Ruger Hawkeye African .375 Ruger as Dangerous Game rifle?

[ldmay375]

I have more than a handful of older 375 & 416 Ruger Alaskans. A few months ago, I purchased one of the newest production runs. I had not done anything with it until just a few minutes ago. I was expecting to do a little polishing of feed rails and feed ramp.

I loaded some of the Hornady non-bonded DGX in it, to cycle through. These cartridges in my experience can have a non-smooth flat nose on the bullet. It appears the jacketing can at times be a little jagged around the lead core. Not an enhancement for feeding.
The right side cartridges did not feed worth a crap. At times the bottom one would not feed at all. I visually compared feed ramp angle, rail retention of the cartridge to two other older Alaskan. All looked good.

What I did notice was the magazine box on the new one was jammed tight by the forward trigger guard screw. I loosened it slightly, until the magazine box had a little movement up and down movement. Feeding issue was "fixed". It will cycle the DGX and TTSX types, fast or slow. Floor plate still latches / unlatches as normal.

 

[ldmay375]

The above is a 416 Ruger with the Hogue stock.

 

[Nkawu]

I really wish I could get a LH 375 Hawkeye African in the UK. It would be a great contender for a single rifle to hunt the world. My CZ550 is quite bulky and not a rifle well suited to ‘carried often and shot infrequently’.

 

[ldmay375]

I really wish I could get a LH 375 Hawkeye African in the UK. It would be a great contender for a single rifle to hunt the world. My CZ550 is quite bulky and not a rifle well suited to ‘carried often and shot infrequently’.

I have one of the earlier production runs of the blued / walnut non-barrel band sling stud, right hand version. This is certainly a slim light feeling rifle. I have only fired it a few times for a function test. The stainless 20" version became available to me not too long after buying this blued / walnut. I don't recall the actual weight on this one. But, it did add a couple / few ounces when I put it in a Bell & Carlson stock.