I had intended to post this in it's own thread, but seeing as how you asked ....
I consider myself a lucky man in many ways, and this is certainly true with regards to my primary rifle which has often been pictured and bragged up here. For the benefit of those who may not of seen it, the rifle is based on a Brno ZKK 602and is chambered for the .375 Remington Ultramag. At first sight one might be disappointed as it’s appearance does not lend it too being hung on a wall for admiration, but then that is not what the rifle was built for. It was built to be an all weather dependable killer of large game, and in that context the rifle can truly be appreciated.
At only 40" long, the rifle has a handy quick feel that belies it’s weight of 9 pounds. Strongly influenced by Jeff Cooper’s “Baby”, like “Baby”, the intention was to have it chambered for the .460 G&A. A chance deal on a nearly new .375 barrel changed that plan, and resulted in something quite special.
The decision to go with the .375 bore proved to be a good one, as a .460 would of proven less versatile. The ballistics of the .375 H&H, from a 25" barrel are known around the globe to be powerful and versatile. My decision to go with the Ultra chambering was not an attempt to outdo the H&H, but rather to equal the H&H’s velocity from a 20" barrel. This was accomplished with a little to spare. A .378 Weatherby chambering was considered, but I was still smarting from the cost of .416 Rigby brass and did not wish to go down that road again. Remington’s .375 Ultra brass is comparatively affordable, and the round gives up little performance to the Weatherby.
The features that set the rifle apart include a Smith 20" stainless steel fluted barrel inletted at the muzzle for a Ruger barrel band front sight. A brass front sight blade is regulated for 50 yards with 286 gr bullets. By the way a brass sight shows up beautifully against any color of back ground; when against black it show up as white, when against white it appears to be black.
The ZKK 602 action is of a later run without the factory hidden peep sight, so a receiver sight is mounted to a base designed for the flat topped Marlin lever action. Both base and sight are from Talley. Although threaded for peep sight apertures, the sight makes a perfect ghost ring without the insert. The increased height of the ghost ring mounted slightly high has proven beneficial to the shootability of the rifle, in that my cheek does not need to be mashed down quite as hard on the stock in order to acquire a sight
picture. A stainless steel quarter rib inletted for Talley QD rings provides a secure mount for the EER scope. A nylon adapter attached behind the trigger guard pushes the middle finger down and away preventing a bruised knuckle in recoil.
The factory wood stock was light and fitted like a glove. The wood was nicely figured, but I was concerned how wet weather might effect it. When the stock failed despite the efforts of proper bedding, I opted for a McMillan, the addition of which increased the rifle’s weight by 2 pounds. The McMillan has cross bolts installed, and is glass bedded to the action, leaving the barrel ahead of the chamber free floating. Finally, the QD sling stud set in the radius of the forend prevents cut hands, lowers the height of the barrel when slung, and allows the use of the Safari Ching Sling in supported shooting positions, something not possible with a barrel mounted sling.
I chose not to modify the magazine, as I rather like the factory floor plate release, and a magazine that extends below the stock would do nothing to improve the rifle’s carrying characteristics. Thus far I have found 4 rounds to be sufficient (it can be carried with 5) and feeding has been flawless with any bullet tried thus far. Therefore, with nothing broken, there was nothing to be fixed.
Intended for polar bear work, the rifle has exceeded the somewhat narrow classification of a bear gun to become what might be the most versatile rifle ever conceived. That is a bold statement but consider, that I can take game as small a ptarmigan with no more damage than one might expect from a high speed .22 rimfire. .
The rifle loaded with solids wouldn’t do an elephant any good, yet with high BC bullets, it shoots flat enough to make long range shots beyond reason
It seems that no discussion of powerful rifles is complete without talking about recoil. As might be expected the rifle does recoil, but happily I have found it is manageable from any shooting position. The snapping back of the head which seems to occur when shooting heavy loads from slung up prone is somewhat objectionable, but in any other position the push on the shoulder is of little consequence.
Bullet testing has involved a variety of styles and weights ranging from the old 260 gr Ballistic Tip to the 380 gr Rhino bullet. The rifle shoots everything quite well, the long 380 gr Rhinos surprisingly shooting about .75 MOA, 3 shots with no time for cooling between shots.
Although that type of accuracy could never be realized in the field, it is a confidence builder.
As one might expect the ballistics are noteworthy, but as a rule I do not load to maximum. The 260 gr Nosler BT/AB’s I shoot at a moderate 2600 fps, and this velocity combined with the high BC of these bullets ensures flat trajectory, good terminal performance, and minimizes blood shot meat. For small game I load 270 gr Hornady’s at 1150 and when loaded to 2800 they make an affordable and accurate general practice load. Although I have abandoned them, 285 Grand Slams and 286 gr PMP solids clock at something over 2700 fps. The heavy weights are the 300 gr TSX at 2600, and 380 gr Rhino’s at 2300. I normally have some 400 rounds loaded at any one time, and I inventory half a dozen loads for various occasions.
If I ever again have the opportunity to hunt where I might need solids, I would probably choose the 270 gr Barnes solid. When shooting solids, a bullet with parallel sides and short length ensures straight line penetration. In terms of penetration, the higher velocity of the shorter bullet compensates for the greater mass of the longer one.
Some may find a 2X EER scope wanting, but I am not one of them. The scope was recently changed from the 2.75X Burris Scout (which developed adjustment issues) to an older style 2X Leupold EER, with no bell on the objective and friction held adjustments. A conventionally mounted scope could certainly be employed, but I have not encountered a shooting situation I could not manage with the scouts at normal hunting ranges, and big game size targets. The ghost ring mounted in tandem with the Burris scope was no problem, but the smaller ocular of the Leupold caused the rim of the ghost ring to block the reticle. For now the ghost ring must ride in a Zip-Lock in my pocket, but I find this situation unsatisfactory, and at some point I may have to check out Brockman’s push down version.
All this talk of sights brings up one of the qualities of this rifle that make it my favourite. As I said, the scope is mounted in Tally QD rings. When I take the scope off and put the ghost ring on, the ghost ring shoots to point of aim. I take the ghost ring off and replace the scope and there is no shift in POI. When I have the rifle out in wet conditions, or when I bring it in from the cold and it begins to sweat, I take the scope off, pull the action out of the stock, wipe everything down, reassemble it, shoot it, and it shoots to POA. Consistency like this truly inspires confidence.
Many riflemen have favourite rifles, and they might refer to them by name as; “Charlene”, “the ‘06", “the deer rifle”, or “Baby”. My Brno ZKK 602 is simply “The Rifle”, as this particular rifle, to me, epitomises what a practical rifle should be.
