My wife bought me a Mark V 375H&H Fibermark for my birthday. I have a good wife! I have always wanted a 375 Weatherby in a Mk V. I have a 340 wby MkV stainless Alaskan and love it. The H&H is a great caliber, absolutely nothing wrong with it, I just want a 375 weatherby so I'm not particularly interested in everyone's opinion as to why I should leave it as an H&H.

That said, can anyone recommend a good gunsmith in the Anchorage or Kenai area to do this work?
Second, what freebore do you recommend, the old 1945 or the new 2001, do I need to specify that to the gunsmith?

Thanks

Try Hawk's Gunsmithing he's off of Tudor. Good fair and reasonably priced.

The current throat that Weatherby redesigned for the 2001 resurrection, of course. Do not use the old 1940s freebore that is twice as long.
New throat certified in 2002 by C.I.P. is about .370" long of parallel-sided freebore that is only .0006" greater in diameter than bullet diameter,
IIRC.
I have one old one and two new ones, done by rechambering .375 H&H rifles with the respective reamers.
The new reamer gives higher velocities and better accuracy with any useable load.
With the new chamber you will get 2800 fps with factory ammo loaded with 300-grain Nosler partition bullets, from a 26" barrel,
and no pressure issues.
24" velocity will be about 2745 fps with same ammo,
about 5000 ft-lbs of KE at the muzzle.
No pie in the sky loads for the .375 H&H needed.
You can duplicate the loads yourself with something like H4350.
But start at 80 grains of H4350 and work up, depends on your barrel and powder lot.
And you can still use .375 H&H ammo in a pinch.
What's not to like?

I recommend Andy Hawk because he is highy skilled, patient and compulsive about his work. Take Lake Otis south of Tudor, Left on East 50th, Right on Laurel. His shop is on the left hand side of the road with no signage. Easy to recognize as he has a large, barred security door on his shop.

Tell him I sent you but don't expect a discount.

Matt Moore

Thanks RIP, I will go with the 2002 specs. My barrel is a 24”, 2745 sounds just perfect. I’m certain that none of the moose I intend to kill with it will complain about my 24” barrel velocities. Oh I like, have wanted a 375 wby since I was a young boy in the 80’S. I’m leaning towards Redding dies, any complaints with Redding dies, I’ve only used RCBS and Dillon?

Thanks for the input Matt & 1 of 13, that’s two for Hawk.

akmoose,

What RIP said. I get 2765 fps with a 300 Northfork and H 4350 in my custom 375 WBY. For AK the 270 TSX might be perfect as you can make it go 2900 fps by just bumping the 300 gr. load a little. IMO the 375 WBY eliminates the need for any of the 338's and has a bigger punch.

Mark

Thanks Mark.
Will have to see what shoots nice to decided on a bullet type/weight combo. I will give the 270 TSX a try. Out of the dozens of firearms I own, only two were purchased based on need. My first moose rifle when I was 11 was a Rem model 700 270win and the second was a Reeder 500 Linebaugh for hunting the islands in big bear country. I have a 340 which flattens the many moose I’ve killed, so I don’t need a 375. I buy firearms based on want…unless I’m talking to my wife, then the need argument comes out first.

quote:

Originally posted by akmoose70:
I buy firearms based on want…unless I’m talking to my wife, then the need argument comes out first.

Always a strong lead in.....

akmoose70, I'm not sure of the bullet weights that you are considering, but, your 24" barrel numbers seemed a bit conservative . I'm have a .375 AI ( pretty much a twin of the Weatherby ) with a 24" barrel . I'm running 270 TSX 's at 2900 plus, and recently went to 250TTSX 's and am running 3130. I ran her up to a little over 3150, but the group's started to open up. But, 3130, gets you there pretty quick! I don't know if longer ranges are on the table, but the 250 TTSX has a much higher BC than the 270. My rifle shot the 270's incredibly well, but the BC's sucked for long range use!! memtb

I don't have a recommendation regarding gunsmith, but I do have some experience with free-bores and their removal. I don't care for free-bores as all they do is allow the first push of pressure to go around the bullet, thus giving the impression that the cartridge is more powerful (because it uses more powder than a non-freebore). PO Ackley had some research in this and wrote about it in his handbook. I had a 257 Wby rebarrelled and specified no freebore just standard throat. I get equal velocities with 10 gr less powder and better accuracy. the only problem is that it is strictly a handloading affair because if factory loads are fired, loads intended for rifles with freebore, I get blown primers and bright ejector marks. I'd expect the same results with the 375.

memtb,
Not interested in shooting 250’s with the 375. My 340 shoots 250’s really well @ an honest 3000 fps with published data and they have a high BC in .338 caliber. I will most likely go with the 300 or 270. For the past 10 years, all the moose taken by my hunting party have been between 25 feet and the longest was 80 yards. The area I hunt is not open country, so we have to call the moose to us. 2900 with a 270 or 2750 – 2800 with 300’s will do the job just fine. If I do any long range hunting in North America again I will probably just use my 340.
akmoose70

Ray B,

Never heard that argument about free bore, always thought it was an accuracy issue. My experience with my mkV 340 has been excellent accuracy. I can shoot a 3 shot clover leaf @ 100yds. I don’t know how there would be blow-by, on most weatherby’s the bullet would still be in the case when the bullet makes contact with the rifling. I think the powder usage difference is caused by the quicker pressure spike with less free bore rather than blow-by. What’s not clear to me is why did Roy specify more free bore if the same velocities can be obtained with less.

Akmoose70

24" Sako FN
300 swift A-frame, H-414, 82.0, 2631fps
conservative load

quote:

Originally posted by akmoose70:
... I’m leaning towards Redding dies, any complaints with Redding dies, I’ve only used RCBS and Dillon? ...

My dies are RCBS, work fine.
But if I had my 'druthers, I go for the Redding too.
They made my custom dies for .395 Tatanka, 398 Lapua, and 500 Mbogo. All flawless.
They only make sub-50-cal dies now, Redding said, last I heard.
A standard item like the .375 Weatherby Magnum should be flawless too, from Redding.
The reloading dies and brass case dimensions externally haven't changed since the 1940s.
Only the throat of the rifle's chamber is new.
BTW: Use the Norma-made, Weatherby-brand brass for the .375 Weatherby brass, proper headstamp.
It is good stuff and has a bit more capacity and comes full length for 2.860" max length, trim to 2.850".
You cannot match the factory load ballistics with other brass.
Best to get some basic cylindrical and make your own too. Maybe Norma basic cylindrical?
I used Hornady basic cylindrical.
Hope it is still available to all y'all handloaders.
Fire-forming 2.850" max length .375 H&H brass (trim to 2.840") in the .375 WbyMag chamber results in further shortening of the brass as the case and shoulder are blown out wider.

I had my Model 70 classic stainless re-chambered years ago to the Weatherby.
Regarding free-bore length, I had mine done at exactly half an inch (.500") and it is .0005" over bullet diameter.
In my 24" barrel, I get 2808fps with Woddleigh 300gr PP's comfortably with no signs of pressure over my pressure trace, in fact, with the max pressure load, I got 2834fps, but, the primers were cratered, I dropped back 2 grains for 2834fps and great clover leaf accuracy. Bolt lift was normal.

I cannot recommend a gunsmith, but, any good gunsmith should have no problem re-chambering your rifle.

I'm using a Redding die set, my chamber is super short to the shoulder, so I had to modify a shell holder to suit, I trimmed .010" off the top to get smooth chambering and about .003" clearance head to shoulder.

Cheers.