Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Win 70 375 H&H - cut barrel to 18,19,20? Stock choice?

I have a New Haven Classic 375 that is black matte in a factory tupperware stock. It weighs 8lbs as is with sights and no scope. It's on the way to a gunsmith to do a few things such as: shorten the barrel, install NECG sights, bed factory stock, check / improve feeding, etc.

This will be a rifle that I'll use in Alaska for black and brown bears, and moose and I want it as short as practical. Is 18 or 19" too short for a 375 H & H? I'll likely shoot the 270gr TTSX and do reload.

Also, what is a good powder to use in a short barreled 375? Velocity is less important to me than the recoil and noise management.

One more thing....while I plan to use the tupperware initially, I'll likely upgrade to a McMillan down the road. What McMillan would be good for this short barreled 375? I kinda like the ergonomics of the factory tupperware. What McMillan is close to that design?

Thanks for the help. This is my first 375 and I want to get it right!

IIRC mine got cut @ 21". I could use the rear front sight screw hole for the front front sight screw and save the D#&T labor for one screw hole if I wished to install the sights again.

it will be loud, don't know what else to say about that.

the factory made two versions of Tupperware. mine has the coarse checkering, and I find it very usable. no plans to upgrade.

284, my .375 has a 25 " barrel and I prefer that for my country.. Paul Mathews was a fan of the .375, and he had his cut to 18.5".. It was an old model 70.. He used it for years and never found fault with it.. You might check 60 YEARS WITH RIFLES, and see what he had to say..

I've had a couple of 375's with 20" barrels, and friends have had a couple more so I shot those as well. They are cute and sexy but I didn't love them, and I still think nothing beats 22"-24",with 23" maybe being "just right".

For keeping noise and recoil under control you could try lots of powders but i doubt anything will beat RL15 enough to bother with.

I would start with a longer barrel; you can always curt the barrel down if you don't like the longer tube.... but you can't add any length if it turns out you don't like the short tube.

My 375 is a LH Remington 700. Before ordering it from the custom shop; I reached out to many people with way more experience than I'll ever get with a 375 and read everything I could find. I decided to go with a 22 inch barrel and have absolutely no complaints. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Toad,
How do I tell which version of tupperware I have? My rifle was produced in NH around 1990, I think.

Also, would you make no telling me what your 21" er weighs? How does it balance for shooting off hand.

Looks like some version of a 30mm tube lstraight eupold on yours which is what I'll be using.

An 18" .375 will work fine and handle well but it'll be obnoxious when shot, no getting around that. Personally I wouldn't go shorter than the 21" mentioned earlier. If you ever decide to rebarrel you can go to a lot lighter contour than the M70 uses, there's a lot of unnecessary extra meat in a M70 .375.

I have a Mcmillan M70 Supergrade on my .375 and like it, but if I were stocking it today I'd probably use one of the Echols Legends.

Rifle barrels shorter than 20" get very loud very quickly.

See if you can find someone with one of the short barreled Rugers chambered in .375 Ruger and see what you think. Better yet, try to get to shoot one. That will tell you how you would like that barrel length and recoil.

I had a Win 70 in .375 H&H, and the barrel contour was just way to long and heavy. Rather than chop it, I got the Ruger instead and sent the Win down the road.

19 - 20" is perfect.
Had a sako. Carbine factory 18" once called an alaskan.
Sold it, never seen another.

the checkering on one is about 20 LPI and the other is 10-12 LPI. I think that is the only difference, but I like the coarse checkering because it's grippier.

it weighs nine and one half pounds ready to hunt. kind of porky IMO, but it is what it is.

and the scope is a Leupold 1.5-5 MK4. I like it on the .375, but recently had to rob it to put on an AR. need another.

if it was me, I would try 20. All I know for sure is that 24" is way more than needed. I think the 4inch will buy you a lot without any significant disadvantages.

I don't think I'd go shorter than 22" on a .375 H&H.

A Winchester Supergrade in .30-06 is 8.4 pounds. An 8.5-9 pound .375 doesn't seem unreasonable to me. How much weight will you really save by bobbing 2-4" of barrel, and how much muzzle blast will you get in return?

Does the rifle have an aluminum floorplate? If not I would start there.

My 20.5 isn't too blasty and is very handy in the thick stuff.

I have one in a HS Precision Sporter stock, but I re-chambered to 375 Weatherby and left the barrel at 24".
If you have to trim, I wouldn't go under 20", the noise will be bad shorter than this.
My rifle was very accurate in the factory stock, which I still have, but improved when fitted to the HS Precision, it is fully bedded around the action, and except for 2" of barrel, it is free floated.

Cheers.

If you go to the thread below, you'll see photos of my M70 Stainless Classic in .375 H&H that was cut down to 20" and pillar bedded in an Echols Legend Stock. There are some good pics of the stock and work done there as well.

Let's face it: The barrel contour used on the Classics for .375 H&H was an epic fail. However, this one balances and points very well, and it'll stack 260 grain Partitions on top of one another at 2,600 fps. It's now wearing a VX-6 1-6x24.

When the day comes that the barrel needs replacing, it'll get a slimmer contour, still finished at 20-21", with NECG banded irons on the front. It just shoots too damned good to mess with right now.


https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/9037454/Re:_For_those_who_have_Echols_#Post9037454

C'mon, just cut it back to 16.25" and be done with it. You should also get one of those muzzle brakes that look like they just came off an old Panzer tank.

Ballance, to me, is of prime importance with a DG rifle and mine ended up looking a lot like yours.

With this series of NH Classics, the barrel contour is very heavy, too heavy at 24". I cut mine to 21" and am very pleased with the way it handles. I'd not want to go shorter, really don't have to, as optimal balance with this gun is at or around 21".

DF

I agree, those barrels shoot too good to discard.

You expressed my sentiments exactly. If I went with another barrel, it would have a lighter contour. That's one reason I stayed with the Tupperware. If I ever upgrade to an Echols Legend handle, I'd not want to hog it out to accommodate this fat barrel. If I ever upgrade the barrel, I may upgrade the stock. Actually the current combo isn't bad and is a LOT cheaper...

DF

Going with 20." Plan to lighten the tupperware and shorten it to 13 1/8" so I can shoot it with a pack and jacket on easier. Thanks for all of the feedback. Might even put a lighter stock on at some point. This got me from 21 to 20.