I'm going to Africa in 2013 and found a nice deal on the subject gun. I looked up the recoil with a 270 grain bullet and it says 41 lbs. which seems a little high. Can you tell me about your experience with recoil while shooting this gun? Thanks.
The Ruger Hawkeye African, which I assume is the rifle you reference, is a relative lightweight compared to other .375's, mostly H&H cals.
At 7 3/4 pounds, it is a good pound or two lighter than its competitors, which translates to more recoil.
The Ruger .375 is also loaded to higher velocities than standard .375 H&H rounds, as much as 100-200 fps higher. This also translates to more recoil.
I have a recently acquired Hawkeye African, and all up with scope, mounts, and a mag full of ammo, goes around 9 lb. From the bench, this is not a particularly pleasant shooter, but once sighted in, and a load or two is developed for it, it's not getting shot from the bench much anymore until it's time to go hunting. Field practice from sticks, sitting, kneeling, etc. is the next order of business.
I plan on developing a 300 gr. handload, with Barnes TSX bullets, at around 2600 fps MV., for use on Asiatic water buffalo in Argentina.
For a rifle that gets carried much more than shot, I kinda look forward to the 'deer rifle' weight of the Hawkeye. It's gonna have a few ft lbs more recoil than, say, a 10 lb. H&H, but everything's a tradeoff. I will say that its recoil is WAY less than my .416 Weatherby, unbraked and downloaded.
If you are worried about recoil in .375, about the only solutions are: more rifle weight, muzzle brakes, or downloading to reduce muzzle velocity, all of which have their drawbacks.
Since the minimum caliber for most African countries for dangerous game is .375, you're kinda stuck with either the H&H or Ruger. If, on the other hand, your safari is strictly for plains game, there are a lot of smaller calibers which handle the job very nicely.
