375 Ruger barrel
- Thread starter Milt Dale
- Start date
gunrunner8
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, B.C.
Be carefull what you wish for. No military Mauser 98 is strong enough for 375 Ruger cartridge and any sane barrel maker will not make one.
GR8, there are many 98s that are though that aren't military, pre 1940 stuff. I would have no qualms barreling a VZ24 or FN military mauser to 375 Ruger. My very first 257 Bee was on a VZ24 and I had no issues with at all. The rugers peak pressures and pressure curves are a lot tamer than the 257 Bee.
Also a barrel maker makes barrels, he has no way of determining what action it is screwed on to or what reamer is run in to make a chamber. That is the gunsmiths call and the customer. Most barrel makers are gunsmiths as well but are not necessarily doing the work, quite likely just selling a contoured barrel, just as Douglas and Sheilen and Kreiger do.
Also a barrel maker makes barrels, he has no way of determining what action it is screwed on to or what reamer is run in to make a chamber. That is the gunsmiths call and the customer. Most barrel makers are gunsmiths as well but are not necessarily doing the work, quite likely just selling a contoured barrel, just as Douglas and Sheilen and Kreiger do.
OP.......one doesn't buy a 375 Ruger barrel as such, one buys a .375 rifled and contoured blank (as it is called) with your specified contour and twist. It is then taken to a gunsmith (or purchased through your gunsmith) to be threaded, chambered and crowned and installed with the correct headspace and hopefully test fired. You will also have to have work done on the bolt face, action feed rails and follower unless the donor action was already a belted magnum. The easiest and least expensive way is to start with a commercial 98 action from a 300 WM, the box is usually a touch longer in the 300 Win than the 264 or 7 mag (not always but in some) and would do up into a 375 ruger with just a basic rebarrel job. The other option would be a 375 H&H in a 98 and just set the barrel back 1/4" and rechamber. Of course if you already had a 375 H&H who the hell would want a Ruger.
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gunrunner8
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Kamloops, B.C.
Isn't OP asking for short chambered "ready to install" barrel like you can get for say 30-06 ?
That is my impesion about his question.
Yes comercial "98" actions are strong enough for reg short magnum cartridges like 7mmRM or even 338WM but when lower locking lug "needs" to be ground off to acomodate 375 H&H or 340WM as such all bets are off IMHO. 375 Ruger being extra "fat" would test even comercial Mauser strenght wise b/c they were never designed for those kind of cartridges. What next for you c-fbmi ? 460 WM in a 98' Mauser?
We all witness envelope being pushed like 338 Lapua on Rem mod 700 or Savage mod 110 but those companies if it comes to liability insurance have much, much deeper pockets than the "Joe" the gunsmith....
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I never touch the feed ramp area to lengthen an action, I do it all at the back of the action. The 375 Ruger presents no more difficulty than a reg belted mag because it uses the same boltface dia it doesn't create any more bolt thrust than any other belted mag does and it's COAL is the same as a 300 WM, so no need for excess opening up of the action. Just for the record GR8, I don't build full length magnums on Military 98s or Commercial 98s for that matter. My mentor and friend makes long and short 98s by cutting and welding them back together..........take two actions for a 3.4" cartridge and cut and weld and now you have one suitable for a 2.8- 2.9" cartridge and you have one suitable for a 3.8 - 3.9" cartridge.
But to be honest GR8 I don't use many 98s, I like to work with the newer more modern 700 Rems and pre FN as well as FN Wins, Rugers, etc. I have a 700 that I lengthened to 4" bolt throw and magazine box with out touching the front of the action. It feeds flawlessly and is my 300 Wby that has been all over the world with me.
I would make a 460 Wby on a Mauser action, as long as it was made by Brno and stamped 602 on the side
But to be honest GR8 I don't use many 98s, I like to work with the newer more modern 700 Rems and pre FN as well as FN Wins, Rugers, etc. I have a 700 that I lengthened to 4" bolt throw and magazine box with out touching the front of the action. It feeds flawlessly and is my 300 Wby that has been all over the world with me.
I would make a 460 Wby on a Mauser action, as long as it was made by Brno and stamped 602 on the side
Pretty much any good gunsmith should be able to supply you with a barrel or get one for you.
My .375 barrel blank was supplied by my gunsmith.
A 98 is a great platform for a .375 Ruger - especially if the 98 is already a 300 WM. It is simply a matter of having a new barrel of suitable profile and length screwed on to the action. Assuming that the 300WM functioned properly, then the Ruger should also function properly although there may be a need to tweak the rails a bit because the Ruger is a bit fatter at the shoulder.
