I saw Dennis Olson’s fine work on your Mauser that went behind the hedge with a post-63 Model 70 barrel.  A prudent move because one of the unsung good features of the much-decried “new Model 70” is its in-house hammer forged barrel.

While the Winchester-Western Division’s Commercial Gun Department was often treated as an illegitimate stepchild by the Division’s new management, the money to buy hammer forging equipment wasn’t small, although I suspect it was actually purchased for to benefit hoped-for military sales. I don’t have proof of that but when senior vice presidents were saying things like, “Who cares about commercial gun sales!” and ” The commercial gun department can go to hell!” — it doesn’t tax the imagination to think that was the real reason such a major capital expenditure was approved. 

Regardless, it’s one major reason post-63 Model 70 rifles were more accurate out of the box than their predecessors. 

When I can lay in some dies and components, I’ll start asking you for reduced velocity data. I don’t think the 375 Holland is murderous in a rifle of reasonable weight with a well designed stock.  At full power, it seems no worse than a .300 Weatherby or Winchester but that’s subjective. What I think would give King Kong a flinch is the 340 Weatherby because of its fierce recoil velocity, which I’ve twice declined the opportunity to shoot.

I just fired 10 rounds in my .375 Holland & Holland Magnum Model 70 this morning.  It certainly gets your attention, but it isn’t horrible nor is it painful.

I believe it’s extremely unlikely the Model 1885 was chambered in .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.

Mike,  The Winchester High Wall to which Steve’s link pointed was made by Miroku and some of those were offered in 375 Holland. 

As you say, designing an extractor for break-open or falling block single and double barrel guns, that will reliably work on big case, rimless cartridges, belted or otherwise, is not easy because those actions cannot exert the force of a manually operated bolt action extractor (Mauser-style claw or Remington-style hook)  on a stubbornly tight, over-expanded case stuck in the chamber. 

For a sufficiently tall stack of Benjamins,  Continental makers will build you a double or O/U  for the 375, 416, 458 and other rimless monster mashers.  There have also been occasional reports from reliable African sources of failures to extract that rendered both barrels useless, in circumstances ranging from embarrassing to run-for-your-life. If ever I just had to have a big double to hunt something large that might hunt me back,  it would be a .470 Nitro Express for two reasons: ammunition availability and rimmed cartridge design.  Don’t hold your breath. 

I’ve never seen a 375 Winchester cartridge or the Model 94 designed to use it, except in illustrations. However, the ballistics published in Harvey’s Modern Sporting Rifle Cartridges show it is not even in the same league as Holland’s “375 Magnum Rimless Nitro Express.” The latter’s muzzle report literally shakes the ground.

Touching off 75 to 80 grains of progressive burning smokeless under a 270 to 300 grain bullet in a relatively small 37 caliber bore, has immediate and impressive aural consequences at the range. People stop doing what they were doing and begin asking each other, “What the @#$% was THAT?”  

Five rounds of full power 375 H & H pegs my fun meter enough for a whole day. 

The 375 Winchester “Big Bore” cartridge is visually nearly identical to the 38-55, one of the reasons why I only use brass with the correct headstamp for these rifles. The Big Bore 94 weighs a little over 7 pounds IIRC and is not much fun to shoot with factory equivalent loads. For some reason I never bothered to work up a reduced load for this rifle, even my cast bullet load is very close to the factory velocity. I don’t want any of these rounds to find their way into a 130 year old Winchester! My 375 Big Bore brass supply is probably worth more than I paid for the rifle, new. That’s another advantage of the H&H over the Big Bore, I suspect the big belted cases may be spendy but available. I got pretty interested in the 375 H&H when Ruger came out with their 375, finally decided nothing in Texas needed that much killing and I wasn’t likely to hunt elsewhere. That custom rifle of Steve’s would have probably changed my mind, though.

Mike

Great memories are the true gift hunting gives back.  Although old age takes away some of the colors, the moods, excitement, satisfaction, and the moment the game appeared, are still crystal clear.  

That’s the DNA talking.

What more evidence do we need to understand homo sapiens is a predator?  

[For UC and Ivy League graduates: The correct answer is “none.”]

Thank you for the kind words gentlemen.

I find myself singing, Toby Kieth’s song, “Don’t let the Old Man in”, that Clint Eastwood, made famous in the movie he starred in, while my body tells me to stop and rest, and I push forward a little more, but smartly, and cautiously. I’ve always admired the older guy’s who pushed on, with their own problems, and or situations. The several acres of wooded family property, that we enjoy through our hunting, hiking, and such, brings back, many memories, of the WW ll Veterans, who traveled the World, that I hunted with, and learned a lot from, such as My Father in Law, and his close friend, from his childhood day’s, that I spent many hours listening to the same war stories over and over, as I’m glad that I did, as I pas those down to the other family members, as we can never take these Freedom’s we have for granted! Heck the one old timer, who lived in the back 10 x 10 shack, with no running water, like a hermit, took me under his wing and taught me how to track, and hunt, and enjoy the land, for what it is! We now own all that property, as we consolidated several parcels to improve our family track, that my F.I.L. built the cabin on in the early 50’s, as a carpenter, and we keep those memories alive, with the stories, and such.

Anthony