Will try going out for a bear this year and got the rifle done today. Its a model 70 stainless cut and crowned at 19inches(i know its short but it sure feels handy), has open sights and talley qd with levers and a leupold 1.5x5. hows this sound to you fellas. now just need to see what shoots good in her..

Sounds good, but how big is the hole at the end of the tube? otherwise it sounds about perfect

I think you are going to love it.I believe with a little tinkering you won't lose much velocity either.I think out to 300 yds. you will not miss a longer barrel.I had a 338 Ruger cut down to 18",it had a mighty roar shooting Barnes Original 300 grainers. Accuracy was decent for it's intended purpose,up close and personal bear hunting.Good luck.

sorry forgot to mention its a 375hh

From your description, it sounds like a perfect combo. Since you're from S.E. Ak., I'm sure you've been up close & personal with the big bears. I think your scope is perfect for the conditions you describe. Never could understand why guys wanted the higher powered, variable scopes for close up encounters with the large bears. I think that a lot of guys often have way too much power in their variables for what they're actually going to use them for.
Just my opinions & probably not worth a hoot.
Bear in Fairbanks

It sounds pretty good to me. I have a stainless Model 70 classic in 375, it is in the process of getting cut down to 20" and have a full lightweight conversion where they turn down the barrel, take off all excess metal off the action and drop it into a ultra light kevlar stock. For scope mounts and open sights I have a brockmans pop up peep with quick detach talley rings and leupy 1.5-5 lighted reticle scope. I think its about the best all around rifle you could have in alaska.

My old bear rifle was a stainless model 70 in .375 that I did some work to and made it extremely lightweight. It had a 17" barrel with ghost ring sights and no scope. It seems like a fairly common trend in Alaska and they work like a charm, probably the best you can get. Good work!

Hey griz, I've got a Win M70 Classic stainless in .375 H&H, I bought some Federal Classic 270 grain factory loads for it just to have something to shoot and with a 1.5-5 Leupold on it was grouping 5 shots right around an inch at 100 yards ( .75" to 1.375") I think with a higher power scope I could have shot some pretty tight stuff with it. That factory stuff shot so well I've not yet gotten around to a handload for it.
I love my 375 bet you will love yours too.
Are you running the stock sights or doing anything special, I haven't decided on mine if I'll just leave the factory sights or do a Brockmans or something?

Alaskan guide and author, Duncan Gilchrist carried a Model 70, .375 H&H, with 18" barrel for many years. He killed a hell of a lot of stuff with that rifle. Good choice. Mine seems as heavy as drill pipe, but I hate to cut 'er back.

I've got one just about like it in 375 and my daughter carries another in 338. They are just the thing for someone who hikes a lot.

How is the balance and feel of the factory barrel cut down ?

I'm putting a factory SS 375 HH on a pre-64 which will be a peep sight only rifle and 20" long, and I'm debating whether or not to have the barrel turned down or not. My right arm says I should trim it to bare minimum, but my shoulder says I'll get faster recovery and repeat shots if I leave it full diameter.

This will not really be a primary hunting rifle, mostly for working in the Portland Canal and Burroughs Bay areas (canadian side)

free miner, you are correct about balance being affected and a light, short bbl needs either a light weight synthetic stock or else some wood removed from the butt. Even handy rifles need to be balanced.

I should get my rifle back early next week. I'm getting pretty excited about it. I had the barrel turned down to bare minium because I was looking for the lightest I could get it. With the metal work and the 10oz kevlar stock it should be right around 7lbs with scope when its done. I know it will probably kick like a mule but I usually carry a rifle for miles and miles but only shoot it a few times every year while hunting. When shooting off the bench I can always use my past recoil sheild. I try to do most of my practicing using field positions and they are much easier on you than the bench anyway. I'll be sure to post picts of it when its done

I picked it up today. It turned out really good. Wieghed right in at 6lbs 4oz without the scope and 7lbs 5oz with scope. It is really light, I'm going to take it out and shoot it tomorrow. It should work out great for my bear hunt this spring. The stock is actually tan even thought it looks kind of pink in the pictures.

man that thing looks great, like the stock. Please let us know how it shoots. i also sent you a pm

bear_78, nice looking rifle. how do you like the brockman/talley setup ? and what make of stock is that ?

the bear... yea I would tell people it was tan too...

Sorry could not resist , NICE rifle

grizzinater
I have had a 20 inch 375 [my brother has it now] and I hunt with a Blaser Tracker with a 19/24" bbl.
We have shot these rifles to 300 yards on paper, they shoot as good as a 24 inch 375.
I really like the short bbled 375 rifles.

THe more I looked at it the less I was liking the color of that stock so I refinished it in black. Good old spray on bedliner, works like a charm.

I took it out and shot it today. It actually shot pretty well. I shot a few loads over the chronograph and was pleasantly surprised to notice not much velosity loss. The 270gr federal classic was clocking out right at 2635fps and my reloads that I used to shoot out of it were running 2580 for the 260 accubond that used to go 2650, and right at 2500fps for the 300gr partition that used to go 2550fps before it was cut down. It didn't seem to like my reloads too much with groups around the 2-3" range but the federal 270gr classics shot really well. 1.25-1.5 inch groups were the norm. I only shot it 30 times today. Was getting pretty beat up towards the end there. Got the peep sight all zeroed for 25 yards and the scope set at 2" high at 100 yards.

The tritium front sight is fairly large so shooting at 100 yards was pretty hard with the peep. When shooting a standard black 10" target I was getting 3-5" groups with the peep. The german number 4 dot reticle is also fairly hard to aim precisely with the dot covering 1' at 100 yards.

Recoil was very severe as could be expected, shooting it from standing position wasn't too bad but off the bench it was brutal, thanks to the inventor of the lead sled I was able to zero it in really well without getting a concussion. Hunting I will never notice it but you won't find me shooting this puppy off the bench to often either.


Here is what she looks like with the new paint job and one of the better 100 yard targets.

The bear
To build your confidence get some live size deer targets, they are the easiest game targets to find, and shoot them with your iron sights at 25, 50 75 and 100 yards.

When I first got my doubles I did this. You might be suprised at how well you hit on "the real deal, ie game" with your iron sights.

I kinda liked it when it was pink.

b78, you have yourself one nice .375--who done you're metal work? Like you said I'll bet it is a thumper on both ends Hope you get your bear - I too am diggin around for the one that I have had my eye on(lots of brush) for the last 2 yrs. except I am using the .30 240gr.PP in a .30-06 Ruger Mk II with Williams peep. Have my FN 98 .30-338 rebuilt and scoped and zeroed in, just in time, with the same bullets and have decided to rack the .375RUM this spring and check these bullets out.
Good huntin and shootin. Again nice shooter!

I had all the metal and stock work done by Extreme rifle works in palmer. what brand of bullet is that 240gr 30 cal??

b78, that is the Woodleigh.

I shot my first groups with my brand spanking new Winchester 70 Classic Stainless yesterday. Tried Hornady RN 300 (3 x 3 shots) and Norma Oryx 300 (3 x 3 shots), trying some different loads. The gun shoots better than I had expected, although I had read about some very accurate ones before.

Groups were around an inch at 100 meters (110 yds), with the smallest one being 0.6". The rifle sports a Leupold Vari-X III 2.5-8x36 which I feel is more or less perfect for the type of hunting I will be doing. I installed it in Leupold QR mounts which seem to work very well. I detached the scope every now and then throughout the bench session, and there was no change in point of impact.

The gun does kick as it's on the light side (reminds me a lot of my former 340 Wby actually), but I feel that the Decelerator eats up a lot of the recoil. I will confess that I used my trusty sissybag for all but 4 shots from the bench

I didn't want to ruin the shooting with a sore shoulder, but from the shots fired w/o sissybag I don't think it would've been a problem after all.

I've been out on a sort of "magnum mission" for a few years now and worked my way thru 300 Win, 340 Wby, 358 Norma, and 458 Win. I finally settled on the good 'ol 375 H&H and I do expect it to give me a lot of good service. I'm really pleased from what I've seen so far.

The main use of the gun will be hunting Swedish moose, which are a bit on the light side unless you go further north in Sweden. I hope to be able to try the rifle on wild boar as well. Of course I'd like to use it for the bigger stuff like bears and so on. Hope to do that too some day. Alaska is an old dream...

Thebear,

hey what bedliner did you use and is it rough on your check when you shoot the gun?

I must say that is one cool rifle!!!!!

just the plain old duplicolor bedliner stuff you can get at walmart. It is kind of rubbery and not uncomfortable to the touch. It holds up as well as anything else I have ever tried. I have had my guide gun stock bedlined for a couple years now and it shows very little wear and it see's a lot of 4 wheeler time. I couldn't count how many trees its pushed over. The 375 is going to be my new walk around rifle so durablity is of the highest importance. I'd like to say I will never fall on top of it, but probably will.

When it comes to Short and Thumpy, .416cal comes to mind, did you at all consider that bore size?

Bear,
What brand of stock ? And thanks again regarding Extreme Rifleworks info.

*** LOOKS LIKE WE AIN'T ALONE ***

-- Amazing how so many , so far , on this thread , had the same figuring ; -- kind of makes a child feel like your theorizing might not be all bad .

I also cut to 19 " , but mine ain't Stainless , ( wisht it was ) , -- and mine is Left Handed .

When I got mine home , the inletting around the front crossbolt looked a little flakey , so I had the whole action glass bedded ,
-- ( which I thought was a good idea anyway ) .

-- If you got a walnut stock look the inletting over closely , ' cause they don't put them crossbolts in for no reason , and rumor has it Winny's quality control , ain't what it used to be .

I built this Rifle up as a pure Bear-defense weapon , -- although it makes a hell of a Big- Game , brush and woods rifle .

I had mine Mag-Na-Ported , -- and with Max. 300 Gr. loads , and the LimbSaver pad I added , -- I was very satisfied with the recoil , -- not bad at all .

----- MMCOUGAR .