Thanks for your input.
Merry Christmas!

//Jens

I think they should just build a production magnum mauser action. I am not too fond of model 70's.

My own .470 Capstick is on a LH M-70 converted from .375.

George

------------------
Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

They are not worth the price. I have two of them, a LH stainless .375 H&H and a LH .30-06. Now, I�m not saying they are bad rifles, actually they are very nice, just not worth what Winchester charges. As to the Rigby chambering in the Model 70, I�d heed what the previous posters have said. They have moved the bolt stop so far back that the bolt is almost out of the action when opened. I would be wary of new left hand Winchester actions in all lengths. They were having many quality control problems with their new plant when I was waiting for my rifles, the Custom Shop manager told me that she had to reject many of the actions she was getting.

The Model 70 custom African Express in .416 Rigby has a retail price of $4,435, although I have no idea what the price will be in Sweden. It will take a year to build it. Maybe 9 months if you are lucky. The wood will be nice, not great, but nice. It SHOULD function properly, but there is no guarantee of that. My .375 was an excellent rifle in all respects when delivered, the .30-06 was far less than perfect and had to be sent back twice to correct problems with feeding and extraction.

Now I have no personal experience with this next discussion, just personal opinion. If you are considering spending that much on a .416 Rigby then you would be FAR better off to consider the Dakota Model 76 African Grade. According to Dakota the rifle is built on their �.416 Rigby Long Magnum� action. If you order one then Dakota claims that it will take three months to build, that is one fourth the time it will take to get a Winchester. The Dakota African retails for $4,995. That is $560 more than the Winchester, or about 13% more if you want to look at it that way. You will get FAR more than a 13% better rifle.

I have heard that the stocks on the Dakota rifles produce more felt recoil but have no personal experience on that. Other than that, most everyone has very good things to say about the rifles.

Dakota currently has a left hand Model 76 African in .416 Rigby in stock, price is $4,995. See http://www.dakotaarms.com/inventory.htm

More personal opinion � I think Dakota charges too much for their wood, but then I don�t know all that much about good stock making. You can get the left handed barreled action for $2,950 or the action only for $2,500. Buying a barreled action would leave you $2,045 to stock the rifle yourself. I think for a heavy recoiling rifle like this a stock made specifically to fit you is superior to their standard stock style.

I spent close to $5,000 on my two Winchesters, and both of them wear McMillan fiberglass stocks. My Winchesters are both stainless steel and Dakota does not make a stainless action. But were I to do it over, I would have bought two Dakota actions, had a good barrel maker barrel them, and bought the McMillan stocks myself. The whole process would have taken half the time it took the get the Winchesters and I believe that I would have gotten far better rifles for the same price.

The reason I am asking is that I have a Win LT lefthand on the way (Thanks to Harry) for about $600. But in 7mm Rem mag.

I have asked my gunsmith to check it before its sent to me , so I hope that he will be able to check for feeding/extraction, smooth bolt travel,bedding, trigger.

Dan
I think so too and my smith has said yes to a 404 conversion, I will pusue that one if all else fails.

George
Sorry I am quite rusty on the specs on 470 chapstick, but is the cartridge as long as the 416 rigby ( max 3.720)

500 grains
If the bolt stop has been moved i think I can forget the hole deal, but if shortened, well maybe the gunsmith won�t go through the roof.

Jim
If I only had the money? (ever heard that one before?)
We have i thing called moms in sweden so anything bought outside of EU will be subjected to a 25% tax (I know I should move)

The dilemma I am in, is that I have a cz 550 in 416 rigby (RH of course) and dies and a lot of brass/bullets so I am not very keen on switching to 404 (although brass tends to be a bit cheaper, bullets are not very plentiful, and quite pricey compared to 416�s

Thanks for your advise

//Jens

[This message has been edited by jthessen (edited 12-21-2001).]

Jens,
My M-70 will feed, chamber, and eject .470 Capstick rounds as long as 3.675". That is about the maximum magazine length, so it is not as long as the Rigby.

The case is a .375H&H necked up and all body taper is removed.

George

------------------
Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

//Jens

CZ should put out a left-handed Mauser! In my heart, I have to kick something when I look at a $500 RH Mauser in .404 or .416 Rigby on one hand and LH custom Winchesters and Dakotas for what might as well be 10 times the price on the other hand.

I gave up on getting the Dakota with its all-around betterness and 5-round magazine capacity, and I ordered a non-custom Classic Safari Express Winchester LH in .375 for $900. I figure my gunsmith can do whatever slicking up is needed, and for $200 to $400, he'll upgrade it to .416 Remington, I'm told.

$500 for a right handed Mauser and $5000 for a left handed quasi-pre-64 model 70. I need to kick something.

H. C.

[This message has been edited by HenryC470 (edited 12-22-2001).]

I certaily don�t want a weak rifle, so if the nessesary modifications severly weakens the M70 , I will go for the 404.

I have even asked around regarding a lefthand conversion of the cz without success, and if WR was to do it the price of a Dakota would be close I guess.

Have You notised the gun locater at winchesters web site, not available on the LH 375, hmmmm When will they produce this rifle?

Beretta Mato shold be availabe in LH but NO.

Oh well life sucks & then you die.

//Jens

Whether Charles Daly will import will depend upon how much demand they perceive to be out there.

Do as I do, and e-mail them asking them to import LH rifles!!!

------------------
Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

When I spoke to Winchester on the phone, they said they were scheduled to start a production run of LH .375 caliber M-70's in December 2001. My dealer's distributor lists this rifle as "hard to find". Dealer told me he'd place the order after the first of the year, since distributors like to sell down their inventories to avoid paying tax on them.

H.C.

George,
I once e-mailed info@czub.cz but no reply, maybe should try to call them instead.

H.C
When win decides to produce the LH 375, i bet they will be gone faster than ice cream on a sunny day, with my luck.

A Lh 98 priced like a cz550, would also sell quite well I think.

Thanks again for the input.

//Jens

I've not heard about CZ producing a LH rifle; the Charles Daly rifles are Zastava (Yugoslavia) products.
They had a representative in Athens, Greece, AWT-Zastava, which had a great website showing all the LH rifles, but when Klinton established the embargo on Yugoslav products (while buying ChiCom products by the billions), the market for the Zastavas dried up.

I think the Zastavas are our best hope for real LH Mausers!

George

------------------
Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

What is the weight of Your .470 Capstick?
Any detached retina?

//Jens

You may want to check with your local importers; or, since Sweden is a member of the EU, you may be able to pick one up in another EU nation and bring it home yourself.

My .470 Capstick weighs 10.75lbs. with a couple of recoil reducers in the butt. It is as light as it could be while still being controllable. Unbraked, it generates 74ft.-lbs. of recoil, but from the off-hand position, it does not hurt in the least.

George

------------------
Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

quote:

---

Originally posted by HenryC470:
I agree with 500grains,

CZ should put out a left-handed Mauser! In my heart, I have to kick something when I look at a $500 RH Mauser in .404 or .416 Rigby on one hand and LH custom Winchesters and Dakotas for what might as well be 10 times the price on the other hand.
... $500 for a right handed Mauser and $5000 for a left handed quasi-pre-64 model 70. I need to kick something.

---

Oh brother, do I ever empathise with that!

Ya know, there IS a rifle that is readily available in left hand actions, blued particularly but stainless is not too hard to come by either. Aftermarket accessories are everywhere. One size scope base fits all actions, no need of special screw hoel spacing for long magnum receivers. Prices for all models usually range only about $20 over the right handed versions. The basic action has a 3.7" magazine box. You can take one with a magnum bolt face and make it anything from a 7mm Mag. to a .416 Rem. Mag simply by rebarreling with no other changes.

(He cautiously beckons the reader closer, then looking furtively right and left he whispers, "It's the Remington Model 700".)

Oh, the shame of it all! That Remington would make things so EASY and yet are so scorned by the intelligentsia.

(Cracking open another brew, he laments, "it's enough to drive a fellow to drink!")

George

------------------
Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Jim,
If Remington really wanted to sell more rifles, what do You think is the best course of action, releasing the Ultra line or coming up with a 98 clone?
Oh, well maybe they sell enough rifles already.

//Jens

It does drive me nuts to know that I can get a used LH Remington in 7mm Mag for about $350 at a gun show, and about $420 later have an accurized, Pac-Nor barreled .375 H&H, .416 Rem. Mag, .458 Lott, whatever thumper one wants. Just don't mention to anyone here that you have a push feed DGR, you might get sent to the penalty box.

But to get a CRF in anything longer than the "short magnum" family, such as a .300 Win. Mag., it will take many, many dollars or what seems to be an Act of Congress to get Winchester to make more .375 length LH actions.

On another note, I forget where I saw it, but here is a link to a company producing (or soon to produce) CRF actions with features from the Mauser 98 and Model 70 combined.
www.montanarifleman.com
The mag. length is 3.650" to handle the long magnum cartridges. Cost is supposed to be $480 for chrome moly and $495 for stainless. Left hand actions are scheduled to be produced by mid 2002.

Perhaps this is a moot point if Winchester actually produces some LH .375's this month. They've been "scheduled" to be produced since about March of 1999 so I've gotten a little jaded at Winchester's predictions. HOWEVER, I actually saw a new, left hand Model 70 LT sporter in .300 Win. Mag. a couple of weeks ago. The shop had 3 new LH M70 LT's so maybe we will actually see the .375's soon.

FWIW, I took my overpriced custom shop .375 out this weekend and shot two 3 shot groups of .4" and .78" and a 5 shot group of .65", so maybe it ain't so bad after all.

As for push-feed DGRs, they work for some people but not for others. The 'classic' DGR bolt-actions are Mauser '98s and Winchester M-70s or variants thereof (e.g., Dakota, Brno, CZ, etc.). That's just the way it is.

I have a LH Sako .375H&H which was the rifle I took for my first safari in 1991. Although it is a push-feed, the Sako extractor helps prevent double-feeds. It shoots beautifully, too. This is the only push-feed I'd trust on a DG hunt.

When I went on my first buffalo hunt in '97, I got a LH M-70 and never looked back. The CRF is quite reassuring. It shoots as well as yours does.

Since then, I've acquired a LH M-70 CRF in .270, plus three more LH Express-actioned M-70s: a 7mmSTW sporter, a .470 Capstick, and a Custom Sporting Sharpshooter built by H-S Precision.

Now, I was always a Remington 700 fan, and I own eight of them. They are a great platform upon which to build a real tack driver. However, I find myself reaching for the M-70s more and more.

In order, I'd have to say the M-70s are my favorites, followed by the Sako AVs, then the Remington 700s (although I love my Weatherby and Savage rifles, too).

George

------------------
Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

//Jens