A pair of Whitworth 375's

A few years back, I inherited a Whitworth Express in 375 H&H after my father passed away. It is one of my absolute favorite rifles for a number of reasons, not the least of which is just how versatile and timeless the caliber is. My brother is in town visiting for a few days, and brought along an identical Whitworth Express 375 H&H that he recently picked up at a gun show. I have spent some time over the last two days cleaning it up and getting it ready for its first trip to the range; giving it a good inspection and cleaning, steaming dents out of the wood, adjusting the trigger to 3 pounds, mounting a Leupold Vari-X II 2-7x using a spare set of bases and rings that I had laying around, and I will soon be working up a handload for it. The wood and metal are both in pretty good shape, and even the factory bedding has held up well. I get the sense this rifle hasn't been shot very much. The refinished stock could use some oil touch-up, and the recoil pad is getting pretty hard; but I'm not gonna worry about that for now.

Here is a pic of the two rifles side-by-side; mine is the one on the left, and his on the right. Mine was made in July of 1985, and his was made in November of the same year. I really think these Whitworths are some of the best deals on the big game rifle market, and are a great option if you don't have quite the scratch for a new Model 70 Safari Express.







PS - yes, I realize those QD rings are a little high, but it's all I had on hand, so they can work for now. Once we get a bit more serious with this rifle, I can swap them out for some lower ones.

Agreed. Whitworths are a ton of gun for the money. Finish is always excellent as well.

Cool you and your brother now have a matched pair.

I just picked up a Remington 798 .375 that’s been customized. Mark X action same as them. But not nearly the finish quality of the whitworths.

MontanaGrant said:

Agreed. Whitworths are a ton of gun for the money. Finish is always excellent as well.

Cool you and your brother now have a matched pair.

I just picked up a Remington 798 .375 that’s been customized. Mark X action same as them. But not nearly the finish quality of the whitworths.

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Thanks, and I agree. I have a Remington 798 in 243 Win with a laminate stock, and it's not as refined as the Whitworths; but it's a good shooter as my daughter's deer rifle. I also have a couple of standard Interarms Mark X rifles, and they are somewhere in between.

That is a fine looking set of tried and true "brothers" you have there - congrats!!! Very cool that you have your Dad's rifle and your brother has one that rolled off the same year. Curious if he had been actively pursuing one just like yours or if he just stumbled across this one out of the blue and decided to jump on it. IMO, I believe they are one of the best values for your money, right there along with the CZ 550, Thanks for sharing.

Ku-winda said:

That is a fine looking set of tried and true "brothers" you have there - congrats!!! Very cool that you have your Dad's rifle and your brother has one that rolled off the same year. Curious if he had been actively pursuing one just like yours or if he just stumbled across this one out of the blue and decided to jump on it. IMO, I believe they are one of the best values for your money, right there along with the CZ 550, Thanks for sharing.

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The latter; he stumbled across it. He is not even a safari rifle guy, but he called me from the gun show and told me about all the different things he was seeing there. My ears perked up when he mentioned the Whitworth, so after getting some more details from him, I recommended he pick it up. If he ultimately decides not to keep it, I'll buy it from him and leave both for my kids.

Very cool and good thing he called you! I try and do the same thing with my kids - when the old man goes to the happy hunting grounds, there will be a fair and equitable distribution of like calibers, so need to fight over them, lol!

Ku-winda said:

Very cool and good thing he called you! I try and do the same thing with my kids - when the old man goes to the happy hunting grounds, there will be a fair and equitable distribution of like calibers, so need to fight over them, lol!

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Yep; I have two daughters, I'm trying to leave a few pairs of different things for them.

cash_tx said:

The latter; he stumbled across it. He is not even a safari rifle guy, but he called me from the gun show and told me about all the different things he was seeing there. My ears perked up when he mentioned the Whitworth, so after getting some more details from him, I recommended he pick it up. If he ultimately decides not to keep it, I'll buy it from him and leave both for my kids.

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Dad?