Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 375/416 ruger switch barrel

is there any reason why i can't buy a ruger alaskan in 375 ruger and buy a barrel from ruger in 416 and switch between the two calibers at will? any action differences between the two factory chamberings or reasons the 416 wouldn't feed from the 375 action or reasons why this is not a good idea

Interesting thought, but I`d call the Ruger tech dept on that one if I were you. Not so sure that`s a good idea.

Compared to other 375s and 416s, the Ruger Alaskan rifles are relatively in-expensive DGRs to begin with. So why not buy both rifles and just swap scopes. That`s assuming you wanted to save money and use one scope for both.

Am I wrong here? But it would seem to me that over time, swapping barrels every time you wanted to shoot the other, would eventually grow to become more and more of an inconvenience and time consuming.

It is alot easier just going to the gun safe and just grabbing one or the other,,,,,,or both! And you wouldn`t need to do nearly as much re-zeroing.

Imo, time consumption, re-zeroing and the overall inconvenience of barrel swapping, trumps any additional cost savings between having a second barrel vs having another rifle all-together.

That is easy enough to do..but the problem with switch barrels that folks don't take into consideration is you always have the wrong barrel at the right time!

They just don't work out well IMO..I tried them and finally called it folly..and in your case the 416 will do anything the 375 can do and "more" if recoil is not a problem...a 300 gr. 416 bullet at 2700 fps shoots as flat as a 30-06 with a 180 gr. bullet, and a 400 gr. .416 beats the socks off a 300 gr. .375 on the big mean stuff. The 375 does about the same thing with considerable less bullet weight..you just gain nothing in particular...

Perhaps a 30 or 338 Ruger and a .416 or .375 would be a better choice, but still not my peice of cake.

Don't know how practical a switch barrel 375-416 Ruger would be. The problem - as with any switch barrel setup - is whether you'd ever have the 'right' barrel installed when you need it. As to feeding, don't see why it wouldn't work just fine. I had my 375 Ruger African re-b0red to 404 (0.423") and it feeds just as well as it did in 375 without feed rail or magazine modifications. No obstacle I have found from a technical perspective.

Wildcatter264,
Who did your rebore, what was the turn around time, and how does it shoot?

Danny Pedersen at Classic Barrel Works. Had it back in less than 3 months. It shoots as well as it did as a 375 Ruger, MOA or less to 300 yards.

He's the only 0ne I found who has the 0.423" re-bore tools.

Wouldn't know if this is practical or not, but the question arises, what would you gain from this exercise? Either cartridge is capable of dealing with anything on earth when applied by capable hands, both are outstanding in their own right and not far separated in performance. Bullet construction would be more significant that horsepower or drop tables at this level.

I would think this a bad idea from two standpoints. The recoil of the 416 is harder than the375, and other that what it feels like, it might break your 375 stock. The 416 African also has a barrel recoil lug, and I don't know if the 375 Alaskan has one. The 416 Africans now also have two recoil cross bolts, whereas the Alaskan has one. So, bad idea all around. If I had a working 375 African I would not wish to swap anyway. Only reason to want that of a 375 Alaskan anyway is the longer barrel of the African. There is a reason to swap if it were possible. Given the differences though, it's a bad idea.

The 416 or 404 Ruger cartridges will split the 375 African stock. I had it happen on mine but had it repaired and reinforced. No more problems despite several hundred 404 Ruger rounds (400 grain 0.423” bullet at ~2400 FPS MV) in the repaired stock. The recoil in this configuration is significant but manageable for anymore familiar with large medium bores.

As powerful as the 375 Ruger is - a round I like - the 416 or 404 cartridges are a step above. Equivalent in every way to the 416 Rigby or the 404 Jeffery. Elevates the cartridges from buffalo to elephant.

BTW, I believe that the factory 416 barrel is not sold separately by Ruger. It would have to be bought from one of the aftermarket manufacturers - a better idea anyway as a 23” African-countour 416 Ruger barrel is more of a good thing.

Unless you do it yourself with a cheap barrel, the cost to have a 2nd barrel mounted, headspaced and sights aligned wouldn't be much less than finding a 2nd rifle.

I simply went with the 416 Ruger. It'll do everything the .375 R will do and more. no muss, no fuss! Haven't regretted it yet.