Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Marlin .375 Win. value

I ran into the above rifle at a local establishment. What are the implications of the Micro-Groove barrel for bullet choices? Condition of the metal is quite good. It has a Williams peep sight. The original rear sight is gone. The wood finish is blistered/peeling a bit - I assume from handling/use.

The shop here in town had one in real nice condition for $475

Somewhere the marlin's w/microgroove rifling have had a little of a rep for not shooting cast bullets, but I have read plenty of accounts where they shoot just fine. As far as bullets, there are only a couple of factory choices. the 220grn Hornady and a 200 grn sierra, if I recall correctly. Hawk also has some possibilities too. the rest of the .375 bullets out there are tough jobs meant for the .375 H&H.

Mine shoot the 200 grn hornady into nice tight little groups! Take a look at reedsammo.com for inexpensive loaded ammo, that shoots great.

Little to go on, regarding value.
Marlins in .375WCF can go beyond the $600 mark for prime examples, all the way down to $350 for beaters. Sounds like this one is on the rougher end of the spectrum.
Microgroove rifling is fantastic if its done right-right means the rifling is cut sharp an square. If this is the case the mg barrels will shoot anything accurately. Unfortunately, you need a borescope and a little experience to know what to look for here.
The good news is that even less than pristine microgrroove rifling will shoot jacketed bullets just fine. The question has always related to cast bullets. Since the .375WCF is hardly a plinking round, chances are you would opt for high performance jacketed numbers to do your hunting.
Today, the best bullets available are, in my opinion; Hawk, Barnes and Hornady in that order.
The .375WCF is a brutal but exellent woods cartridge. If you can handle all that power in a lil 336, you can go after just about anything, including Elk.

ive got the 375 top eject and find the rifle doesnt kick much at all,we use it for plinking and it seems to love 200 gr factory ammo,will soon be working on loading it up from factory,but a lot of friends starte opening the check book after we shoot it,ive refused a grand as it is not for sale.

The 375 Marlin is a good hunting rifle. Mine shoots the Hornady 225 grain FPs into very small groups over a charge of RL-7 powder. If the one you're looking at is in good mechanical condition, refinishing the wood isn't a big deal.

Heck man, if you know some folk offering up $1000, I have a winchester 375 BB I'd let go for that. Have them contact me...

Dave

You'll be re-thinking your position on recoil once you feed it a diet of respectable handloads. It ain't the biggest thumper out there, but it'll definitely wake you up.

scott

I just got back from a friends place in Wisconsin. We went out one day for some shooting fun...Swede '98 9.3x57, Rem 700 .35 Whelen, and Marlin MG barrel .375 Win....all with cast bullets. My buddy says the trick with the MG rifling is to size bullets .002 over groove dia.

The trick with microgroove rifling and cast bullets is get one with correctly cut grooves & lands. If you are not blessed with such an animal no amount of fiddlin will turn it into a tackdriver.
Over the years plenty of experienced handloaders tried all kinds of tweaking with those that won't shoot cast pills-and they've given up and gone to jacketed.
MG really is a superior form of rifling-when its done right, it'll shoot cast right along with the best in jacketed, even if the bullets are sized .001 over.

Try reedsammo.com for loaded ammo. Been using the 220grn Hornady load for hunting. Unfortunately with the price of brass, they recently raised the price to $20 per box. A real deal.

I bought my .375 Marlin for $325 in about 95% condition. I about hi the floor, you don't see 'em like that everyday. Seen them for for $5-600 on the auction sites.

As for recoil, I find it mild (not shooting handloads yet). You expect something with that much power to kick a lot more, and it is really a pussycat. I love to have friends shoot it, and they all say it kicks a little more than a 30-30. That is all it is though, a stoked up 30-30. As with any "woods" type cartridge, the power and velocity really start to drop off after 100-150 yards, but it makes a big hole.

I have a WinBB in .375Win and a couple of 336 in .35Rem. I was just reading the Buffalo Bore tables. Interesting that their 255gr JFN .375Win load is 1950fps and 2050M.E. and the 220gr JFN .35Rem is 2200fps and 2364M.E. Surprised me. Food for thought.

George

I bought my 375 Marlin 12 years ago and got it at good price.
Condition was like new, and came with the two boxes of ammo the original purchaser had bought when he got the rifle. 10 rounds fired.
I've shot 9 animals with it using the 200 gr factory load, black bear, moose and caribou, from 5 to 100 yards. It works very well on big game within 100 yards. Accuracy in this rifle is in the 1 to 2" range (the better groups coming with a 2.5X Leupold mounted in QR rings.
It also shoots the Hornady 220 gr bullet into 1" groups at 2200 fps. Recoil is very managable.
I found the 255 gr Barnes Original bullet did not shoot very well, and dropped about 18" below POA, with the scope sighted in for the 200 gr load.
A couple of years ago, I saw one at a gunshow in good condition, and they were asking $600 for it. There were a couple on GunBroker.com that were bid at in the same price range.
If it listed for a decent price...buy it...you'll find it a fun gun to shoot, and it works very effectively on big game.