375 h&h in bp?

[nekshot]

I have been going thru a slow time waiting for knee surgery and I came face to face with a 375 action. Never wanted one but the bore is perfect and it would be the biggest challenge of my self taught metal working. It has no bolt, but I am not put off from the challenge. The only issue is I have no desire to shoot smokeless powder. Is this cartridge good with pb? I would think it us, but what do I know?? What say ye?

[ascast]

375 H&H ? I have shot BP out of mine in some "hot rod 38-55" experimentation. About 10 rounds into it I took out my chrony face some how and that was that. They shot well enough and fouling was manageable. It as some like a 38-110. Good luck with that bolt.

[dtknowles]

Most any cartridge that is not necked down too much should work fine with black powder, like I would not think it would work well with 7mm Rem Mag and such or .22-250. Not every action would be happy with BP, gas operated semi-auto particularly. I don't no about twist rates and groove depths but I think slower twists and deeper grooves would be better but others might know better. Some old BP cartridges shot pretty heavy bullets needing moderate twist rates.

There is an old wives' tale that the .32 Special was designed to be better with BP than the 30-30, bigger bore and slower twist.

Not sure what a 375 action is, actions are sort of cartridge agnostic unless you mean barreled action. I am guessing you are talking a full length Magnum bolt action. Bolts for those guns would not need to be modified for 375 H&H as they are all magnum bolt heads, are you thinking of making a bolt from scratch?

Tim

[Nobade]

Making a new bolt should be an interesting challenge depending on what kind of action it is. If it's anything remotely popular you may be able to buy one for less than it will take to make one.
As for the cartridge, I used to do that and called it the 38-85 belted express. I had to wipe after every shot using straight black, but by duplex loading it I could get a pretty good string going before it started throwing flyers. 250 grains at around 1800 fps if I recall correctly. Certainly powerful enough for most uses and incredibly loud. Great fun.

[skeettx]

Interested, yes what action? Barreled presently (you said bore is perfect) ? Just need a bolt?

P14 action?

Mike

[nekshot]

It’s a very rusty on outside sako alll magnum action. Total junk but the inside of action rails and receiver and bore are super clean. It is totally stripped so we start all over. If I could find a Alll or L61 bolt i could lengthen it to fit. Triggers are plentiful. I have no intentions of making a pristine African rifle or any thing of that nature. I would enjoy the challenge and hopefully be able to shoot bp in the cartridge. Maybe turn it into a left handed rifle then it would be perfect for me. My son just got a very good mig/ tig welder so this would be a good reason to use it. I also need to swap out a 60,000 lb rear tandem out from our KW and replace with a 44,000 rear so this would be good inside work for bad weather days!

[skeettx]

GREAT, SAKO bolts are pricey :(

Left hand bolt

https://www.midwestgunworks.com/page/mgwi/prod/S3791306

and WOW

https://www.customshopinc.com/product/sako-aiii-av-magnum-bolt/