I am having a custom Safari Rifle made up in .375 H&H. I have purchased a brand new Winchester M70 Safari Express to use the action & barrel.

What do you all think of the Winchester barrels in this calibre. Mike 375 thinks the recoil lug welded on the barrels of the Chrome Moly rifles ruins them?

My gunsmith says all the Winchester barrels have been good.

Do you think I should definitely replace the barrel? I was hoping to save on the cost of a new barrel as I was not able to buy a second hand rifle at less cost to get the donor action.

Would appreciate opinions of board members in the know.

Regards,
JohnT

John,
My Win. M-70 .375H&H is similar to yours. It is very accurate, as are most rifles in .375 (in my experience).

Shoot the gun as is, before your gunsmith works on it. This will provide you with a baseline to judge the results of your customization.

Stick with the factory barrel for now to keep costs down. If it doesn't shoot satisfactorily after the project is 'finished', re-barrel the gun at that time.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

My Win. 375 H&H shoots 1.25" groups. So I had it glass bedded and it still shoots 1.25" groups. My dad's Interarms Mark X 375 H&H shoots 0.75" groups out of the box.

My M70 in 416 Rem had two factory barrels on it. The first shot more than two feet low at 100 yards at the extreme end of the adjustment range.

The second barrel (factory replacement) was in the last quarter of the adjustment range, but I could at least get in on paper. I shot many .3xx groups with that barrel, but that was after it warmed up about ten rounds. The point of impact moved up 3 inches at 100 yards as it warmed up during the first three shots. In my book this made it useless for hunting.

Both barrels were warped and stressed where the barrel lug was WELDED on (not soldered, WELDED). I have recently had two M70 owners tell me that theirs did not exhibit this trait. I remain skeptical. Pillar bedding did not help. "Breaking it in" did not help. Floating the barrel lug did not help, bedding the barrel and lug did not help. I shot over 700 rounds through that second barrel, at $0.50US for reloading components. God knows what I spent on cleaning and nostrums.

The second barrel was a copper fouling nightmare as well. The lands had tears and galls in them that you could see with the naked eye. I firelapped that barrel three times, and hand lapped it until I was worn out. After 500 rounds it began to improve on the copper fouling, but never stopped "walking".

Bill Tompkins, machinist for Cutrifle/Wells watched my struggles with this barrel for over a year. He finally GAVE me a Cutrifle express barrel with integral lug and rib. (Thanks again, Bill! ) I got it back from John Ricks yesterday and have not yet had a chance to shoot it. John shot it and reports 1 MOA groups (and he shot mine after he filed the sights on a 458 Lott!) He reports no "walking" as the barrel warms up. I believe it.

I would shoot your M70 as it comes from the factory, at least three sessions paying particular attention in the last two sessions to the first three-five shots from a cold barrel. If you like what you see then by all means keep it and save the money.

But my opinion is that you are trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. The money spent getting the action trued and a good barrel installed is the best investment you can make in your custom rifle.

I will never start with a factory barrel ever again. Life is too short.

It almost sounds like your gunsmith is a stockmaker!

Don

Smart money goes to the guy who goes out to the range and shoots the gun for groups before he jerks the barrel out..If it shoots good then use it, thats what your after..If it doesn't then rebarrel it...

Called common since and don't ever think you cannot get a bad custom barrel from time to time...

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

I have a Winchester in .375 which I've had for 4 years now and shot approx. 800 rounds through and it continues to shoot 1" groups. Until it starts to do something wrong I'm sticking with it...

Thanks for all the informative posts.

I am not able to shoot it because the gun is in Melbourne & I am in Sydney. But my Smith has agreed to shoot it to see if the barrel is OK or not.

Don G, my gunsmith prefers to be a stockmaker but my metalsmith also said that he has not struck a bad Winchester barrel yet. (BTW Mike375 introduced me to this gunsmith & his stockwork is excellent)

What you & Ray says both make sense. So I think I will see how this factory barrel shoots. If it is exceptional I will keep it. If not then I think I'll go with a new match grade barrel.

Thanks all for the valuable input.

Regards,
JohnT

John,
However I must qualify my post..A factory barrel can have a negative effect on the value of a custom rifle...so you may be better off with a new barrel, like a Lothar-walther...just a thought.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com