I may have an opportunity to pick up a left handed mod. 70 in 375H&H in the not to distant future. This rifle already has a trigger job and had the firing pin spring replaced.

My question is what else should I do to this rifle once I get it.

I am thinking right off the bat, that I will have to cut the stock down to fit her, replace the recoil pad (probably with a Decerator).

I may also put a couple mercury reducers in the butt of the stock.

I won't put a muzzle break on this rifle, too much noise for the shooter and everybody else.

Anything else that I have not thought of.

Thanks

Graylake

Graylake,
I don't know how strong your wife is, but if you expect her to carry it for 'miles and miles of bloody Africa', adding weight may cause more problems than it solves.

Reshaping the stock to fit her will make the gun more shootable in and of itself. The Decelerator is a good choice of recoil pad, too. A muzzle brake can be employed as a last resort.

Don't tell her that you expect it to kick violently; my wife shoots my .375H&H with aplomb because she never had any apprehensions about shooting it.

If you handload, start her out with 250gr. bullets at sedate velocities, then work up to whatever bullet she will hunt with.

George

quote:

If you handload, start her out with 250gr. bullets at sedate velocities, then work up to whatever bullet she will hunt with.

Hornady 220 grain FP Interlock bullets (made for .375 win) also make good practice loads with very little kick. A good way to start her off with, and often suprisingly accurate.

George is right about not telling her it might kick. My wife shot her first animals with a 300Wby and didn't mind practicing with it at all. Probably because she "didn't know better"!

Thanks for the replies

My wife likes to shoot my 375, but since I am right handed that won't work in a hunting situation. It is fine for plinking but I wouldn't send her hunting with it.

Also the stock is too long for her, so she cocks her shoulder all the way back to be able to use the scope. Not good for absorbing recoil, but she just shoots until she can start to feel it and then calls it quits.


thanks for the suggestions

Graylake

Graylake,
You have a good wife there. When you get the stock cut down consider having the barrel shortened a bit so it won't be barrel heavy. Stock fit and overall gun balance go a long way toward improving a rifle's "shootablity". The 375 H&H barrel can be shortened a few inches without significantly decreasing recoil or increasing muzzle blast.

Enjoy.

lawndart

Graylake,

More of us need a wife like yours!

You've already received some solid advice, I like lawndart's idea about cropping the barrel back to match the shortened buttstock and George's idea about the lighter bullets, my experience with the 260 grain TBB's shoot with noticably less recoil than my 300 grain handloads. As for recoil reducers, they really do take the balance right out of a rifle in a hurry and are HEAVY!

I have a Winchester Model 70 L/H .375 H&H and it is the only gun in my safe that I haven't done anything to other than to tweak the trigger! It was and is great just the way it came from the factory.

Having said that it is a heavy rifle, with Kahles 1.5-6x42 scope in EAW mounts, a full magazine, one up the spout and sling weighs-in at 10.75 lbs. That bull barrel is most of the weight I'm sure but it also shoots real comfortable with all that heft.

I'm partial to that nice solid rubber recoil pad and personally don't see how you're going to improve on that much....but everyone feels recoil in their own way.

If the stock needed to be shortened I'd be pretty careful about how much I took off at a time - as looongish stock goes a long way to help tame recoil. I'd try to get it just perfect for the lady.

If there was anything I'd consider doing to the rifle it would be to shorten the barrel from 24" to 22" or 21" for a more handy piece.

I also have a Blaser OffRoad with a .375H&H barrel that I purchased from a buddy who thought it too light. He had the barrel Magna-Ported and my perception is that it does take some of the fight out of the tiger, without going the muzzle-brake route.

Have fun shooting and let us know how it works out if you buy it!

Cheers,

Gerry

MAGNA PORT MAGNA PORT MAGNA PORT
There is less noise ,and less sting. I had a
browning a bolt in .375 it was grate to shoot
after magna porting. I have a blaser R93 thaI am going to port.

No Magnaport, No Magnaport, No Magnaport.
Noise is noise and it ain't no good for de ears.

lawndart

Graylake, I would put on a brake that you can open and close...Practice oopen and hunt with it closed

Mike

I have 2 300 Win Mag barrels for my Blaser R-93.
One is magna-ported. The magnaport bbl kicks like my 308 win Blaser bbl, quite a bit less than the un ported 300 dbl. I do not find it any louder than the other bbl. I have shot it in the field and at game without ear protection. I have had [the key word here is HAD] other bbls with muzzlebreaks and I couln not even shoot them in the field at game, they were just too loud.I am going to have my other 300 and my 375 bbl Magna-Ported.
If recoil was a factor in a 375 for african DG hunting I would still load 300 grain bullets but drop the velocity down to @2200fps.
For plains game and NA hunting the Federal factory 250 gr Trophy Bonded Bearclaw [or reloaded equivilent] is a good load.

The on/ off muzzle break is a nice feature. Some will flame anyone that has one of the corrupt muzzle breaks on their rifles. Esthetics is in the eye of the beholder. The on/ off from Brockman's works fine on my 416 Rigby.

Gerry

I definately have to shorten the stock. We have had to on every rifle/shotgun that we have for her. If we don't shorten the stock she has to cock her shoulder all the way back in order to be able to use the scope, or even make it comfortable for her to shoot the shotgun. And when she does that and touches off a round it pounds her. Because her shoulder/body does not absorb any of the recoil. Even shooting her 30-06 when the stock was too long would pound her. Most times she could only shoot 6-8 rounds before she was hurting, and starting to flinch. Now that the stock has been cut, she will go out and shoot 30-40 rounds in a session and want to shoot more.

And for everybody that wishes that you have a wife like mine. Becareful what you wish for, ALL of my hunts have now doubled in cost. And every gun that I have she needs to have in a left handed version. And it is tough to try and say that she doesn't need it when I have one. And to make matters worse, she is a great shot.

Here is her antlers off of her first Mule Deer Buck.




Thanks for all of the advise

Graylake

Graylake,

As you have highlighted in your post, IMHO a correct length of pull is probably the single most important thing when it comes to handling recoil. A stock that doesn't fit, especially one that is too long, makes the recoil much worse.

A friend of mine asked me for some help/advice in getting a rifle ready for her to use on our trip to South Africa back in 2000. She chose a Ruger M77 Mk II stainless in .338 Win Mag. (Plains game hunting only.) We decided to replace the synthetic stock with a regular Ruger walnut stock. We took it to KDF and they shortened the length of pull (she's 5' 4" tall) and added a KDF muzzle brake. (I know you stated that you don't want a muzzle brake but my friend Kate simply found that her rifle recoiled too much without one.) She now uses this rifle exclusively with one standard load using 250gr Nosler Partitions. She simply compromised about the muzzle brake and uses some hearing protection in the field.

-Bob F.

Bob

I understand what you mean. If all else fails, we will probably end up with a KDF.

I will have to see how it goes and adjust accordingly.

Sid

Graylake & BFau......

Send more trophy pics!

I'm glad you're getting to where you want to go with this.

I will (in spite of lawndart's vehement opposition.....Huh?....perhaps you've pounded one to many primer without hearing protection?)

Add a couple more cents worth on the Magna-Porting since I made a remark and a couple of folks reluctantly responded - although without any particularly strong opnions.

When Blaser purchased licensing rights for Magna-Porting from Larry Kelley they had to have the German Proof House DEVA (Deutsche Versuchs-und Pruf-Anstalt) conduct manditory testing. The report is in front of me and the results conducted on a 8x68mm Magmun are:

1. Velocity difference before/after porting: -4/ms.
2. Recoil reduction: 19.2%
3. Muzzle flip reduction: 40.5%.
4. Loudness: from 131.2db to 133.6db an increase of 2.4db.

I don't have Magna-Porting on every rifle (actually only 1) but it works - positively for me and I do have Pro-Porting on 5 shotguns where it really works!

Cheers,

Gerry

Graylake, you haven't really mentioned what you have in mind for this rifle. What's the quarry? Lots of walking? If it's just so she can have one to shoot I'd definitely put some mercury in there, and leave the barrel at 24". If she's carrying out yonder and will need to perform offhand, then 250's with a 21" bbl will take anything in NA, especailly considering she'll have a backup.
Or Africa, for that matter. I wouldn't want to shoot a Cape Buff alone with a 250 going 2800 but with a stopper alongside me I just might. (Myself I'd take something bigger, understand, adn she might too. Might ought to be looking for a left-handed 470 Mbogo. ;-) )

Bwana-be

I did forget to mention that she will be using this rifle for buffalo hunting.

As for getting a bigger caliber. I don't think that will be required. We don't have the funds available to be able to hunt Africa very often. As it is this trip that we are planning now is taking 5 years to save up for.

So as been said by many on this board, a 375 will kill everything in Africa with the right bullets and shot placement. And if things go south then the PH will have a stopper with him/her.

That is why I am getting the rifle for her now. She will be using that rifle to hunt deer around Alberta for a few years and get lots of shooting time with the gun. So when it is time for the trip, she will be ready.

But of course if we were able to hunt DG every year or two, a bigger rifle would be in the works for both of us.

Thanks for the help

Graylake