I am thinking of buying one for my son in .375 H&H. What is your experience. What are the pros and cons.

This is the third year that I have had the pleasure of working with one for our local SCI Chapter fund raiser.

Absolutely custom grade work, and shoot like a bench rest rifle too.

I friend of mine had one. The barrel band swivel stud came undone and I seem to recall he also had some feeding problems too. May have just been a bad apple.

They are OK, certainly look good, feel good in hands, and can be easily debugged.
They are a Remchester-actioned rifle with machined-round-pipe (less expensive production) action and detachable washer recoil lug on the action cleverly hidden, CRF claw, 3-pos safety.
Easily debugged, I hear.
Very similar to a Dakota Model 97 pipe-actioned rifle.
Dakota Model 76 cost way more.
In .375 H&H,
I would prefer the latest Winchester M70 in .375 H&H, for less cost, better rifle, than either the Kimber Caprivi or Dakota 97.

Best prices on the Caprivi and Talkeetna .375 H&H and/or ..458 Lott are to be found at
www.whittakerguns.com
They also have a lot of Dakota 76s moving through there, a "not-so-best buy" but good quality, usually,
in the larger calibers based on the .416 Rigby casehead ...
but then there is the worked-over CZ as best buy there, extended pinky fingers excluded.

I have no personal experience with the Caprivi, but when I asked the same question last year I got several warnings. FWIW, I would feel more comfortable with the Winchester as well. That is a gun I have a lot of experience and confidence in. I did think the Caprivi looked and felt very nice. I would search the history of this and some other websites.

The barrel band was one issue I recall, unbelievable as it sounds. Not an isolated incident.

Wood stocked version of the Talkeetna, which none other than the NRA's Mark Keefe called a 'stopping rifle.'

Hard to argue with such a know-it-all.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
They are OK, certainly look good, feel good in hands, and can be easily debugged.They are a Remchester-actioned rifle with machined-round-pipe (less expensive production) action and detachable washer recoil lug on the action cleverly hidden, CRF claw, 3-pos safety.
Easily debugged, I hear.
Very similar to a Dakota Model 97 pipe-actioned rifle.

In my opinion any rifle that costs $2K+ shouldn't need any de-bugging.

And I'm still trying to work out how a new stamped magazine, iron sights, and new barrel command a 2K premium over thier regular 8400 rifles. Even winchester didn't mark up thier .375's that much over thier regular offerings...

they load like a 721. You have to push the rounds down and backwards to load the magazine. Not a comforting thought, should you need a "rapid reload".

Rich
DRSS

MSRP for the Caprivi is $3,200.00. Not sure what the street price is??
For that you could compare a Pre 64 Mod 70, Kimber 89 (Oregon), Sako Safari, Browning Safari Grade, Win Mod 70 (current). I think the pre 64 is the only one that will touch $3,200.00.
Most of the others will be less than $2K.
All are CRF except the Sako however I have never seen a Sako fail to feed.
All these options are trimmer in design than the Caprivi. A lot of nice options out there at this price point. CZ's as well as Ruger's on the less expensive end but they do not typically have the nice balance as the others mentioned.
Caprivi's have PHAT forearm: If that is to your taste??

I handled one at the local shop. My reactions were two-fold: 1) man that's nice but way overpriced and 2) for a lot less money I'd buy a Ruger.

LWD

Thanks guys. That is exactly the kind of feedback I am looking for.

I had a Caprivi which i brought on a hunt to South Africa. My first shot at the range was a misfire tried again and fired no other misfires for the rest of the trip.The barrel band came loose ,the ebony tip popped off and the sights came loose. The worst mishap was the knob on the back of the bolt shifted and rendered the rifle useless until i figured out the issue a model 70 has a lock on the knob.

On a positive note the rifle was very accurate and feed perfectly.

I lost confidence in the rifle and sold it for $2000.00

Unfortunatley Kimber quality is hit or miss and their customer service clueless. They are very quick to find no problem and send the gun back with no action.

I have bought 6 Kimber rifles over the years and have 2 perfect rifles the other 4 had feeding , accuracy issues and my lemon caprivi

cnm

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
I would prefer the latest Winchester M70 in .375 H&H, for less cost, better rifle, than either the Kimber Caprivi or Dakota 97.

And you get the original.

Handled one and it felt very nice, looked very close to some custom rifles and felt very solid. For me the LOP is too short at 13.5" and it already has a large pad on it. It would look ridiculous to get it to 14.25" where I like it. I have read about the barrel band coming off on numerous sites as well. To me it is a close but no cigar rifle unless it was super cheap and you paid a gunsmith to fix it up for you.

I like mine.....paid about 2500....did have the front sling band issue as stated above. Easy fix though. I have many custom rifles like wiebe's etc. They are no where in the same league but are no where near the price either. I got a nice piece of wood on mine and have killed a buffalo and some other plainsgame with it. Very accurate. I would just check the feed and function of it before buying. Other than that I think they are worth about $2500.00.

I posted a question about them last year and most of the answers were that they were a piece of junk. Various things came loose. For far less money you can buy a Model 70 or a Ruger in .375 Ruger. I bought a Model 70. No problems so far and it is one of the most accurate out of the box factory rifles I have owned.

The stock is too bulky and heavy for my liking. A mate of mine had one once.

I took my 375 Caprivi to TZ and shot a whole PG bag with it. Trim gun and shoots 1 MOA. No flies on this gun.

When new, the barrel band did come loose. My local smith fixed that easily.

The front bead comes out of the box bottomed out. So, I had to sight in the iron sights.

It has the Leupy QD mount with the single button release and a Zeiss scope.

I also have shot whitetail and pigs with it.

This gun has earned a repeat trip to Africa -- I'm RSA bound in 68 days!!!

I have a Caprivi in .458 Lott. First off, love the rifle, with a couple of caveats.

When I first got it, shot it with express sights at 50 yards (off sandbags). Wasn't on paper. After three shots, the barrel band came unglued. Sent it back. Told them for $3,000 I expected it to be on paper at 50 yards and for all the parts to stay intact.

They sent it back, having reaffixed the barrel band and said they shot it out of lead-sled and replaced the front sight so it would be on paper. Charged me $35 shipping. Wasn't happy at that point.

However, the rifle was adequately bedded from the factory (as it should be at that price), fits me well and is now fitted with Talley bases and and a 1.5 to 5 Leupold and a Talley peep.

It fits me (I'm short) and I think it will serve adequately. Just my 2 cents.

BEGNO - Not knocking the 375 as I have several, but you might want to consider a 9.3 X 62 from CZ for the lad. They make it in the 550FS and another configuration. My 550FS is a dream to look at and shoot. Less than 3/4 inch groups, excellent handling, smooth feeding and bolt cycle, comes with 3 Pos saftey, barrel band sights ready to go right from the start. Also hold 5 down if that's a consideration, and is a standard length action.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
BEGNO - Not knocking the 375 as I have several, but you might want to consider a 9.3 X 62 from CZ for the lad. They make it in the 550FS and another configuration. My 550FS is a dream to look at and shoot. Less than 3/4 inch groups, excellent handling, smooth feeding and bolt cycle, comes with 3 Pos saftey, barrel band sights ready to go right from the start. Also hold 5 down if that's a consideration, and is a standard length action.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Larry, I'm with you. I have the CZ 550 American in 9.3X62. I think it hold four or five down. Is is lighter and handles much better than any .375 that I have ever owned and you can really buy them at the right price.