This afternoon I'm going to take a factory stock Model 70 Safari Express .375 H&H to the gunsmith and have him do some tweaking, one tweak being to pillar and glass bed the action.

As part of such I'm going to have him remove the barrel mounted recoil lug. If you�ve never held one, the Safari Express has a big ol' honkin' chunk of wood for a stock - then they put two cross bolts through the action area. I'm thinking that second lug might be needed to distribute recoil and keep the stock from splitting on something .458ish but a .375 should be okay, especially with aluminum pillars and a hunk of epoxy behind the recoil lug and tang.

Remington made their wood stocked Classic in .375 H&H - does anybody know if those rifles used a second barrel mounted recoil lug? And if not, were there any issues with stocks splitting? Those Classic stocks are not the beefiest things around so if one of those could handle a .375's recoil I'm thinking this Winchester stock should handle it no problem.

That second lug just cannot be contributing to accuracy and I've heard that unless it is square and bedded properly it causes walking - which is exactly what my rifle exhibits. Second shot about an inch up from the first, then three and four successively one inch left of the previous. Up one, left two - very consistent trail followed by a variety of different loads. I'm thinking that's a bedding issue, huh? The rifle comes from the factory free floated in front of the second lug, so I'm going to have the smith free float that fat barrel back to the straight shank with the shank supported by the bedding.

So what think you, one and all? Ditch that second lug and not worry about the strength of the glass/pillar reinforced stock? Or keep it and try to get it square and bedded?

FWIW - my stainless Model 70 .375 does not have a second lug and it is accurate as all get out. �Course it does have a K&P cut rifled barreled, not the Wincheser made factory tube. Leslee at the Custom Shop says they don't put second lugs on stainless rifles as they are meant to go into synthetic stocks and those are in no danger of splitting.

I would go with the less invasive fix first. If the recoil lug is squared and re-bedded, that may be enough to cure the problem.

You can always have it taken off if the above doesn't work.

George

#1.. RUN from anyone that wants to remove that block
#2.. have him put a smallbar of steel behind the lug, then bed it... it will then effectivly be square
#3 .. walking is more on the rear than the front.. in 1 to 3 shots... it's acting more like it's nottight than it's got a real problem...

and the winchester BEDDING flakes out with finger pressure.. i've done it..

so, rebed the ENTIRE thing first... make sure he does it in two casts, or it's stuck for certain

jeffe

Hey Jim

On removing the recoillug... wincheter put these on this class of gun to avoid stocks spliting.. To remove (they appear to be tigg'ed on) you'll be either getting the barrel hot or lots of mill/file time. If it's there, then I'd leave it, and work on the easier things to fix.

besides, once rebedded, you could then decide to take it off, if it's not cured, and spend all of 30 mins filling the bedding.

on bedded the whole thing. It will essentially need to be bedded from the rear of the feed ramp to the front of the barrel recoil lug. If it is itled slightly, I KNOW FOR A FACT it can shatter the stock coming out AND be mechincally locked with the bedding (cause for breaking the stock) with LITTLE effort.

So, if it were mine, I would clean out the hotglue USRAC uses for bedding, cut back the wood on behind the barrel lug, put a little plumbers putty on the receiver side, and bed as usually. Once I removed it from the action and let sit for 2 days, i'ld fill the small void from the barrel recoil lug by removing the putty, and then finishing the bedding.

I prefer brownells spray release, today.

unless the lug is jumping and pounding your stock, i can't see it causing the accuracy issue, directly.. but, if it's kicking and jumping that hard, then *I* would think it's required.

jeffe

You certainly don't need a barrel lug on a 375 H&H..a simple glass job will hold things forever..My old English gun in 375 has only cross bolts and its not glassed or anything else, and its a 100 years old and still in one piece and shoots fantastic groups...My 416 is glassed and it has not barrel lug. I don't want a barrel lug until I get to a 458 Lott or perhaps a 458 Win?..and up

I'd have no problem with grinding the barrel lug off and finishing it up with a file and then draw filing it a bit, just keep it cool.. but I think a new Walther Lothar barrel would sound better to me...

But I also agree that you should glass it all up as is and try it first...If it ain't broke, don't fix it...I would glass it to the rear or the barrel lug, leaving space on sides and bottom of the lug with contact on the rear of the lug only, then free float it from the front of the lug to the forend...tight from the action lug to the barrel lug, then glass the action at the tang and recoil mortise...That always seems to work.

My barrel lug on my Safari Express is canted. Leave it. Mine shoots great. People pay bucks to have a second lug added. It can only help in the recoil dept. Just bed it and forget it! Just my opine