mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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I have to part ways with one of my rifles , and I need your help in determining its value for sale.
It started its life as a Winchester Mod.70 Stainless Classic in .375 H&H. I had it rechambered to .375 Ackley Improved, but never restamped the barrel so as to facilitate taking it to Africa with ammo made with H&H brass.
I replaced the plastic, factory stock, with a custom laminated stock from Serengeti Stockworks in their Merlin configuration using AAA Claro Walnut, with a sculpted cheek piece and 20 lpi checkering. The 24 inch barrel is free-floated, and the action and first two inches of the barrel are glass bedded. Two action cross bolts with ebony caps were added as well. I also had a Pacmyer Decelerator recoil pad installed. The barreled action has had a Ceracoat finish applied in a matte black finish. The factory sights have been replaced with a NECG windage adjustable, single leaf rear sight, and a NECG front sight with a fine bead, and a larger flip up night sight. It is topped with a Leupold 1.75 x 6 Matte Finish Scope, sitting in Talley QD rings and bases, also with a Matte Finish.See the description below.
Stealth Lamination: Our proprietary Stealth Lamination provides greater strength and stability while preserving the full figure, grain and beauty of the wood. It provides all the stability of a synthetic stock but with the beauty, sound qualities and superior feel of fine walnut. Here's a link to the website that describes their process of lamination: http://kilimanjarorifles.com/features/lamination.html
The Merlin Also known as "The Montanan", this geometry is a distillation of fifty years of stock-making by Merlin (Mel) Smart. Mel’s authentic geometry was captured by 3D Lightwave scanning allowing us to reproduce its classic lines as the starting geometry for your rifle. It is a classic, full-weight profile with an open grip and full-sized rounded fore-end suitable for all cartridges. This is one of our more popular choices. Comb 3/8", Heel 1/8".
Museum Grade Wood Finish
We call it “Museum Grade” because it is worthy of the finest exhibit in any museum, but developed to perform and withstand the rigors of the field—the working tool as art. Requiring almost two months to perform, and up to 15 different coats and cure periods, all Kilimanjaro and Serengeti wood stock rifles are expertly finished to provide a museum quality furniture grade tung-oil/urethane finish free of any defect, scratch, brush line, void, unfilled wood pore, or holiday as inspected through 4x magnification. The finish is then carefully treated for glare reduction to optimize it for field use. For the inevitable nicks and dings (which cannot be easily repaired on synthetic stocks), our wood stocks and wood finish are easily repairable to keep your rifle in top aesthetic form. We even include a bottle of touch-up finish that you can do yourself.
This rifle shoots sub moa with both Swift A-frame and Barnes Bullets. If ammo is lost, it will shoot .375 H&H loads to sub moa as well. The rifle has been used, but not at all abused. Metal is 95% plus, and the stock has a few minor small scratches, and one very small ding that I could see. The trigger has been set at a crisp, creep free let-off of 3 1/4 pounds.
Your help in placing a value on this rifle is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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My goodness. Eighty one views, and not one comment?
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poprivit
.333 member
Reged: 09/04/07
Posts: 398
Loc: Las Vegas, NV
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OK, I'll bite. Interesting rifle, but for a very limited audience. I'm not sure that the 375 AI is much better critter getter than the H&H in real life. Has to be handloaded, Without a photo or six, it's very hard to place a value. I know you spent a lot of money, but for resale, I dunno. I'd throw out a WAG at $1500-$1900. The Leupold is a great piece of glass, the gun sounds nice, however we need to see it, sir.
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AkMike
.416 member
Reged: 19/11/05
Posts: 2576
Loc: Anchorage, Alaska
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If it gets what I've gotten from selling off some of my customs you'll get 50-60% of what you've spent already.
-------------------- "When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors; you may know that your society is doomed." Ayn Rand
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bonanza
.400 member
Reged: 17/05/04
Posts: 2335
Loc: South Carolina
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What year model is the rifle?
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"Speak Precisely" G. Gordon Liddy.
"Life is absurd, chaotic and we must define its purpose with our actions" Abert Camus
"I''m the dude playing a dude disguised as another dude."
"Yo! Mr. White"
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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poprivit & bonanza: I emailed you photos. If either of you can post some of them, I'd greatly apprediate it.
AkMike: your email wasn't in your profile, or I'd have sent them to you as well.
bonanza, I don't know the year of production. It's NOT a pre-64, but it does have the claw extractor and CRF. The serial number is G275xxx
Edited by mikeh416Rigby (22/07/11 06:39 AM)
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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You're right about it may not be a better critter getter than the parent H&H, but I'm able to easily get 200 fps more out of it with both 270 and 300 grain pills which extends my comfort range a bit. I can get 375 Weatherby velocity safely, but then the groups open up. As is it shoots both reloads, and Remington Safari 375 H&H factory loads into sub moa.
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bonanza
.400 member
Reged: 17/05/04
Posts: 2335
Loc: South Carolina
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I'll post the pics Mike.
After looking at it I'd say $3000.00 is fair if it feeds well.
--------------------
"Speak Precisely" G. Gordon Liddy.
"Life is absurd, chaotic and we must define its purpose with our actions" Abert Camus
"I''m the dude playing a dude disguised as another dude."
"Yo! Mr. White"
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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I feeds, extracts, and ejects flawlessly. Thanks for posting them for me.
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bonanza
.400 member
Reged: 17/05/04
Posts: 2335
Loc: South Carolina
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Edited by CptCurl (01/08/11 09:07 PM)
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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I'm dropping the rifle off today to get the barrel stamped properly.
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DarylS
.700 member
Reged: 10/08/05
Posts: 27628
Loc: Beautiful British Columbia, Ca...
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Quote:
You're right about it may not be a better critter getter than the parent H&H, but I'm able to easily get 200 fps more out of it with both 270 and 300 grain pills which extends my comfort range a bit. I can get 375 Weatherby velocity safely, but then the groups open up. As is it shoots both reloads, and Remington Safari 375 H&H factory loads into sub moa.
Nice wood - seems well finished.
.375 WTBY and .375AI are like pees in a pod - at least supposed to be, according to Ackley.
Nice thing about properly headspaced AckImp is factory ammo usually shoots just fine and quite close in velocity to what that ammo gives in different guns.
-------------------- Daryl
"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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I get sub moa groups in the Ackley with Remington Safari Ammo shooting the 300 grain Swift A-frames. I do lose about 40 fps when shooting them. Nothing to worry about though.
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mikeh416Rigby
.450 member
Reged: 24/02/03
Posts: 6051
Loc: The beautiful Oley Valley, PA....
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Quote:
I'll post the pics Mike.
After looking at it I'd say $3000.00 is fair if it feeds well.
I called about a dozen and a half gun shops and finally found one that was interested in seeing it. I paid him a visit this afternoon, and walked out of his shop with $2750.00 cash in hand. I included 3 boxes of handloads for it, done up with the old 270 grain Barnses coated X bullets. It seems this guy has a customer who was looking for a 375 Weatherby, and the shop owner convinced him to go with the Ackley Improved. Thanks for your help.
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