On the website of a Norwegian gunstore I found this rifle: Cogswell & Harrison .375 H&H

The price is around 3300 USD.. Is it worth it? I guess we can name theese rifles as cheap english best guns.. Best I can afford at the moment..

very nice rifle... do you need a 375 2200 euros worth?

I do not think you could get very close to duplicating it for that amount of money, plus, it does say C&H on it...collector value?

Rich
DRSS

I'd buy it immediately... Holland and Holland shows two used Cogswell .375's in their inventory for substantially more money and in less pristine condition!

Here is one that has seen a lot of use in Zim.
It belongs to one of Zim's Premier Leopard guides, Charlie Stanton.
A very nice rifle that points well.
PH, Matt Stanton using it here on Jumbo before his 470NE.

I'd not let that one slip away. If you are looking fro a classic rifle that is a nice one at very decent price.

There is no way to duplicate that rifle at that price.

It's built on an FN action ..... as good as it gets for the money (not an Oberndorf, but the next best thing to it).

I've got mine for sale on gunsamerica for $4500 on a Mauser action

Looks like a nice rifle at a good price...buy it!

Yes! Even if you don't really want it. Just buy it, flip it to me, and I'll give you an instant profit on it!

If it had not been stamped Cogswell&Harrison, what would the price be? Aluminum bottom-metal, ruined recoil pad, a silly 1/4safety on the wrong side.
Made by an unknown gunsmith, the price would have been 1/3 of the asking 3300 dollars.

But it IS a C&H, and it can be a nice gun after some work.

I am sure someone would pay even more.

Sorry for my late reply! And thanks for all the replies! That`s a lot of good words about the gun.. I guess I should go for it! At least go have a look at it as soon as possible..

Is the aluminum bottom and 1/4 safety an unoriginal feature?

I`ll let you know if I buy it and don`t like it, mrlexma!

The C&H rifle in 375H&H that was once mine had neither an alu floor plate or 1/4 safety.
It had a steel trigger guard and the standard 180 degree flag safety.

In the 1960s' C&H offered three grades of rifle namely the "Special, Take Down and the Deluxe".
At that time the Take Down and Deluxe were fitted with flush folding leaf open sights and a Parker Hale cocking piece Sportarget apeture backsight.

I don't know if this is of any help, but I hope it is.

This C&H is made in 1990. I believe both bottom mettal and safety were originally installed by C&H.
The safety is a POS, and I would install a new M70 safety, or an original flag-safety. I would leave the bottom mettal, but have it redone with a more sturdy finnish. A new recoilpad, and You have one nice rifle.
Have it drilled and tapped for scopemount if you want that - it was made in 1990.

Those old Cogswells were the cheap rifle of the day, but for a hunting rifle they are tops except some have aluminum bottom metal and thats not good IMO. The checkering is rough at about 16 LPI but you can really hang on to that kind of checkering, it certainly is better for hunting than the fine stuff we spew about today.

All in all they are bringing a lot of money these days and they are an excellent using rifle. I have owned several of them that I replaced the drop box with steel of the same. The wood is good European walnut.

They are no longer cheap rifles, we Americans showed them what a cheap rifle was. The C&H you have would be a class rifle in todays USA.

congratulation, and enjoy a great rifle of yesterday, today and tomorrow...

Thanks again for good help! Seems like a nice rifle, and a quite reasonable one. Have been looking for a while..
For 2008 I have a Russian hunt booked and almost RSA as well, so I have to recheck my budget first..

I`m a tall guy and like an inch extra on the LOP, which this rifle actually has.. Another bonus for me..

there are a lot of " go for it " comments on this rifle, but where is the quality that would command such a price ?

where please ??

not here. you could buy a model 70 or a good German rifle built on a real mauser action for far less and have as good or better a rifle for far less money.

c&h was never renowned as a high quality builder. they make basic user rifles like this one. and being made in 1990 it is far beyond the period of any significant hand workmanship.

it is simply a plain jane working rifle - definitely -not - a best quality rifle

fossdal could probably build you a better rifle for less money. and it wouldn't have cheap aluminum parts in it.

I looked closely at the pictures and I believe it would be quite easy to build a better hunting rifle for the same or less money. There's nothing special about that action (and the bolt handle and front sight are IMO ugly). The stock is shaped nicely for an iron-sight rifle but the wood is unremarkable. As has been pointed out already, the aluminum bottom-metal is not ideal. No, I wouldn't spend that kind of money on it even if it is a C&H.

Of course you could build a better looking rifle for the money, BUT the resale would be considerbly less than the Cogswell that has collector value tossed into a really fine using rifle..Other than the aluminum bottom metal the Cogswells are nice hunting rifles with a quarter rib and on a Mauser action and the wood is normally quite good European or French walnut. A used custom rifle is worth about 25 cents on the dollar resale.

Ray, absolutely right; I had not considered that aspect. I'd limited my analysis to just the parts and how they were put together. This C&H would be a much better investment than most custom rifles--definately something to consider.