Customizing 375 H&H for Hunt

270quest

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Jan 31, 2017
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Boise, Idaho
As of today, I am officially 90 days out to my Northern BC moose hunt.

I will be taking my recently purchased Weatherby Vanguard DGR 375 H&H rifle on this hunt. Being that I am a rifle tinkerer and for me this is a very expensive hunt, I am trying to customize this rifle to provide the very best tool for the job.

I ordered an in-stock, McMillan Grey Marble Sako Classic Stock for the rifle to replace the factory B&C stock. I also ordered a replacement Timney to go in place of the factory trigger. I am going have the barreled action glass bedded in the new stock.

Metal wise, it may not be needed, but to be safe I am going to have the smith install a side bolt stop in place of the factory option. Lastly, I am going to Cerakote the entire barreled action in Graphite Black.

The rifle has steel 2 piece warne bases, Leupold PWR steel rings, and a VX-R 2-7X33. In the event of a scope failure, it has the factory express sites to fall back on.

Am I missing anything? Would you do anything different?
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2017
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364
As of today, I am officially 90 days out to my Northern BC moose hunt..

Am I missing anything? Would you do anything different?

Yeah....started this project wayyyyyy before you were 90 days out. So you can debug it and also practice with it.
 

mod700

Lil-Rokslider
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Mar 2, 2016
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Magalia Ca.
Have you considered a brake?,.. buddy has a 375 w/ brake, tamed it down some, makes it more pleasant to practice with.
Mike
 

AlaskaEd

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Mar 13, 2017
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North Pole
If you had more than 90 days, I'd say have the chamber reamed out to 375AI or Weatherby. But then you'd need dies and have to fireform brass. With only 90 days, I'd get it together as fast as you can to give plenty of time to work out the bugs and get a good load.

Other than that, good choices on the hardware.

Just my personal opinion, but I do not like barrel loudeners (brakes) on hunting rifles. When you practice with a rifle you have muffs/plugs and an optimal shooting location. When you are sighting in or developing a load most people use bags or a rest. So why have a brake? I have 3 375s including a 375 Weatherby and a 6lb 375WSM. No brakes on any of them. I like my hearing, and I'd rather kick up the least amount of dirt/dust/snow when I'm in the field. So I'd rather that blast and noise goes forward and not to the sides and rear.
 

thinhorn_AK

"DADDY"
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Is your weatherby the one that comes with a bell and Carlson stock??? If so, would you be interested in selling that stock to me since you're replacing it with a Mickey???

I have the vanguard 375 but the one with the basic plastic stock.
 
OP
270quest

270quest

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Newmexican - it is for sale and I PM'd you.

I am not a fan of muzzle brakes so this rifle will not get one. Recoil doesn't bother me too much and I shot this gun in the original factory form just fine. In fact this is my 3rd different 375 I have owned over the last 10-12 years - shot them quite a bit.

The smith doing the rifle work is a close friend and will have it done for me within a couple weeks so I still have most of the summer to shoot and work up loads.
 
OP
270quest

270quest

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Found out today that the the rear bridge on a Vanguard/Howa sets too low to have clearance to install a side bolt stop. So these are the final modifications I will be making.
1. Bed barreled action into McMillan stock
2. Cerakote the barreled action graphite black
3. Replace front site bead with a fiber optic bead
 

A7Dave

FNG
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Jun 1, 2012
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AKexpat
90 days out and you're going to screw with your rifle? You're crazy. Get your scope dialed in, settle on your ammo (factory or reloaded) and shoot the hell out of it. Make sure your zero is where you want it. Shoot from prone on your backpack, sitting or kneeling with a rest and compare your zero against the zero from your bench rest. If you have a good gunsmith, I would do only two things, bed it to your stock and replace the trigger. Spend time shooting to works the bugs out.
 

FURMAN

WKR
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Feb 29, 2012
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It is too late in the game to be messing with it. Spend your time familiarizing yourself with the rifle. Since you asked what we would do, I would have started with a M70 Safari and left it as is.
 

cooperjd

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Dec 30, 2016
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Mount Pleasant, SC
can you just do #s 1 and 3. what happens if the rifle gets stuck in the cerakoting place for a while and you can't practice with it? cerakoting is not going to improve accuracy, and only presents a potential logistical nightmare. not worth the risk IMO on a hunt like this.
 
OP
270quest

270quest

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The McMillan came in yesterday is looks great. Is a great fit as well. I have decided to keep it simple. I dropped the rifle off today to have it bedded - thats it. (Any other mods will be after hunting season if I decide to do them.) Should have it back in a week and will start working on its final load. Going to be playing with 270 grain Barnes TSX and Re 15.

Here is a pic of the stock on the rifle - looks pretty good imho and the ergonomics are second to none.
 

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cooperjd

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Dec 30, 2016
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Mount Pleasant, SC
looks good. i sold my rem798 .375HH earlier this year. it kinda hurt. it shot way better than it was supposed to with 300gr soft point federals. i kept thinking about buying a rifle like yours but decided to go to a 6.5mm instead, since i'm not going after cape buff anytime soon. good luck on the moose hunt!
 
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