Hi,
I have been a member here for a number of years, don't post so often, but read a lot of what is said and enjoy most of what I find here...I am a Professional Guide from Zimbabwe and have been guiding and training guides for the last 15 years or so. I am currently involved with planning a guide training course for a Wildlife Department in Central Africa and am looking to procure a number of rifles for training guides to conduct walking safaris with armed escorts. I am hoping to procure a couple of light calibre rifles, 2 medium calibre - 30-06 or 308 maybe 7mm and four heavy calibre weapons, .375 or .416 The Winchester Model 70 is an ideal choice, but the price is quite heavy...have looked at the CZ but with the after factory finishing thats needed with bedding and cross bolting etc I reckon we may be better off just spending the extra money and getting the Winchesters...Does anybody here know of an organisation or a contact where I might be able to apply for a discounted price on an order such as the above as the guides I will be training cannot afford the winchesters, neither can their parent organisation...

In addition to the firearms themselves I would also want to include an order for approximately 1000 rounds of ammo for each calibre.

Thanks in advance for any assistance or reference you all might be able to put forward.

Thanks,
Andy Ault
Zim Pro Guide License No. G1

Andy,

Why not contact Winchester directly and provide them your credentials? I cannot imagine a company like that would turn away from such a grand marketing opportunity.

Best of luck.

Jeff

Ruger!

Hawkeye in .375 or .416 Ruger
Then Hawkeye in 30-06, 308 etc.

Price is right, good quality, readily available.

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for your advice. Anybody on the forum that has a decent contact address for Winchester?? I had a look attheir website and in their FAQ's they have that question, more or less...and their reply is that they already support NRA and a bunch of other organisations so if you are a member then you already benefit from their donations etc...and they even give an 0800 number to call...problem is i can't get the 0800 number to work from here and don't know anybody in the US well enough to handle this type of a request on my behalf...

JCS, will have a look at the Ruger...thanks for the heads up,

Best,
Andy

801.876.2711

webmaster@winchester-guns.com

Winchester Repeating Arms
275 Winchester Avenue
Morgan, UT 84050

http://www.winchesterint.com/winchester/homepage.php

My CZ's in 375H&H and 416 Rigby both came from the factory with double crossbolts installed.

Rich

Andy, While the Win is a good rifle - so is the Ruger and you could have ones in all the smaller calibers as well as either the 375 & 416 Ruger or the 375 H&H and 416 Rigby.
Email Ken Jorgensen <kjorgensen@ruger.com>;
and see if he can help

Ruger makes a replica of their African rifles in 223. It feels identical to the bigger calibers and an awful lot of cheap ammo is out there for practice. It is a catalog item and available. I have had one for a couple months and I believe the safari training school in the US uses them quite a bit. Might be worth including in your program.

quote:

Originally posted by 458Win:
Andy, While the Win is a good rifle - so is the Ruger and you could have ones in all the smaller calibers as well as either the 375 & 416 Ruger or the 375 H&H and 416 Rigby.
Email Ken Jorgensen <kjorgensen@ruger.com>;
and see if he can help

Ruger is so hung up on thier own verions of 375 and 416 they no longer offer 375 H&H or 416 Rigby in bolt actions. But the 325 H&H is available in the #1

Too bad Bill Ruger is gone.

I was sure I was looking at one of their 375 H&H models at SHOT this year - plus They do offer the African in 9.3x62 as of this year.

I just tried to find a 375 H&H in the new Ruger catalog and guess they have dropped them.

Hi Guys,
Gee man, thanks for all the tips...I have been out of hunting circles for a while now so the news about a Ruger 375 and 416 comes as news to me...from what you all have to say about them though they sound interesting, especially as they have a light cal with the same stock and size etc...thats esp important for me here as I expect the biggest problem will be getting the guys to shoot without flinching...so will be nice to start them off on something easy and build up to the big bruisers...appreciate all the tips and advice...

take care and be well all of youse

Andy

Andy...if you have any possibility of re-loading, by a couple of .458 Win rifles. You can shoot cheap bullets like 400grn made for the 45-70, you can shoot cast bullets at reduced or full speed etc, and it is one of the easyiest cartridges to reload unless you are trying to get full spec (500grns at 2150fps) - and you can use quite a wide veriety of powders. If you are having to rely on factory...stick to a .375 H&H or .458 Win

The ruger rounds are interesting but not available anywhere in Africa that I know of, not even in SA. The 9,3's are great and facory ammo is available everywhere but it is not a beginers round for use on dangerous game - but it is easyto lean to shoot and very easy to reload for.

When I asked him about the RSM being gone from the catalog, a Ruger executive at SCI told me they would most likely restart production of the guns, and that distributors probably have sufficient inventory to cover demand in the interim. He said the only reason for shutting down production was that they have other, more popular items that need the manufacturing capacity right now. Unless he was fibbing, it seems the claim that Ruger doesn't sell a .375 H&H or a .416 Rigby should be marked with an asterisk.