Suggestions for a new hunting rifle?
08-17-2013, 06:18 AM
#11
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 1,781
If you plan to use this rifle in Africa for large or dangerous game (lion, buffalo, etc.) the .375 is clearly the better choice over a .338. For African plains game and anything in North America the .338 is probably a better choice. If you don't plan on large African game in the next few years the .338 will serve you very well.
I have more than one .375 and more than one .338 and have hunted with them all extensively. I use both a .375 H&H and a .375 Ruger and am very happy with both cartridges. In your budget you can find an excellent Ruger Hawkeye (I have seen new ones for around $800 and very lightly used ones for as low as $600), and for a few hundred dollars more an excellent FN made Winchester Safari Express (I think I paid about $1,200 for mine). If I was going to start all over again I think I would just buy the Hawkeye and use the rest of the cash to go hunting with it. The Ruger .375 is probably a better designed cartridge and ammo is no longer a problem to find, and the H&H has seniority and nostalgia.
All of my bolt rifles that are .375 or larger are CRF. For anything you would shoot with a .338 either PF or CRF would do the job equally well.
I have more than one .375 and more than one .338 and have hunted with them all extensively. I use both a .375 H&H and a .375 Ruger and am very happy with both cartridges. In your budget you can find an excellent Ruger Hawkeye (I have seen new ones for around $800 and very lightly used ones for as low as $600), and for a few hundred dollars more an excellent FN made Winchester Safari Express (I think I paid about $1,200 for mine). If I was going to start all over again I think I would just buy the Hawkeye and use the rest of the cash to go hunting with it. The Ruger .375 is probably a better designed cartridge and ammo is no longer a problem to find, and the H&H has seniority and nostalgia.
All of my bolt rifles that are .375 or larger are CRF. For anything you would shoot with a .338 either PF or CRF would do the job equally well.
08-17-2013, 06:57 AM
#12
Fork Horn
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Colorado Springs
Posts: 360
I'm a big fan of the 375H&H myself. If Africa is in your sights, the 375 Holland would be an ideal choice. The Ruger may be a little harder to find ammo for overseas. I'm told the 375's recoil is a bit more tolerable than the 338, to which I've never shot the latter. Either caliber is much more versatile than the naysayers will tell you. If you reload, skies the limit on what you can do with them. As for guns, I'm a CRF fan, so the Remington 798(Zastava 98 mauser), Win m70, and CZ550 are on the short list. CZ is a bit heavy IMO for a 375, while the Zastava action(found under a slew of names over the years) is the lightest I would consider(I own a 798 in 375). Nothing really wrong with a pushfeed action, however I prefer the robustness of the CRF action with a better extraction and ejection design.
