn't fit her.

If you are really serious about buffalo and hippo, my vote would be for a CZ 375 H&H. I have one as well. The resident wizard for CZ rifles is Wayne at AHR. I would give him a call and get his opinion and maybe discuss a custom or modified stock for her. I just installed a Ken Rucker Bump Buster hydraulic recoil reduction system on my 375, and that will make the recoil very manageable for her, while also allowing you to fine tune the LOP. If you get a CZ you will want Wayne to tune it for her in any event.

My daughter is 5'2" and has a 12 1/2" lop and has no trouble using her 375 Ruger from the shoulder.

quote:

My daughter is 5'2" and has a 12 1/2" lop and has no trouble using her 375 Ruger from the shoulder.

Yes, but she comes from exceptional genes :-)

I use a 13 inch LOP-

For my comfort I went with a 416 B&M on the Winchester WSM short action.

A lot depends on head position and stock design but in my case i have about 3/4 in clearance between the tip of my nose and the bolt.

Makes it very comfortable to work the bolt while shouldered.

Just my humble opinion---but I say go for the Short action.

Your wife won't have any problems getting hit by the bolt or scope if the LOP is correct for her. Now if you or I were to use a rifle fitted for her we would be asking for it. If she does get a 375 or similar, increase the LOP 1/4"or more over what she would use on her 308 just to be safe.
She may need to find a position for her cheek rest that will not interfere with the bolt throw. She'll just have try it to find out.

You have a nice 'problem', getting the right rifle.

Check with CDNN to see if they have anymore 375 Ruger Alaskan models. Those are 20" stainless barrel and will balance nicely with a short length-of-pull. CDNN was offering the Alaskan model Ruger Hawkeye for $699 a few months back.

The Ruger comes "short" with a 13.5" pull. If that is too long, then I would recommend ordering a Boyd's with 13" or 13 1/4" stock for the Ruger. You can pick laminate or wood, add laser checkering and a 1" Limbsaver pad and the whole thing will run a $225-250.

I recommend the 375Ruger for ladies in Africa and my wife has already done made the same choice. She likes her Ruger 375Ruger even more that her Tikka 270Win, but that can be explained simply on length-of-pull. We haven't shortened the Tikka LOP yet. She is 5' 51/2", so the 13.5" factory Ruger fits but the 14" Tikka is long when not on a bench. Scope? The Nikon Inline 3-9 has 5" eye-relief which works great keeping her head back from the scope and on the long margin of her LOP.

Lady Tanzan shooting her 375Ruger. Her 270Tikka is on the bench in front.

Another option, could be one of Michael's B&M super shorts built on the WSSM action,I believe it was this past year his son took a Buff, Ele and Hippo with great success, these rifles are truly special.

http://www.b-mriflesandcartrid...B-M-Super-Short.html

Check this one out:

http://www.gunsamerica.com/929...ortened-engraved.htm

I would get her a 375 H&H with the stock made to fit her.
I would shorten the barrel to 20 or 21 inches.
Then I would load her some ammo with 300gr soft and solids either Woodleigh,or North Fork, at 2150 to 2200 fps.
I would mount a good 1 inch tube scope in the 1 to 5ish range.

This would make a rifle she could handle and shoot.
Plenty enough power for cape buffalo IMHO.

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
I would get her a 375 H&H with the stock made to fit her.
I would shorten the barrel to 20 or 21 inches.
Then I would load her some ammo with 300gr soft and solids either Woodleigh,or North Fork, at 2150 to 2200 fps.
I would mount a good 1 inch tube scope in the 1 to 5ish range.

This would make a rifle she could handle and shoot.
Plenty enough power for cape buffalo IMHO.

yes, that rifle would work but it basically duplicates the 375Ruger Alsakan model.

On bullets, a slow 300 grainer might work, but the 200 grain GSC and 235 grain CEB-"ER" would both make the rifle more suitable for plains game out to 300 yards and would still handle a buffalo (or hippo with solids). The nice thing about the 375 Ruger is that a handloader can load rounds from 3000ftlbs all the way to 5000 ftlbs. My wife has been happy with 4000ftlbs but final testing will be later this year. Maybe "less will be more."

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I really like the idea of the .375 Ruger, but I need to get the rifles in my wife's hands and see how she likes them.

Might look at the Ruger Guide Gun. It has an adjustable LOP stock.
http://www.ruger.com/products/guideGun/models.html

For enough energy/momentum/ rifle size+weight and ease of use which includes fairly mild recoil. The 400 Whelan/411 Hawk/411 PDK come to mind. From all reports it has mild recoil. It pushes a. 411" bullet at 2150 fps. With only 59 gr of medium/fast powder. You can get properly head stamped brass for both the 400 Whelan and 411 Hawk. And you could build the rifle on an 06 length Tika so the action would be familiar to her. Other than a slightly longer bolt throw. With a scope like a 2 1/2×20 Leupold, the rear most part of the eye piece wouldn't project beyond the rear of the bolt. Basically a 4 shot 450/400 . With a 22" barrel you would prolly get 2100 fps so your still around 4,000 ftlbs. There's a 21 page thread on the 400 Whelan on here. Tons of great info . Check it out.

400Whelan would be a sweet rifle, but it is a wildcat.

On the other hand, there is no problem with loading a 375Ruger down a few rungs to 9.3, 35Whelan, or even 30-06 recoil levels. Just use faster powders like H4895, H322, or H4198.

For example, a 200 grain GSC .375" (recommended by GSC for any plains game and even buffalo) can be loaded to 2600fps, producing 3000ftlbs, very much like a 30-06. A 235CEB at 2750fps (excellent for buffalo) is about 4000ftlbs, the level of a 338WM. A 250grain TTSX can be loaded at 2600fps for a 9.3 load, or 3000fps for a full-throttle 375Ruger.

Even tho I'm something of a velocifile I would still rather have a 400 gr .410,.411" bullet at 2100 fps than a 200 gr .375 bullet at 2600 fps. If I was hunting buffalo and hippo at close range. Same with bears.
But I always knee jerk to 40 cal and bigger for potentially dangerous game.
The rifles would weigh the same . recoil would be similar. The Hornady DGX + DGS would make a good pair . throw in the 300 gr TSX @ 2450 fps and the 400 Whelan is a winner.
I used to have a load for my 458 pushing a 300 gr X or TSX at 2550 fps for my wife to use when she was my bear watch at 8 Fathom Bight . with the brake on my rifle she could handle it OK and with the low powered scope she could hit with it.

I know you specified bolt action, but if your wife would consider a Ruger No. 1 she might like it. Available in lots of calibers, not too front heavy and the stock is easy to shorten. May want to consider building up a cheek pad to accommodate a relatively longer neck. Just a thought.
kh

My late wife was pretty small. She was precisely 5 ft tall and her arms were proportionately short. Her deer rifle was a Ruger No 3 in .223 and her shotgun was a 410 O/U. When we tried to cut the stocks to fit her we found there was no recoil pad available for such a small width stock. Ended up just putting a plastic plate on it. This is a problem I had no idea existed till it happened to me. Most of the current good recoil pads are basically hollow and can only be cut down so far. So she was limited to the .223 and the .410 which really were adequate for Coues Deer and quail without much recoil. She was totally proficient with both. I can remember well one deer season I had taught her to watch where the deer was when she shot and just stand there till I got there and be sure she watched where it went as I wasn't totally confident in the .223. I heard her gun go bang and started toward her. Got to her and said did you get it and she said -certainly ,I shot didn't I - as with all things she was positive in her outlook. I said where and she pointed and said there. I said where did he go and she said he's right there where I shot him. I couldn't see a down deer. So she took me to the cottontail she had shot. He was dead ,of course. She said we had been so many times and never had she shot anything she just decided to see if the rifle would kill something. As she said Thumper just happened to be the test.

Great story. I wouldn't put it past my wife to do something like that.

I have to, agree with what a lot was said...my wife's buffalo rifle is a Sako Kodiak 375 that was cut down to LOP and a padded comb pad on it..we also cut the barrel a bit and put a break on it...if I had to do it again Ruger guide rifle has it all for $900 dollars.. I have about $2200 in her's plus scope...

Ed

you could probably get away with a 9.3x62 in any African country,, but I wouldn't take the chance with my wife or one of my kids, its really not worth it, things over there change daily. I personally have used the 9.3x62f in about every country, without any problems as have many others. Each country is a little different on that subject, In Zim the 9.3x62 can be handloaded to legal with a 286 gr. bullet at 2525 FPS to meet energy stats, but nobody seems to care. Tanzania is pretty much up to the game scout and 99.9% wouldn't know a 9.3 from a 30-06, but there might be an exception or a blackmailer pop up! So lets go legal with mom.

At 5-3 inches that's about a 1/2 to one inch cut of most factory rifles as I am sure she would shoot a 12.5 to 13 inch LOP, depending on build. Its done all the time.
I personally would opt for a Ruger 77 African in 375 Ruger and you don't need to load it to its full potential, a 300 gr. soft or solid at 2300 to 2400 is plenty for buffalo with good bullets, and recoil would be cut considerably, You might consider a receiver ghost sight as they are fast and accurate at the ranges she would shoot a buffalo. I like Talley bases with a detachable "Talley peep" and detachable Talley scope rings, with a 3X Leupold scope for most all my African hunting. Also it comes with a detachable muzzle brake, a thread protector for the brake threads, and a solid weight to give it the same POI as a muzzle brake..All of mine had no need of the solid weight as they have shot to the same POI with the brake or without the brake..

You married a precious jewell if you have a wife that wants to hunt buffalo with ya....Have a great hunt and I'm sure you will...

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