Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 20" 375 H&H?

What do you guys think about this barrel length for the cartridge?

IMO, as long as the barrel has a bit of beef (.65"-.7") I think it's about model perfect. Now 21" that would be the way I'd go!

Doesn't get much better than a 21" 375 with a tish bit of beef.

Dober

I have a Pennsylvania friend who has hunted for years with a 20" barreled Sako .375, or maybe it is 19". Anyway it is a nifty little full-stocked rifle and he has used it not just in Pennsylvania but Africa and loves it, whether shooting deer or Cape buffalo. I have no idea about the barrel contour but it shoots great. No doubt the long stock keeps the weight forward too, which doesn't hurt.

A while back I ran amuck for a summer or two sanctioning rock chucks with a Sako Mannlicher in 375...now that was a coolish rifle. Too cool 4 me so I sold it to a buddy from Jackson Hole.

Dober

I had one of the Sako with the full stock with a 20" barrel and it was VERY accurate

Yeah, his is too.

It really can't be too much different than my 20" 375 Ruger Alaskan, which I think is just about the perfect rifle/cartridge combo out there right now, IMO.

.....As an Alaskan owner myself, you got that right!

Imo, having a 375 H&H rifle with a 20" barrel is a great idea. However, it won`t quite match the 375 Ruger`s performance from that same 20" barrel.

No matter! The game won`t know the difference.

I have used two twenty-inch 375s, and a friend of mine had one as well. Two were Mark Xs, the other a Whitworth. We had the barrels shortened from 24 to 20, and the front sights re-installed.

I was still guiding at the time, and he was our chief game warden. We shot them over my Oehler, using the same box of factory ammo, before and after cutting the barrels. Not one of them lost more than 40 fps!

The down side was that they were very, very, noisy. You didn't dare shoot them wo protection unless you had to.

Ted

I've had 375's with 24 and 22" bbl's... 22" seemed like the practical limit on the low end to me and 22 or 23" is how I'd build one.

I always lusted after one of those Sako Mannlicher .375s or .338s (think they made them in that cal. too, right?)

I like snub-nosed rifles, shotguns and handguns.

Trying to decide if I want to trim back the barrel on a Ruger No. 1 Tropical .375 I got a few months back...it's no longer pristine as a former owner installed a Vais (I think) brake on it.

It'd be handier and hit harder than a 22-in. No. 1 in .45/70!

Don't know if you'd be able to match the "handy" of the #1-S 45-70 in terms of balance with the 375, but expect it would be close. The 45-70 in the #1 is plenty for anything in the Americas in any case.

As for 20" 375s, I recall seeing several 20" barreled M70 Classics in a shop in Anchorage years ago. As I recall, they appeared to be shipped that way from the factory. I think they were labeled "Alaskan Guide" versions. It was well before Ruger introed their new rifles. I've never stopped thinking about bobbing mine.

I recall 458WIN writing he had a 20" 375 H&H. Care too comment on this thread?

idahoguy101

I had one when they first came out...the Battue. It was a jumping ear-splitter but awfully nice to carry in thick stuf. As I prefer longer barrels, it was traded off, but I regret doing so.

OOPS! You said full stock...mine wasn't. It was just short, real short.

A long gone hunting pal had a pre 64 in .375 H&H that he had cut just behind the front sight. They were 25"'ers as I recall, so maybe 22'ish when he was done.
It seemed to balance well. I know it sure shot well.
He sent a pile of elk to the meadows in the sky with that battered old girl.

What's an inch and a half - between friends?

http://www.sako.fi/pdf/specs/85Kodiak.pdf

If it's anything like the concussion a 20' barreled 300Wthby produces, I'd opt out.....



Casey

has anyone seen a Sako 85 Kodiak?

It's the perfect barrel length! I was gonna have my Model 70 classic stainless cut to 20" until I found out I could save some bucks (I had a wedding to pay for just then) by having it cut to just under 21". Basically, they just cut it so the rear hole became the front one, drilled and tapped a new one for the rear, and replaced the ramp. That way I only had to pay for one hole instead of two.

I then replaced the plastic factory stock with a McMillan Supergrade pattern, and mounted a Vari-X III 1.75-6 in a set of Talleys including their peep sight.

Since then, the gun has killed a mountain goat, three brown bears, and a pile of deer, with both the scope and open sights. I absolutely love it. If it's much louder than a regular length barrel no one's noticed. I've only ever used 300 grainers in it, my choice load being a Nosler with H4350 at a little over 2550 fps.

Pierre van Tonder, my adopted son and PH that I book for in Tanzania carries an old original Pre 64 Win. in .375 with an factory 20 inch barrel as his primary backup rifle and has a 500 Jefferys for elephant backup. It is very well used but not abused rifle void of blue and faded stock, but no rust or pits and the barrel is sharp..I have shot more than a few head of everything in Tanzania short of elephant and Lion with that rifle and fed a camp with it...I noticed no difference in the way it performed as compared to my 26 inch 375...and it is about as handy as a rife can be. The barrel is heavy and it holds well, and its accurate as can be with its iron sights..BTW if it was new it would fetch about $20,000 to a collector, I have no idea what its worth in rougher condition.

I have a 20 inch 416 Rem with a heavy barrel and I really like it, and as some of you may know, I have always touted long tubes for off hand and running shots, but I have changed my idea on that if the short gun has the needed barrel weight to make it a tad barrel heavy in balance.