Thinking of having Griffin & Howe build me a rifle.

[jphendren]

Anybody here ever done business with them?

I am thinking either a .30-'06 or a .375 H&H, possibly a Super .30 (.300 H&H).  Do I need this rifle, no.  I have always admired their rifles; I love classic American bolt action hunting rifles.  All of these would do fine for hunting anything in the lower 48 I imagine.

I've only been hunting once with my father back in the early 80's.  I was around 8 or 9 years of age, so I don't really hunt.  I however would like to go elk hunting one day, so I want a caliber that would work for that.  I mainly just plink and target shoot, but I enjoy plinking with my .375 H&H that I already have.

I have a pre-64 Model 70 that I am thinking about using as an action donor for the project.  It is currently chambered in .30-'06, so it is the standard length action.  However, Paul and G&H told me that it would work for a .375 if I want to go with that caliber.

Jared

[Catfish]

Jared,
    I hear that they HANG people that take the actions out of a good pre 64 model 70. You can still pick up a good mauser action for less than $ 100 and with an after market trigger they make a real nice gun.

[Brithunter]

Well a std length Mauser does not work well for either .30 Super nor 375H&H. It's stretch for the 03 Springfield or P-14/17 and they are longer than a std 98 action. Surely G&H can supply a suitable action ..... can't they?

Please photos photos when it's done 

[jphendren]

"Surely G&H can supply a suitable action ..... can't they?"

Yes, they told me they have a Johannsen for $2,900   I can't afford that much just for an action.  I however have found a loose 1946 transitional Pre-64 action that looks to be in excellent condition, how much would you pay for one of these?

G&H told me that a Pre-64 Model 70 action will indeed work for a .375, what would have to be done to it?

I always thought that H&H used M98 Mausers for their magnums?  But G&H says "too short."

Jared

[Brithunter]

As I understand things H&H and Rigby's used proper magnum Mauser actions not M98's.

[Mikey]

Is there a difference between the proper magnum action and the M98, except for length???

[Brithunter]

I believe if you research this you will find that the magnum actions often have square bridges that can be machined for claw mounts etc. A specialist like Fred Wells would be able to answer better than an amertuer like myself. The information should also be found in Books like:-

Obendorf Commercial Sporting Rifles

   From collector grade publications. Be warned the the book is not cheap.

[GatCat]

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but...something to consider is I would imagine a G&H built to order rifle is going to be around $10K, and I think alot of people will have a hard time taking something that is that expensive into the field. If it is what you want, well, that is a very cool thing, that's for sure, sort of like the "glory days" of Hunting, post WW2.
Since you are new to hunting, and if the G&H might be a bit ambitious a beginning, maybe give some thought to a production version of what you are looking at, something like a CZ "African", Ruger, and so on.
Good luck on your many choices.
Mark