Have You Ever Wanted One?

C

ColColt

New member
Have you ever wanted a rifle just to shoot and maybe for the romance of the cartridge to see how you could take the recoil but just didn't want to lay down the bills for one? I've had a secret love affair with the 375 H&H for many years but never could see the price not knowing if I'd get a concussion or loose my bridge work by trying it.

The closest thing to it was a 375 Weatherby way back in 1972 when I was crazy enough to shoot a 460 Weatherby from the bench. I remember it had an old Lyman 4x scope that during recoil cut me between the eyes leaving a half moon cut. Not a fair comparison probably between it and the 375 H&H as the Weatherby was bad and that was standing up-not from the bench. Still, I'd like to try the H&H but doubt there's one for hourly rental anywhere this side of the Atlantic. If I had the coins I'd just get one for kicks(pun intended).
 
I've had lots of secret love affair weapons but heavy recoilers are not allowed in my rolodex:D
I've been scope bit one too many times with witnesses to endure another one.
 
Sure, haven't we all? I particularly like the 7X57, no doubt due to WDM "Karamojo" Bell and his feats with rifles chambered for that cartridge. I also had a long-running affair with the .375 H&H due to Ruark, Aagard, Capstick, and Hemingway's writings. Are they any better than some others? No, but they do have that classic aroma of Cordite that makes me think I am a Great White Hunter in Tsavo or some other legendary remote place.

Don't worry about shaking your fillings loose with a .375 H&H, they are really quite tame to shoot, as they operate at relatively low pressures (to keep the cartridges from sticking in your Holland & Holland double rifle in the dusty heat of the veldt, you know).
 
if I win the lottery then maybe an africa calibre would be an option but as it is now my 9,3x62 does everything I want and with a great thud. and I have it in a semi so recoil isn't too bad

I do want a 12/89
 
Not really.

I worked with a lot of gun guys over the years, including my time with American Rifleman, and that's allowed me to shoot a lot of old, pretty rare, and rather unique cartridges that otherwise I wouldn't ever have been able to.

And with some of them, I have NO idea why I ever pulled the trigger, because it was not a pleasant ride.
 
ColColt asked:

Have you ever wanted a rifle just to shoot and maybe for the romance of the cartridge to see how you could take the recoil but just didn't want to lay down the bills for one?
Click to expand...


Kinda been there and done that:


Built this 9,3x62 as all-around African plains game rifle:

4980Mauser_9_3x62_091607.jpg



And customized this 458WM as carry African dangerous game rifle:

458Win_050412_1.jpg



BUT, for me it wasn't "the romance of the cartridge", It was the romance of Africa:

4980ElephantShot.jpg



My advice = if your hearts in it, JUST DO IT! :) :) :)
 
Scorch-A big thumbs up on the 7x57. I finally bought one just a few weeks back and put a Leupold 2.5-8x scope on it. It just looked appropriate.



I shot a 375 Weatherby once and it was not a pleasant ride either. The old Lyman 2.5x cracked me between the eyes leaving a half moon cut.

Ray-That last photo has to be photo shopped. No way I'd get that close to an elephant.
 
ColColt said:
Have you ever wanted a rifle just to shoot and maybe for the romance of the cartridge to see how you could take the recoil but just didn't want to lay down the bills for one?
Click to expand...

I have no fascination, let alone love-affair, with recoil. Recoil is not your friend. It does not imply toughness or manliness to be able to handle it or to choose to shoot a gun for no purpose than to expose yourself to it's recoil.

So, no, I've never wanted to shoot a gun just so I could see how hard it would smack me or how bad it would hurt. Quite the opposite, actually, I routinely refuse to shoot guns that hurt me.

I guess that growing up being forced to hunt deer with 12ga slug guns pretty well cured me of any thought that recoil might be fun or cool.


Romance of the cartridge, nope, I've never even considered it. It has less meaning to me than recoil. At least recoil I can say I avoid it. "Romance" of the cartridge isn't even a consideration. I choose cartridges and firearms based on what I need them to do for me, not on what they've done for somebody else.
 
I have no love for recoil either. I had a beautiful Shiloh Sharps 45-90 that beat me to death with it's skinny crescent shaped steel butt and I ended up selling it. bruised me worse than any rifle I'd ever shot and I'm talking about only ten rounds and I struggled to get that done but didn't want to drive twenty miles to the range just to shoot three. I later paid the price with sore shoulder and black and blue bruises. You can see how the stock may have done that.



What I had in reference to was to try the 375 H&H to see IF I could hack the recoil. I'm not into pain but do love the rifles I've seen in the caliber and think it would make a great cast bullet cartridge.
 
Sure have. I like oddball calibers for a lot of the romance and history of the round. I still lust after a .405 Winchester and my dream rifle is something in 6.5x55. I have no problem with large calibers, but my fascination with the big African type calibers has faded. I would still buy rifles chambered for them if I could afford them but more for the romanticism of my African dream than the desire to ride waves of recoil. I wouldn't worry about the H&H banging you around. It's relatively tame and it doesn't have the harsh recoil of some of the other magnums.
 
I paid 50bucks recently to fire two rounds of 585nyati

WORST 50 bucks ever spent !

it was originally 100 bucks but you gotta 50dollars refund if you fired the second barrel:D

and they say that those big calibres are worse for us big dudes because we don't sway with the recoil
 
Well, that's one I've never heard of before. but it doesn't sound like one I'd care to try.I always thought the 460 Weatherby with it's 4 tons of muzzle energy had to be the worse rifle yet. Never fired one and never will...not even for $100.
 
i did, 460 weatherby mag, double barrel, i forget what it was. 20+ years ago, i had the oppurtunity to shoot one. i did, ouch!!!! my shoulder hurts!!!! ouch!!!! i won't repeat what was said, more than once...
a good freind of mine bought a 338 rem ultra mag, a few years ago he brought it over. he shot it, so i figure, it doesn't kick much. he gives it to me and... ouch!!!! that won't be repeated either.
the 45-70 and the 30-06 still works for me, recoil wise!!! the others, well, we'll see.....
 
Having been a great fan of Jack O'Connor since the late 60's, he's to blame for turning me on to the 270 and 375H&H. I've had four 270's but was always chicken to try the 375.
 
Romance

I own two "African" rifles neither of which I have any practical use for and neither of which I will sell.
One is a .375 H&H - a Winchester model 70.
The other is a function of reading about Harry Selby and the .416 Rigby.
Mine is a Ruger #1 Tropical.
Pete
 
How I'd love to have a pre-64 375...the creme de la creme, IMHO. I saw a Dakota 416 Rigby at the LGS about a month ago. Biggest cartridge I'd ever seen. It would take two wrestlers to get me to shoot that one.
 
"the cartridge" is most of the reason I own a 375 H&H, & a 416 Rigby...

375 H&H is in a Browning stainless stalker with a BOSS, & it actually isn't much worse than a 30-06 with the BOSS

416 Rigby is on a custom bolt action, "heavy rifle" with a good recoil pad, & I was also impressed with how easy shooting it is... but the rifle goes over 12 lbs with a scope

I love my little 7 X 57, a custom built on a 95 Mauser, means no hot loads, but it handles factory loads just fine, & I'm gearing up to reload 500 cartridges for the rifle, after I get enough cases saved up...

another cartridge I love, is the 45-70... with 4 guns so chambered, from my 14" Contender, an Enfield Martini single shot, with 3 leaf safari type sights, a Remington / Russian import side by side double rifle, & my Marlin Guide gun, which I load stompin hot loads in... while certainly smaller than anything talked about yet, I also have a love of the 22 Hornet, also owning 4 guns chambered in that cartridge

I've never shot a Weatherby, & never had a big urge to own one ( yet ) or a 458 Win Mag, or any of the other ( other than the 375 H&H & 416 Rigby )specific African cartridges, though I would own several more double rifles if that lottery number would come up...
 
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