375 Ruger here to stay?

Well they killed the Alaskan. Only stainless version is this abortion...

47114.jpg

http://www.ruger.com/products/guideGun/models.html

That sure makes my blackened finish Alaskan look pretty.... maybe I'll keep it after all.
If nothing else it would always make a really nice 416 Taylor.... wouldn't it ??
 
Today I heard from a most reliable source that Ruger is cutting back this year on making various cartridges on their models. Take note on the Ruger website that there is only 4 or 5 chamberings for all of their number #1's. The purpose for their cutbacks is because they are behind on manufacturing their 10/22's. Now get this, they are behind by 800,000 10/22's. I know many of you will question why so many 10/22's, and I myself question that as well, and I don't know the answer(s).
 
As someone who has wanted to purchase an Alaskan in.375 ruger I feel cheated. What was once a serviceable rifle that could be used out of the box and later upgraded as wanted/needed has been turned into something I wouldn't get caught dead with. I think Ruger has shot themselves in the foot. I would rather have a Zastava in 9.3x62 or many other offerings out there.



Fuzzy
 
He also wrote of the virtues of the NEW KING in 2011 ;)

’s no secret to those who know me that I am a huge fan of the .375 H&H. After all, I’ve had a tremendous amount of success with various .375 H&Hs on four continents over the last decade and a half. Consequently, it took me a while to warm up to the .375 Ruger that Hornady introduced back in 2007. In fact, I was inclined to ignore the upstart medium bore altogether until an article assignment forced me to spend a couple of months putting a few hundred rounds of Hornady ammunition through the then-new Ruger Hawkeye African rifle. I’m glad I did because the time I spent behind that trim little Ruger made it quite clear to me that the new rifle and the .375 Ruger cartridge are no flashes in the pan.

The Hawkeye African won me over from the start. Its trim, easy-handling stock has clean, classic lines and comes easy to the shoulder. The 23-inch barrel balances and swings beautifully. Serviceable iron sights, Ruger’s rugged integral scope bases, and a decent trigger right out of the box round out one very solid package.

I came to appreciate the new cartridge’s ballistics. The shorter, fatter case fits easily in a .30-06-length action yet equals or exceeds .375 H&H velocities from a shorter barrel. In fact, it exceeds .375 H&H velocities from my Hawkeye’s 23-inch tube with Hornady’s factory ammunition and my own Barnes TSX handloads. By the way, my clients and I have taken everything from warthogs to elephants with those loads.

If I had to find one thing to complain about with the cartridge, it would be the scarcity of factory loads. The early Hornady loads worked just fine and shot pretty well, but I was looking for a deeper-penetrating softpoint than the old roundnose, and I wanted to try and eke out a little more accuracy than the 1.25-inch average I was getting with Hornady’s 300-grain load. To do it, I experimented with the 270- and 300-grain Barnes TSX.

I found I could easily drive the 270-grain TSX at close to 2,700 fps, but I got the best accuracy from my rifle with 73.5 grains of IMR-4007SSC, which drives the 300-grain TSX and the 300-grain Barnes Banded Solid at just over 2,460 fps. Both bullets strike the exact same point of impact at 100 yards, group great, and really hammer game. In fact, a client recently used my rifle to take a fine Zimbabwe tusker with that Barnes solid. A single shot was all it took, though he wisely paid the insurance.

Read more: h ttp://www.shootingtimes.com/2011/01/04/ammunition_st_375ruger_201005/#ixzz2HLq0qGLO
 
As someone who has wanted to purchase an Alaskan in.375 ruger I feel cheated. What was once a serviceable rifle that could be used out of the box and later upgraded as wanted/needed has been turned into something I wouldn't get caught dead with. I think Ruger has shot themselves in the foot. I would rather have a Zastava in 9.3x62 or many other offerings out there.



Fuzzy

I think the laminate stock is a bit ugly, but ti probably works just as well as the Hogue stock.
 
Of course Ruger is cutting back on production of hunting guns they're running full tilt supplying the hoarding going on in the US. It seems however given the new versions of the Alaskan/African they are actively trying to dissuade people purchasing them :)
 
Of course Ruger is cutting back on production of hunting guns they're running full tilt supplying the hoarding going on in the US. It seems however given the new versions of the Alaskan/African they are actively trying to dissuade people purchasing them :)

A first glance, I certainly agree with you. I actually recoiled in horror when I first saw what they had done to the Alaskan! :)

But upon further thought, maybe that's what their market research told them to do? Lots of guys here commented they really liked the laminated stocks on the LH Alaskans more than they liked the Hogue stocks. So here is a laminate stock, although a little gaudy. But I am sure it works fine. I hate brakes but it does come with a cap so it's basically the same as the Alaskan, and if you are a fan of brakes, then you have it available.

If they had stuck with a grey or brown laminate, I think it would have looked great. I guess we will have to see one in hand to determine if the stock is truly offensive or if it looks better in person.;)
 
I was fortunate enough to have a chance to peruse Greg Rodriquez' original draft for the ST article...it was quite interesting:



"It’s no secret to those who know me that I am a huge fan of the .375 H&H...it took me a while to warm up to the .375 Ruger that Hornady introduced back in 2007. In fact, I was inclined to ignore the upstart medium bore altogether until Ruger sent me a then-new Hawkeye African rifle and Hornaday supplied me a caseload of .375 Ruger ammo to play with free of charge. The only condition was that I would need to write a glowing report on the new rifle/cartridge combo.

"The Hawkeye African won me over from the start. It looked okay, handled okay, and went bang when I pulled the mediocre trigger. It had sights and Ruger rings included. It didn't fall apart during my test.

"I came to appreciate the new cartridge’s ballistics. This was easy since they are essentially identical to .375H&H ballistics. The shorter, fatter case fits easily in a model 77 Ruger action and thus justifies its existence, especially since the Ruger bean-counters axed their true Magnum action. These ballistics have accounted for virtually every species on earth for the last century or so, but I am curiously amazed at how well they kill stuff with this free ammo.

"If I had to find one thing to complain about with the cartridge, it would be the scarcity of factory loads. Maybe sufficient brainwashing of the masses will result in more sales and therefore more factory loads becoming available. Some loads are very accurate, some aren't. This is a phenomenon that I have never encountered before...perhaps I can squeeze another article out of it later.

"A client recently used my rifle to take a fine Zimbabwe tusker with the Barnes solid. A single shot was all it took, though he wisely paid the insurance. I must contrive to make this sound incredibly impressive, despite this same scenario having been repeated hundreds or thousands of times during the long service life of the original .375H&H cartridge.

"Buy one of these guns. I like free stuff. I want more of it."



It's a huge relief to know that we have unbiased, objective reports available to us, published by individuals like Greg who have nothing to gain by being anything other than totally honest. These folks tell it like it is. Inaccurate rifles, uncomfortable stocks, new cartridges that are simply redundant copies of older ones, reliability problems, poor designs, substandard durability and materials...we see all these flaws, and many more besides, all being exposed to the buying public and thus saving us from spending our hard-earned money on tons of useless crap that might otherwise tempt us. We owe these individuals our heartfelt gratitude...so when an enthusiastically positive review like the one above appears, we can rest assured that it can be believed without question.

Thanks, Greg (and Gatehouse, too!). My check is in the mail.
 
I was fortunate enough to have a chance to peruse Greg Rodriquez' original draft for the ST article...it was quite interesting:



"It’s no secret to those who know me that I am a huge fan of the .375 H&H...it took me a while to warm up to the .375 Ruger that Hornady introduced back in 2007. In fact, I was inclined to ignore the upstart medium bore altogether until Ruger sent me a then-new Hawkeye African rifle and Hornaday supplied me a caseload of .375 Ruger ammo to play with free of charge. The only condition was that I would need to write a glowing report on the new rifle/cartridge combo.

"The Hawkeye African won me over from the start. It looked okay, handled okay, and went bang when I pulled the mediocre trigger. It had sights and Ruger rings included. It didn't fall apart during my test.

"I came to appreciate the new cartridge’s ballistics. This was easy since they are essentially identical to .375H&H ballistics. The shorter, fatter case fits easily in a model 77 Ruger action and thus justifies its existence, especially since the Ruger bean-counters axed their true Magnum action. These ballistics have accounted for virtually every species on earth for the last century or so, but I am curiously amazed at how well they kill stuff with this free ammo.

"If I had to find one thing to complain about with the cartridge, it would be the scarcity of factory loads. Maybe sufficient brainwashing of the masses will result in more sales and therefore more factory loads becoming available. Some loads are very accurate, some aren't. This is a phenomenon that I have never encountered before...perhaps I can squeeze another article out of it later.

"A client recently used my rifle to take a fine Zimbabwe tusker with the Barnes solid. A single shot was all it took, though he wisely paid the insurance. I must contrive to make this sound incredibly impressive, despite this same scenario having been repeated hundreds or thousands of times during the long service life of the original .375H&H cartridge.

"Buy one of these guns. I like free stuff. I want more of it."



It's a huge relief to know that we have unbiased, objective reports available to us, published by individuals like Greg who have nothing to gain by being anything other than totally honest. These folks tell it like it is. Inaccurate rifles, uncomfortable stocks, new cartridges that are simply redundant copies of older ones, reliability problems, poor designs, substandard durability and materials...we see all these flaws, and many more besides, all being exposed to the buying public and thus saving us from spending our hard-earned money on tons of useless crap that might otherwise tempt us. We owe these individuals our heartfelt gratitude...so when an enthusiastically positive review like the one above appears, we can rest assured that it can be believed without question.

Thanks, Greg (and Gatehouse, too!). My check is in the mail.


So I guess you will also disregard his article on how the 375 H&H is still the king, eh?Laugh2
 
So I guess you will also disregard his article on how the 375 H&H is still the king, eh?Laugh2


EVERYTHING these guys test is great, perfect, a must-have...so, yes, I disregard that article just like all the rest of that schlock they put out. It is correct in this case, of course, but that's just a statistical anomaly.:)
 
EVERYTHING these guys test is great, perfect, a must-have...so, yes, I disregard that article just like all the rest of that schlock they put out. It is correct in this case, of course, but that's just a statistical anomaly.:)

That, and its an A-bolt...:D
 
Well I heard back from Hornady and they claimed "proprietary confidentiality" and said they couldn't release any sales figures for the 375 Ruger ammo or brass. I find that odd that sales figures of a specific cartridge would be confidential unless it is part of their contract with Ruger. I guess Ruger doesn't want the general public knowing how bad their cartridge is doing!!

Still awaiting a response from Ruger, they did acknowlege my e-mail and promised to respond in a couple of days, we'll see.
 
Hmmm...I wonder how much confidentiality there would be if the sales figures were extremely good. I'll bet they would be quick to brag about that. "Proprietary confidentiality" sounds like spin-talk for "sales are bad and we don't want to make them worse by scaring away any new potential customers by giving them cause for concern about future availability".
 
Well my .375 Ruger isn't going anywhere. I've had one .375 H & H (Winchester model 70) and it left me underwhelmed. And I have to say that I just really LOVE the way ruger rifles fit me. The Alaskan with the Hogue stock and short barrel is my handiest rifle. Seriously. I have 2 other rifles with the hogue stocks. Love em.
 
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