This Pre-64 M70 .375 H&H has been rebarreled to .395 H&H.
Mild mannered but unique.
Custom turned McGowen stainless barrel to match a Douglas No.3 sporter contour 24" long:
Except the barrel taper beyond the stock forend changed just enough to increase the muzzle diameter from .625" to .645", or thereabouts.

Well, I told Rusty McGee, Master Gunsmith and Mechanical Engineer, to make it somewhere around 24" long and about .645" at the muzzle.

Will see for sure Saturday when I go pick it up.
It used to weigh about 6.75 pounds, but the bore hole is a little bigger now, muzzle a little fatter.
Might still be under 7 pounds dry.





Rip, Ron In Person

Congrats, Ron!

Thank you, El Jeffeosso, Wildcatting Virtuoso.

The .395 H&H will be a good companion to the .500/.338 Lapua Magnum.
Alternate shooting to let them cool between groups for load development.
Gotta be efficient for those trips to the range.
I am ready to rock-and-roll, lock-and-lol.

Sweet!
Should be as slick as the original 375 HH

boom stick,
Thanks.
Yes, slick feeding, 4 down in the Pre-64 H&H box, plus 1 in the chamber, and more foot-pounds than a .375 H&H. A 5-shooter-7-pounder.
Just trying to be different.
Rip

Whats the round look like?
Did you leave much of a shoulder?

By the way I want your Dog and your Truck...LOL

Cheers, John

You are only 28 thou off the 404-375
the 395 is cool because you made it happen and it is a great niche with 300 to 400 grains. Gerard gave it the best compliment of the thinking mans caliber.

Rip,
is that a part Weimereiner or part Blackmouth Cur dog. (the muzzle is a little small for both)
Just wondering?

Nice one! Any chance of posting pics of the cartridge?

Cheers

Congrats, Rip!
Got to get a scope mounted on the Ruger #1 Express. That, I feel will be my light .395. The .395 MAX wil be my heavy...until I decide between a .458 or a.500.

Anytime ya'll want a run of BBW#13s, solids and NonCons all you got to do is say so. We will get them run for ya!

Michael

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
boom stick,
Thanks.
Yes, slick feeding, 4 down in the Pre-64 H&H box, plus 1 in the chamber, and more foot-pounds than a .375 H&H. A 5-shooter-7-pounder.
Just trying to be different. Rip

Does the dog get a break from holding up the table at night?

quote:

Originally posted by michael458: Anytime ya'll want a run of BBW#13s, solids and NonCons all you got to do is say so. We will get them run for ya! Michael

There's a thought...

___________________________________

RIP,

Nice goin' friend; nice indeed!!!
What grain weight solid would be
fired at Elephant noggin's? Sectional
Density? Muzz Vel?

RIP,

You're my friggin hero bro!

Have a thought, we have 310 and 320 gr bullets for the .395. Any consideration for maybe a lighter bullet such as a 250 or 260? This of course, for elk, moose, etc.
Max

340 grainers from: http://www.gsgroup.co.za/orderfne.html

As I recall, this is a "straight" neck up, not the "improved" version that Gerald was looking to do. Right?

I further recall that S & H was thinking about lighter weight bullets but his current site lists only the 330 grain.

quote:

Originally posted by BigFiveJack:
[QUOTE] Originally posted by michael458: Anytime ya'll want a run of BBW#13s, solids and NonCons all you got to do is say so. We will get them run for ya! Michael

There's a thought...

That would make a great chance for a straight up compare between CEB, S&H and GSC. Now, if we could get NF to run off a few, that would make "four of a kind".

quote:

Originally posted by I Bin Therbefor:

quote:

Originally posted by BigFiveJack:
[QUOTE] Originally posted by michael458: Anytime ya'll want a run of BBW#13s, solids and NonCons all you got to do is say so. We will get them run for ya! Michael

There's a thought...

That would make a great chance for a straight up compare between CEB, S&H and GSC. Now, if we could get NF to run off a few, that would make "four of a kind".

Darn good opportunity spelled out there!

Thanks all, for all the responses, both serious and comic, intentional or not.


CEB .395! BBW FN solids and a light NonCon! Yes, that would do it all.

Doc M, prof242,
Excellent idea. I think anything from 230-grains to 270 grains would be great in Brass.
We know the S&H .395/310-grain brass nonCon works great.
The .395/330-grain brass FN by S&H is in the ultimate-penetrator class at 2800 fps.

Maybe a 250-grainer or 270-grainer at higher speeds would be the cat's meow for plains game?
250-grain NonCon, 270-grain BBW solid?

The old Nitro for BP Express rounds used 230-grain and 270-grain lead bullets, whether .395 (some) or .405 (most).

Whatever tickles Max's fancy would be fine with me.

Now to go load some photos of the .395 H&H,
and reply to the serious and the profane.
Who in his right mind would think Jack was not a pure bred Weimaraner?

Three Nine Five:

Rusty McGee turned a great, fat 26" McGowen stainless barrel down to match a No.3 Douglas sporter contour PLUS .020" extra diameter near the muzzle.
After shortening to 23" length, the muzzle diameter was 0.665".
Perfect.
Enlarging the caliber from .375 to .395, shortening barrel length by one inch, and fattening a little near the muzzle:

It still weighs 6.75 pounds "dry weight."
Add the scope bases and receiver sight: 7.0 pounds.

I like it.
Scoped, loaded, slung: 8.5 pounds














The metal finish on the action is original 1958 Winchester bluing.

The barrel is McGowen stainless bead blasted and sent through the bluing with the new front sight, NECG.

The texture paint must be sand in black epoxy paint? It has been on safari in Botswana (2001), and bear hunting in Alaska (1993), as a .375 H&H.
No scratches, chips or visible wear.
Looks as good as it did the day gunsmith Kelly Olson painted it after glass bedding the Brown Precision "Pounder" stock, composite of graphite, Kevlar, fiberglass.
Kelly was in Eagle River, Alaska then (1992), Buffalo, Minnesota, last I heard.
Walt Sherman started this rifle by rebarreling a 300 H&H to .375 H&H, when I was in Tallahassee,FL, about 1990.
Rusty McGee has finished it to perfection, as a .395 H&H, at Falls of Rough, KY, 2011.

It has been over 20 years in the making.
The action is 53 years old.
Took 3 good gunsmiths to get it right.

The sights: Brass/gold patridge/sourdough post and peep

Five-Shooter and perfect feeder with FN solid COL of 3.570" and Hollowpoint semi-spitzer soft of 5.599".
No Round Noses allowed!

quote:

Originally posted by Phatman:
Whats the round look like?
Did you leave much of a shoulder?

By the way I want your Dog and your Truck...LOL

Cheers, John

John,
Thanks, my dog "Jack," Rusty's truck.
The nickeled case is a .375 H&H Remington factory load with 300-grain Swift bullet.
The .395 dummies have bullets that weigh 265, 310, 330, and 410 grains.

quote:

Originally posted by boom stick:
You are only 28 thou off the 404-375
the 395 is cool because you made it happen and it is a great niche with 300 to 400 grains. Gerard gave it the best compliment of the thinking mans caliber.

boom stick,
Thanks again. Yep, I thunk long and hard about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Rae59:
Rip,
is that a part Weimereiner or part Blackmouth Cur dog. (the muzzle is a little small for both)
Just wondering?

Rae59,
You are obviously an ignoramus when it comes to dogs.
Jack's AKC registerd name filled every block allowed on the application, perfectly, no empty spaces to spare:

JackPhantomHuckleBerryHoundDog



Jackph

quote:

Originally posted by umshiniwam:
Nice one! Any chance of posting pics of the cartridge?

Cheers

umshiniwam,
Thanks. Done.

quote:

Originally posted by prof242:
Congrats, Rip!
Got to get a scope mounted on the Ruger #1 Express. That, I feel will be my light .395. The .395 MAX wil be my heavy...until I decide between a .458 or a.500.

Max,
A .395 is all you need, thinking man that you are. The rest is just for kicks.
Yes a light CEB bullet would be great.

quote:

Originally posted by tiggertate:

Does the dog get a break from holding up the table at night?

tiggertate,
Jack is way below the table, perspective and camera lens is tricking you.
80 pounds and 29" at the withers, but more than a foot between his head and the table bottom.

I never abused Jack.
He could spot a flock of wild turkeys 1000 yards away in a cow pasture, and cover that ground in less than a minute, leaping into the air to snap at their tail feathers as the last one was lifting off.
Good at Frisbee too.

quote:

Originally posted by michael458:
Anytime ya'll want a run of BBW#13s, solids and NonCons all you got to do is say so. We will get them run for ya!

Michael

DocM,

You betcha! Thanks, we'll work it out to Max's satisfaction.
I like any .395 bullet of any make or weight.
Thanks in advance for greasing the skids, with all your pioneering work.
A brass nonCon and a brass solid of any weight would be great.
Max and I will decide on something, while you are off on safari.
May the red gods smile upon you.

Best,
Ron

quote:

Originally posted by BigFiveJack:

RIP,
Nice goin' friend; nice indeed!!!
What grain weight solid would be
fired at Elephant noggin's? Sectional
Density? Muzz Vel?

BigFiveJack,
330-grain S&H FN brass solid at 2400(low end) to 2800(high end) fps MV.
SD = .302

340-grain GSC FN copper solid at 2400 to 2600 fps MV.
SD = .311

Slower for softer copper.

Take your pick for elephant.

340-grain copper at 2700 fps, 330-grain brass at 2800 fps:



410-grain Gas-Checked hard cast LFN from LBT mould at 2200 fps MV might do for anything up to and including buffalo.
Good as a 450/400 NE 3".

Even the ".395/400 NE 3-Inch Aboriginal" that Max and I have will do that.

This .395 H&H will almost equal the .395 Ruger Max.
I do like the rifle. Any .395 Rifle.

The middle bullet is that 410-grainer sent into the waterbuckets at 2200 fps (400/.395 NE 3-Inch).
The left bullet is a 330-grain S&H FN brass solid, 2800 fps (.395 Tatanka).
Right bullet is a 50-caliber muzzleloader bullet at about 1900 fps into the same medium:



.395/310-grain NonCon by S&H at 1600 fps, 2100 fps, 2600 fps:

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:
RIP,

You're my friggin hero bro!

quote:

Originally posted by I Bin Therbefor:
As I recall, this is a "straight" neck up, not the "improved" version that Gerald was looking to do. Right?

I further recall that S & H was thinking about lighter weight bullets but his current site lists only the 330 grain.

IBT,
Yep, mine is a straight neck-up of .375 H&H to .395 H&H.
Gerard's was like a .375 Ackley Improved with 40-degree shoulder necked-up to .395.
He was unable to import barrels and now his reamer lies fallow.

The Unimproved Version, it has .375 Weatherby-ized throat,
just like all the rest of the .395 family of this century,
and it may be loaded to 62,000 Kpsi-ish pressures like the original .375 H&H:

quote:

This .395 H&H will almost equal the .395 Ruger Max.

Going from 375 to 395

It seems to me that the type action to be used, determines to some extent, the choice of 395 wildcat coming from the 375. For example, any 375 Ruger capable action goes to 395 ruger max; any 375 H&H capable action can go two ways; your 395 H&H or the Gerald "improved" 395 H&H. Likewise, the 376 or even the "360 mag" capable action can go to a 395. All these should have similar performance. The Weatherby 378 can go that way but due to the bigger 378 case, the performance should be greater. The same with a 375 remmington ultra maganum.

I'm focusing on the 375s because it should be easier to pick up a 375 than a bigger caliber at the local USA gun shop or gun show.

So a 375 to 395 is a slam dunk and reasonably priced.

IBT:



Rusty's charge to thread, chamber and crown a barrel, basic: $150 (and up depending on breech complexity)

Bead blast and install and return shipping: Maybe another $50, depending on how much insurance customer desires?

Assuming a stainless barrel and no other complexities:

Send him $200 and a .375 H&H or .375 Ruger rifle and a .395 barrel by USPS (Post office).
And he will send back to you either a .395 H&H or a .395 Ruger Max.
Sights on the new barrel extra.

Barrels are available from McGowen, chromoly or stainless.

To convert a .375 to a .395 at simplest: $200 plus barrel cost (McGowen)

Maybe availability of CEB bullets will make it less crazy.


Mount front sight: $40
Parts for NECG front sight on the .395 H&H above: $122

Bead blast and blue the front sight on a stainless barrel: $40

Etc.
Prices only based on my experience.
Rusty has the price list for work done by him.
Good gunsmith/mechanical engineer,
whose shop is in a low rent district, out in the country, not in Washington D.C.,
and he has not become uppity yet.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:

quote:

Originally posted by michael458:
Anytime ya'll want a run of BBW#13s, solids and NonCons all you got to do is say so. We will get them run for ya!

Michael

DocM,

You betcha! Thanks, we'll work it out to Max's satisfaction.
I like any .395 bullet of any make or weight.
Thanks in advance for greasing the skids, with all your pioneering work.
A brass nonCon and a brass solid of any weight would be great.
Max and I will decide on something, while you are off on safari.
May the red gods smile upon you.

Best,
Ron

Thanks Ron! Yep, while in the field you boys decide what you want, I will grease the skids when I get back and get them done for you. Just a thing, ain't nothing to it.

Rifles shooting great, ammo loaded, packed, divided by 2, going into two different bags (sorta has to, I have 20 lbs worth, 10 for me, 10 for Momma! Everything on GO!

Michael

OK! We have interest in a lighter weight .395 bullet for our various projects. Both RIP and I have Ruger #1s in the almost-lost-in-history .395/400 BP Express (or whatever name you want to call it). This rifle needs a bullet to live up to its Express billing of the 1880s. A 230gr would be, I think, a duplicate of the original and an ideal bullet for most uses in the USA.
On the other hand, since it is a .395, the .375 has available a 230gr, and we might want something a little bigger, we could go to 250gr weight.
Hmmmm, decisions decisions. I am leaning to the 230gr, but the teeter totter has not touched ground on that side yet.
Any help would be appreciated.

Max,
A 230-grain brass NonCon in .395 caliber would likely be a better plains game bullet than a 235-grain .375 cup&core Speer-deer bullet.

230-grains is the original .395-caliber lead bullet weight, in Nitro for BP loadings ...

But 250-grains makes a lot of sense, at slow or fast velocities ...

And you are good at sizing 10 mm 200-grain pistol bullets down to .395 for plinking ...

I could go either way.
You pick 230 grains, or I will pick 250 grains.
Split the difference and go 245 grains?
That beats a .375/235-grainer two ways from Sunday, and higher velocity could make it three ways better as a plains game or African Sheep Bullet.
Your call.

Let's sleep on it.

Rip

Max and Doc M,
It came to me in a dream:

For the .395 Family,
we need a bullet with 0.750" or less of nose projection, and 0.400" or more of base projection.
Average that combo: 0.750" + 0.400" = 1.150" total bullet length

We need a .395-caliber bullet that is 1.150" long.

CEB DGBrass bullets:
Weight would probably be very close to 230-grains for a Brass NonCon hollowpoint, and maybe 255 grains for a BBW brass FN solid.

But hold my horses!

CEB also makes a copper Flat Base hunting bullet that is a beauty:
Listed only in .308 150-grain and 165-grain:

.308/150-grain:



Maybe we could get something made up in one or all of these three types and ask for the bullet to be 1.150" long and let the weight fall where it may.
As long as it can be seated and crimped somewhere with 0.750" or less of nose sticking out.
Of course you could always seat deeper without a crimp:

FBH Flat Base Hunting Bullet
DGBR Dangerous Game Brass Solid Bullets
DGBR-HP Dangerous Game Brass Hollow Point Bullets





Letter Rip