Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 375 ruger African

I'm thinking of ordering the ruger hawkeye African in 375 ruger the only thing I'm s
Not sure about is it's balance I don't have access at a gun stores that's carries it I would need to order it online. My uncle has an old win 70 push feed 375 hh that's very muzzle heavy and I don't like it, so if any one here has the African in a 375 ruger plz let me know on how it balances and what's the barrel thickness. The model I'm looking at has the muzzle brake witch I plan on taking off and putting on the thread protector

I haven't felt the African model but I have the Guide Gun with the 20" barrel and it is well balance. The African will have 3" more barrel length.

xbolt,

I own, and hunt with, a Ruger Hawkeye African in .375 Ruger. Mine is pre-brake, thank heavens, with the barrel band sling attachment.

After 80 rounds, the wood stock split in several places. Not good.
I did an interim replacement with a Hogue stock I bought from Ruger- worked fine, but I really don't care for it, and in the meantime I had ordered a McMillan McWoody stock for it.

Don't know dimensions of the barrel offhand, other than it's 23" in length. I do know that with the McMillan stock, a Leupold VX3 2.5-10x scope, and factory Ruger rings, overall weight is right at 9 lb.
The rifle balances and carries very nicely, and likes to shoot Barnes TSX and TTSX bullets into sub-MOA groups.
This rifle, however, does NOT like factory Hornady ammo, in any bullet weight, at all, shooting groups that are best described as patterns.

If you buy the African, just consider that a stock replacement will be a possibility (likelihood?), and that some experimentation with different bullets, loads, etc. may be required to wring the best accuracy out of it, which I am sure it will be capable of. Ditch the brake, if you intend to keep your hearing and stay in the good graces of any outfitter or guide you may be hunting with!

Whereabouts did the splits occur?

They are a bit muzzle heavy, the degree depends on how you scope it.

I used 2-7 Loopies on the two I had. Mine were the early type.

I had one. Bought the first one I saw when the cartridge/rifle were introduced. Balancing barrel contours for a 375 bore, I thought it was almost perfect,and handled like a wand to me. But then I don't really like 20" tubes on 375's.23-24" works fine for me.

A guy could do dummer things than dupe the contour on any 375,Ruger or H&H IMHO.

I have heard about them eating through stocks...that sucks... but a pre 64 M70 in 375 H&H will do the same thing sooner or later,if you shoot it enough. Most don't.

The current ones have cross bolts in the stocks, as well as the removable muzzle breaks, and seem to hold up a lot better than the first models.
In my opinion they are the best balanced and fastest handling rifles in that power level. And probably the most durable as well.
And if you really want a durable rifle pick up one of the old Ruger "canoe paddle" stocks and drop the bbl action in it.

Have not seen the newer one's. I thought they were well thought out in terms of ergo's.

Phil good suggestion with the boat paddle.

Do they still make that rifle in 9.3? Anyone know?

I have two of them. A blued/walnut and a stainless/Lam (I think a special run, I got at CDNN)

First I would say that although its heavier than a typical hawkeye in say 30.06 its pretty light for a 375. Its balance is just slightly barrel heavy but not as bad as some 375's that have 25"/26" barrels. Overall for a 375 I would say its a light and handy rifle great for toteing around and well balanced for off hand shooting.

A couple of comments on the stock. The walnut stock has a hard rubber recoil pad, and I think that most users would be well suited to a good 1" pad. If your tall you could swap pads pretty easy, if your not blessed with height you would need to cut the stock to fit a pad with a correct LOP.

My walnut African is one of the last ones without the muzzlebrake, and has stock crossbolts, Even so I were intending to shoot it I would certainly consider bedding the action and reliving the area right behind the tang. Ruger is great about fixing and replacing things, but what I suggest would likely negate the warranty.

In the end I also got a stainless one (which was my preference)and bedded it into a McMillan so I got the soft pad and LOP just right for me. With a good pad, its a pleasure to shoot and recoil is a big push. In fact its nicer to shoot than some (most) 300 mags I have shot.

I have an early African, stock started to split and they replaced it. Fine so far and I will no longer use a Lead Sled. I also have a Hogue stocked Alaskan, also in 375 Ruger. Both are moa shooters with my handloads, factory stuff is for big targets, I guess.
Will probably invest in a McMillan stock for the Alaskan.
The hard part will be deciding which to take to Africa for buffs with my brother in a year or two.

Splits were behind the tang, and the wood webbing inletted between the trigger and magazine box. This stock had the crossbolt, obviously not too effective.
Another gripe I had about the wood stock is that recoil would drive the bolt handle into my knuckle. Never happens with the McMillan stock.

The big reason mine was gone. Tried to muscle past it but damn that hurt after awhile.

Never got a McMillan to see if that helped.

I have sent en email to the place what I'm getting the rifle from and they say it's got the muzzle brake but there not sure if it comes with the 2 other attachments do the Africans come with the barrel weight and thread protector or is it sold separately.

No, the 9,3x62 was limited run just like the Magnum rifle in 10,75x73mm. We have .375 Ruger and .338 Winchester Magnum plus few in sadly under-rated .35 Whelen.

The worst stock I have ever handled was that rubbery sticky Hoge thing on the Ruger Alaskan, just plain awful affair. It stuck to clothing like lint to wool.

Slavek too bad no more 9.3x62. Always thought that was a good idea.

Yeah, I'd vote for the 9.3x62 rather than the .375, both due to just about eliminating any stock-splitting issues, and more reasonable recoil, especially with the pad Ruger puts on the African model.

I bought one of the first African .275's that showed up around here, and shot it maybe 50 times before somebody offered me too much money to refuse. The stock hadn't split at that point, but based on the experience of others it probably did later. The recoil of a .375 (whether H&H or Ruger) often seems to be dividing line between a wood stock splitting and holding together. Have owned a number of 9.3x62's and .35 Whelens with non-reinforced walnut stocks that didn't split.

John only seen one Ruger 9.3x62 and wished I'd bought it. But didn't. So the question is:

"Why Don't They Chamber The____________________?"

You should have bought the one luv2safari was trying to sell a month or two ago in the Campfire Classifieds!

By the time Ruger brought out the African in 9.3x62, I'd had my CZ 550 restocked by Kilimanjaro in fancy Euro-walnut. The stock is so slim the rifle LOST half a pound, weighing 8 on the nose with a 4x33 Leupold, so I don't feel any vast need for a Ruger African right now. But if I didn't have the CZ, I might be looking....

It was a dandy, John. The new owner is presently pig hunting with it in N. CA. I expect a report with photos any day.

I guess I did not see that.