Late last year, I got word that Howa was offering the .375 Ruger to their 1500 line of rifles.  I'd always been intrigued by Ruger's .375 but could never justify the asking price for one of their Hawkeye's.  I had my brother tracking the Howa price through his distributors and just for kicks one day, inquired at a local shop.  The particular model I was looking for was in stock at one of their distribution centers (only one).  $435 paid, a couple keyboard clicks on their computer and the rifle was on its way.

As I was waiting for the rifle to deliver, I got some other things coming in.  I scoured Boyds website looking at my options.  Found one that I liked ready to ship and made the call to order a classic in their forest camo laminate pattern.  I believe they used to call these their JRS classics but I was corrected quickly.  Now they're just Boyds classics.  No idea what happened their.  Got an offer almost immediately for the black, molded plastic factory stock that came on the Howa from a member on another gun site that basically paid for the Boyds.  Meanwhile, my brother was tracking down a Burris Fullfield II 4.5-14x42mm with their ballistic plex reticle.

Once everything was in hand, the two of us sat down to hash out the project.  A big, 1" Kick-Eez recoil pad would be fitted to the Boyds.  I love these pads.  They're soft, even in the coldest of temps, non-slip on any number of clothing textures and very effective at absorbing recoil.  At the other end, I would have one of my brothers small muzzle brakes fitted.  It's a very effective brake design that he's put together based on his experience working with a large number of assorted brakes that he's had the opportunity to install and test.  They come from his manufacturer in stainless so a baked on teflon process would be used to match color with the blued barrel.  The stock would be pillar bedded.  It came from the factory with reinforcing pins as a standard option (an added cost back when I bought my sta stock).  So that was nice.  The channel would need some light touch-up for a a fully floated barrel that i wanted.

Before the bedding process was completed, we took some cartridge measurements.  The magazine from the factory was predictably short.  Factory Hornady ammo measured 3.256", col.  SAAMI standards for the round was 3.340".  The magazine didn't have to be long to house these cartridge lengths.  But when I worked up a dummy round to see how long the throat was in my Howa, the col of a cartridge, using a 260 gr. AccuBond, and fully engaging the lands measured 3.547".  Hmmm.  When accuracy's a priority, and it always is, I do not want huge jumps to the lands (i.e. freebore).  While nice on velocities, it's just not conducive to accuracy.  Brother thought of a relatively easy solution     ...     he would replace the short factory box with a remington 700 full length box.  Some milling to the receiver and stock, set back the bolt stop and presto, I was able to work up a cartridge that took full advantage of the long throat.

It all came together as such :















And what i had to work with regards to factory ammo lengths compared to a cartridge topped with the 260 gr. AccuBond at the max oal of 3.535" :



I'll talk about what i saw with the first range session last Sunday in the next installment.

Off to work.

k

I got out yesterday to test my first round of load development.  I didn't realize it would be such a short session.  lol.

Components I choose to work with were the 260 gr. Nosler AccuBond, Ramshot's Big Game powder and Federal 215 primers.  Getting some cases proved to be a little more challenging then I'd anticipated.  Simply put     ...     there was none to be had.  .375 Ruger cases were nowhere.  A potential problem in availability was recognized about 4 week before I got to the "put some rounds together" stage and for that entire time, a pretty extensive search had been under way.  All the big warehouse type outlets were back-ordered and noone seemed real comfortable that projected arrival dates for the cases would be met.  I had many people across the country helping in the search.  Every time an avenue seemed to open, it'd always end in the same thing.  Out of stock.  So I had two choices.  Buy a couple boxes of loaded Hornady ammo ($50 per 20) and shoot them up to get my working lot of brass or order in some Hornady .416 Ruger brass ($50 per 50), which  where in stock everywhere, and neck down for my working lot.  I opted for the .416 brass.  Necking down was a simple enough proposition.  I trimmed to specs and was ready to load.

Ramshot listed 84 grs. of  Big Game as their max load producing just under 2900 fps.  Nosler printed 82.5 grs. averaging over 2930 fps.  Less powder / more velocity being reasonable considering the custom pac-nor barrel they developed with.  Increasing oal over industry standard by as much as what I was, working pressure with their max load would be less then what they were seeing.  This is common sense.  However, seating the bullet as close to the lands as I was going to be able to do would gain me back some of what was lost.  For my initial load groups, I settled on a col 7 thou off the lands and loaded up two test batches.  3 at 83 grs.; 3 at 84 grs.

We were shooting at 50 yds., as I was also working with my sks and my brother had two of his scoped handguns he wanted to test run.  We bore sighted the rifle and fired one shot of hornady's factory ammo on target.  It hit about 5 1/2" high, just over center.  i lowered the zero and went to the handloads.  Here's how the 3 shots at 83 grs. read over the chrony :

                       Shot 1 – 2988 fps (that's 57 fps shy of nosler printed .378wbymag data).  Excessive pressure was needed to lift the bolt and case extraction was sticky.  The primer was slightly cratered and only slightly flattened.

                       Shot 2 – 2991 fps (that's 54 fps shy of nosler printed .378wbymag data).  Identical signs of pressure as the first shot.

                       Shot 3 – 2972 fps.  The pressure needed to lift the bolt went away completely and the extraction of the case was smooth and easy.  There was no cratering of the primer and no flattening.

In the analysis of the info, a two things of interest struck me.  First, this is to hot a load and the 84 gr. group will be pounded out.  But, it's right on the cusp.  In that 20 +/- fps gap between the first two shots and the third, working pressures dropped to a point where function improved dramatically.  Breaking 2900 fps with this bullet in this rifle will certainly happen.  by how much is yet to be determined.  Second thing that jumped out at me, and probably the most pleasing to this point, was the comfort of the rifle with a 260 going almost 3000 fps.  Fit, pad and brake worked together flawlessly.  I figured it would as this is the second heavy hitting sporter rifle i've used the combination on.  Without fail, my brothers muzzle brake continues to impress with each rifle I have one installed on.  They flat out work.

I am very curious to pop the primers and see how the pockets faired.  That'll offer a nice piece of info as I decide how hot I want to push this bullet.  These were only the 4th, 5th and 6th shots down this brand new barrel and the first using AccuBonds.  I really wasn't all that worked up about accruacy yet.  Still a ways to go with a proper break-in.  However, as they printed on paper, shots 2 and 3 were just under 1" apart from each other, with the first shot opening things up to maybe 1 2/3".  We'll dial things in a little better at the next range session.  I'm going to shorten my oal to 3.535".  Get a good 10 thou off the lands.  Then work up loads from 80 to 82 grs.  I imagine I'll find my prefered load somewhere in this range.

More to come as it happens.

k

just popped the spent primers on the 83 gr. loads.  pockets were unuseable.  as expected.  i'm going to drop on more grain on the next test batch.  i'll have a look at 79, 80 and 81 grs.  oal plans will still be shortened to 3.535".  these will be shot at 100 yds.
 
more to come.
 
k

$435 is a smoking price! I like the 375 Ruger.That would be a sweet elk round.

Quote from: Hunterbug;114968$435 is a smoking price! I like the 375 Ruger.That would be a sweet elk round.

i agree about the elk rifle, hb.
 
i think howa made ruger look a little silly.  they went and did what ruger would not.  that is, chamber the .375ruger in their 1500 flagship and kept the price at typical 1500 levels.  for whatever reason, ruger put it in their hawkeye (a nice enough platform) but for no practical reason, increased the asking price upwards of $300 over typical hawkeye price (depending on where you shop).
 
got the next string of loads worked up and plan to have a report tomorrow evening.  it's supposed to be wickedly windy  tomorrow so that could certainly shut down any shooting ment to record accuracy data so we'll have to see.
 
more to come.
 
k

The price gouging is simple in Ruger's eye it was going to be a must have for a lot of folks so they thought to cash in on the fad. I bet they caught loads with their gouging too.

bad range day for the howa today.  i'll report when i've a little more time to sit.  suffice it to say i'm in search of a new stock and boyds customer service will be tested.
 
k

here be the portion of the stock that would take the full brunt of the recoil, transfered from the lug.  the bedding surface that comes in full contact with the face of the lug is fully intact.  cracking began once the wood started to slip.  one of two things are what we're thinking     ...     either very soft, structurally unsound wood used in this particular laminate or when the reinforcing pin was installed, a void or empty spot was created, causing weakness at the one point on the stock where there could not be any.  the break that you see is almost as clean as if it were done by a knife, cut at the base by the pillar, up each side and down the full length of the flat surface facing us :
 

 
i first noticed something strange as just a faint cracking on surface of the stock that looked like possibly minor cracking in the clear coat they use to finish them.  we also questioned that maybe the stock was flexing under recoil.  allowing the rear of the action to come into contact with the stock.  after the second group, the crack was a little deeper and this was the thinking.  but with as much as my brother relieves that area, the flex would have to have been greater then he'd ever seen :
 

 

 

 
after my last group, it was clear this was a more serious problem.  with concerns switching to the internal integrity of the stock itself.  everything that my brother did from a bedding standpoint would have only strengthened it.  something else was amiss.  pure and simply     ...     this was a wood issue.  my brother's thinking the weakness already existed in the wood long before we got it and the cracking was inevitable.  probably beginning on the first shot i took with it.  i just couldn't recognize it cause it was all internal.  in the second pic, you can actually see the threading of the action screws imbedded into the pillar.  when done correctly, these screws are floated through the pillar so you can kind of get an idea of how much movement there was once that front end piece gave way.  plus, once my bro removed the action screws and felt the wiggle and give between the action and stock (something that certainly wasn't there when it was all put together) he pretty much knew where the problem was.
 
boyds has a 90 day warranty policy.  i'm pretty sure i'm screwed from any relief from them.  i'll talk to them tomorrow just to have a go at it.
 
i just called a nice lady at midway usa today (didn't even know they fielded order calls on the weekend) and got me a bell & carlson medalist on the way (the only one in stock).  these are the ones that come with the full block, aluminum bedding system.  we won't have a replay of what we saw using laminate with this aluminum number.  and it's black.  of all things.  coming from the factory with a hogue black and all the smithing to get a nice colored laminate fitted, i've come full circle back to black.  but it's by far, a better stock.  
 
interestingly, with all the internal movement that was taking place and progressing from bad to worse with each shot, the accuracy of the groups that were shot today are suprisingly good.  right around 1" at 50 yds.  actually, that's more then suprising.  it's down right unbelievable.
 
79 grs. averaged 2850 fps
80 grs. averaged 2863 fps
81 grs. averaged 2907 fps
 
will see what these pockets did as i'm waiting for the b&c to arrive.  didn't really want an all black rifle but the way i'm thinking now, if i can get this thing back to where it needs to be structurally and accuracy wise, i'll take black.  reak excited to see how this all pans out.
 
k

some good news from sunday ... popped the primers on those laods and all pockets feel real tight. rounded shoulders using the virgin .416ruger brass are fireformed sharp and square. i think we're there. with the load anyway. 81 grs. averaging 2907 fps (with an extreme spread of 11 fps) with that 260 accubond ... i'm fine with that. if it's accurate with the bell and carlson, that is.  ups is claiming delivery on friday.
 

message e-mailed to boyds (with pics) monday morning. still no response.

more to come.

k

Oh dear that is not good.. I am surprised that it split so quickly to my mind it's very obviously faulty.

I'm certain Boyds will want to see that. Otherwise a lovely rifle if not my sort of piece.

a boyds update.  after hearing nothing through wednesday, i called them thursday morning before i went to work.  talked to a kurt who claims he is the person who all boyds e-mails go through first.  he reads, then distributes to where they need to go.  claims he never got an e-mail from me monday morning (not to comforting).  so i forwarded it to his personal address while i still had him on the phone.  confirmed he had my cell # and told him to call at any time with boyds position on the situation.  he left me saying i'd hear something either later that day or friday.  i heard nothing either day.  so i guess there's really nothing to report, really.  just running around accomplishing nothing.  i'll call again, monday morning.
 
better news, though     ...     my bell and carlson medalist arrived friday.  almost pitched one when i first opened it as all the paperwork sent with it was for their carbelite model (no aluminum block).  after a quick inspection, this stock does indeed have the integral aluminum block with the composite molded around it.  it is a comfortable stock.  i only have one other with a raised monte carlo cheek piece (7.82warbird).  i really like that one so expect the same from this one.  it is extremely light.  much lighter then the wood boyds.  something i fully expected but never really registered until i had it in hand.  won't help from a recoil stand-point but i'll worry about that once the rifle's put back together.  anyway, we're close.  depending on how close of a drop-in this stock actually is, i should be shooting relatively soon.  and if it's not a drop-in, well gunsmiths are busy people this time of year.  it'll all depend on my brothers schedule if that's the case.
 
more to come.
 
k

finally put the 1500 action and the new bell and carlson medalist together this afternoon.  drop-in isn't to far from the truth.  a nice tight fit :
 

 

 

 
and there ya have it.  $500+ later and we're right back into a black composite stock. a nice suprise is it accomodated the longer remington magnum length magazine without any modification.  that was not expected.
 
2 things that need to be addressed     ...     the bolt handle contacts the stock just slightly when cycled in the downward position.  a very easy fix.  and the rear tang is resting against the stock.  as we've experienced with the previous stock, a situation we definitely do not want.  another minor fix with some simply relieving.
 
there are two pressure points built into the stock at the forend.  as such, it is not a fully floated barrel.  rather, it rides on these points at that position.  i'm going to shoot it as is before removing them.  with these very light contour barrels and long, heavy bullets moving at a higher rate of speed, the barrel whip can, at times, be excessive and detrimental to accuracy.  pressure points can help so we're just going to see how it shoots with them.  they can easily be removed if i see something i do not like.
 
bell and carlson advises against any further bedding with these integral, aluminum blocks so we're just going to tighten everything down solid and see what happens.
 
next weekend we'll test it out.
 
k

OK so what are Boyds doing?

No updates?

Quote from: Brithunter;115332OK so what are Boyds doing?
 
No updates?

Ditto.