Jack has for many years always had a way of kidding me about my use of a 340 weatherby, loaded with 250 grain hornady bullets, as my primary ELK hunting rifle, and hes well aware that when I decide to hunt the thicker timber in many narrow canyons,that I frequently drop back to using my SAKO manlicher carbine in caliber 375 H&H.
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while this is NOT my 375 H&H sako carbine, in the picture posted above, My SAKO CARBINE is almost an exact clone except, that my stocks about 5 shades darker, so its about as dark as walnut gets.
I found this picture posted on the internet, it could be a clone of the sako carbine Ive used for decades, if the stock color was about 6 shades darker walnut ,
mines about the color of a semi sweet dark chocolate
when he kids me about my use of those rifles, as he refers to them, "grumps cannons" I just tell him , with a big grin,its just sub-conscious jealousy making him feel that way and if he didn,t have so much estrogen rather than testosterone he would be able to handle a mid range caliber also.
hes seen me drop elk and mule deer very consistently, with those tools, but up until recently hes used a 30/06 Springfield bolt action, as his primary rifle. but on a recent trip to a gun show, he got a screaming deal on a barely used browning A-bolt synthetic/stainless rifle in caliber 375 H&H,
a quick trip to the local range with his new toy gave me a good idea why the previous owner was willing to sell so cheaply,
100 yard bench rested groups ran in the 6" range but the targets had that tell tale, twin group indicator that either the bedding or scope mount was the cause.
we checked the bedding and it was obvious that needed to be re-bedded, so we used a demel to cut out the area behind the recoil lug and embed a stainless steel bolt and washer after careful measurements and cutting the required area and use of epoxy bedding material was used.
we also piller bed the action bolts bosses,then we did a good bore cleaning , new scope mounts were installed,and a 4x Leopold scope
and a return trip to the range showed 3 separate hand load recipes would give the rifle under 1" off the bench 3 shot group capability.
we sighted the rifle in at 3" high at 100 yards and I taped a trajectory table on a laminated business card to the stock.
Range
(yd) (in)
0 -1.5
100 3.0
200 2.4
300 -4.1
400 -18.0
500 -40.6
600 -73.9
the rifle is a bit heavy at about 10.5 lbs with the scope and mounts added,but its accurate and consistent.
we loaded the rifle with 75 grains of WW760 and speer 235 grain bullets for a recent mule deer hunt he was going on, when he got back he said climbing ridges with that rifle made him think he was dragging a truck axle along with him until he got a chance to shoot, (it weights a good 2.6 lbs more than his 30/06) he said he was really worried about the lack of flat trajectory if he had to make long shots ,compared to his 30/06 until I showed him the trajectory charts, the 375 H&H shot within an inch or so,of what his 165 grain loads in the 30/06 had always done out to about 350 yards
he stated he was amazed at the results,on the fourth day of his hunting trip he finally located a decent mule deer, he got a shot at a nice mule deer at about 300 yards, he shot from a sitting position and aimed about 6" under the deers back line , and squeezed off, a shot half expecting to see the bullet impact low , but he trusted the chart info, now hes used the 30/06 for close to 30 years and hes never gotten the results he saw with the 375H&H, now hes dropped some deer with his 30/06, before, but he stated the 375H&H seemed to "KNOCK THE SNOT" out of that mule deer, and when he did the dressing out he found the 235 grain speer had cut a half dollar size tunnel thru the deers heart.
hes now got a totally different perspective on his new toy.
340 wby -250 hornady
378 wby -270 hornady
375 H&H -270 hornady
45/70 -350 and 405 grain cast gas check bullets
35 whelen-250 speer
358 win- 250 speer
30/06 - 220 peters and 190 hornady bullets
the rifles in bold print were the rifles carried on most trips
I've hunted Colorado about 26 years and Wyoming three years
I tend to like hunting steep timbered canyons
similar to these photos
viewtopic.php?f=92&t=1695&p=4143&hilit=bedding#p4143
http://handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=375 HqqqH&Weight=All&type=Rifle&Order=Powder&Source=
http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/defau ... er&Source=
http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage.asp?CaliberID=82
\
while this is NOT my 375 H&H sako carbine, in the picture posted above, My SAKO CARBINE is almost an exact clone except, that my stocks about 5 shades darker, so its about as dark as walnut gets.
I found this picture posted on the internet, it could be a clone of the sako carbine Ive used for decades, if the stock color was about 6 shades darker walnut ,
mines about the color of a semi sweet dark chocolate
when he kids me about my use of those rifles, as he refers to them, "grumps cannons" I just tell him , with a big grin,its just sub-conscious jealousy making him feel that way and if he didn,t have so much estrogen rather than testosterone he would be able to handle a mid range caliber also.
hes seen me drop elk and mule deer very consistently, with those tools, but up until recently hes used a 30/06 Springfield bolt action, as his primary rifle. but on a recent trip to a gun show, he got a screaming deal on a barely used browning A-bolt synthetic/stainless rifle in caliber 375 H&H,
a quick trip to the local range with his new toy gave me a good idea why the previous owner was willing to sell so cheaply,
100 yard bench rested groups ran in the 6" range but the targets had that tell tale, twin group indicator that either the bedding or scope mount was the cause.
we checked the bedding and it was obvious that needed to be re-bedded, so we used a demel to cut out the area behind the recoil lug and embed a stainless steel bolt and washer after careful measurements and cutting the required area and use of epoxy bedding material was used.
we also piller bed the action bolts bosses,then we did a good bore cleaning , new scope mounts were installed,and a 4x Leopold scope
and a return trip to the range showed 3 separate hand load recipes would give the rifle under 1" off the bench 3 shot group capability.
we sighted the rifle in at 3" high at 100 yards and I taped a trajectory table on a laminated business card to the stock.
Range
(yd) (in)
0 -1.5
100 3.0
200 2.4
300 -4.1
400 -18.0
500 -40.6
600 -73.9
the rifle is a bit heavy at about 10.5 lbs with the scope and mounts added,but its accurate and consistent.
we loaded the rifle with 75 grains of WW760 and speer 235 grain bullets for a recent mule deer hunt he was going on, when he got back he said climbing ridges with that rifle made him think he was dragging a truck axle along with him until he got a chance to shoot, (it weights a good 2.6 lbs more than his 30/06) he said he was really worried about the lack of flat trajectory if he had to make long shots ,compared to his 30/06 until I showed him the trajectory charts, the 375 H&H shot within an inch or so,of what his 165 grain loads in the 30/06 had always done out to about 350 yards
he stated he was amazed at the results,on the fourth day of his hunting trip he finally located a decent mule deer, he got a shot at a nice mule deer at about 300 yards, he shot from a sitting position and aimed about 6" under the deers back line , and squeezed off, a shot half expecting to see the bullet impact low , but he trusted the chart info, now hes used the 30/06 for close to 30 years and hes never gotten the results he saw with the 375H&H, now hes dropped some deer with his 30/06, before, but he stated the 375H&H seemed to "KNOCK THE SNOT" out of that mule deer, and when he did the dressing out he found the 235 grain speer had cut a half dollar size tunnel thru the deers heart.
hes now got a totally different perspective on his new toy.
340 wby -250 hornady
378 wby -270 hornady
375 H&H -270 hornady
45/70 -350 and 405 grain cast gas check bullets
35 whelen-250 speer
358 win- 250 speer
30/06 - 220 peters and 190 hornady bullets
the rifles in bold print were the rifles carried on most trips
I've hunted Colorado about 26 years and Wyoming three years
I tend to like hunting steep timbered canyons
similar to these photos
viewtopic.php?f=92&t=1695&p=4143&hilit=bedding#p4143
http://handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=375 HqqqH&Weight=All&type=Rifle&Order=Powder&Source=
http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/defau ... er&Source=
http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage.asp?CaliberID=82
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