Nitro X:

I had a .375 Whitworth for awhile 25 years ago. It got stolen and I never got around to replacing it. I've been looking for one again lately and the picture of yours has me confused. Your rifle bears only a slight resemblence to the one I had and I'm wondering if we're talking about two different models here.

If memory serves, Interarms offered a Mark X in .375, and also the Whitworth (built on the same action). Does yours say Whitworth on it somewhere, or does it say Mark X? Mine had Whitworth, Manchester on top of the receiver ring. Is the bottom of your bolt knob flat and checkered, or is it round? The cross-section of your fore-end is certainly different from the one I had and mine did have two cross bolts. There is something different about your bottom metal and your trigger is definitely of a different shape. Never saw a Whitworth with a fore-end mounted sling swivel before. All I've ever seen had barrel bands. Rusty just bought one that someone had removed the barrel band from and had moved the front swivel to the fore-end, but it originally had one. Otherwise, this rifle is pretty much as I remember mine. I wonder if Interarms sort of merged the Mark X and the Whitworth models towards the end of their run?

I bought mine new in the box in 1978, but bought it for a friend who wanted one badly and lived out of town. I bought it from him about a year later, after he had had a rather nasty accidental discharge with it and was ready to give it away. I got it for $150. He had it out on a deer hunt (it was the only rifle he owned at the time) and it snowed on us, a rare enough thing in our part of Texas. We weren't prepared for that kind of cold and he hadn't brought gloves. He came back into camp after the evening hunt the first night with hands too numb to trust himself to unload, so he stood over the fire and thawed 'em. Once he got warmed up, he unslung the rifle, pointed the muzzle down at the fire, and pushed the safety forward to unload. The muzzle blast probably scattered the camp fire as much as the 300 grain soft did, and burning embers fell out of the sky on everything, including the roof of the tent. It warmed up the next day to just above freezing and the next night it rained. We didn't have any duct tape with us to patch the dozen or so holes in the roof with. Miserable week-end. He was badly shaken and really mad. He sold me the rifle on the way home.

I checked it out when I got it home. He had the trigger adjusted down to 3 pounds. With the pull at that weight, when the trigger was pulled with the safety ON, the sear would slip slightly with a barely audible click. The striker would then fall when the safety was pushed forward. Adjusted back to a heavier pull, the safety worked fine. He must have snagged the trigger on a limb while he had the rifle slung. I took it back to the dealer that I got it from - who cheerfully fixed it for free!

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