A couple summers back I walked into my favorite little neighborhood gun shop, and found much to my dismay they were closing after four decades in the business. Everything was on clearance, it all had to go. I had been going in this place at least three of those decades with my family, and knew the owners well.
I walked out with a custom rifle nobody wanted due to the caliber, .375 Whelen Ackley Improved. It was just too nice to walk away from, and way too, shall we say "affordable". It was very well put together, the name on the barrel was M. Palazzo. The action turned out to be a 1936 Mauser, mfg. by Mauser. The fit, finish and attention to detail was very good. It is glass bedded and free floated in a Pacific Research synthetic stock. No idea what trigger is in it, but it breaks crisply at 2 3/4 lbs. Barrel origin unknown, 23 inch with a svelte small muzzle brake that almost goes unnoticed. The line between the brake and barrel you can't quite see unless you really look for it, and I hate muzzle brakes, but I can live with this one, it is reasonably tame as brakes go. Barrel is a medium contour, balances perfectly. The bolt operates in that Mauser "snickety, snict" way, slick, smoothe with purpose. Buehler style scope friendly safety works perfectly. Leupold/Redfield rings and base on top.
Being a life long handloader I ordered up dies, I had lots of brass [.30-06] and bullets [.375] on hand already. I was already an admiring owner of multiple .35 Whelen's, so case prep and fireforming was easy. I found that starting with 9.3x62 load data with similar weight bullets was a good place to start. Reloader 15 worked great in my .35's, so I started with it. To sum it up, it turned out to be an absolute winner. It shoots and handles great, haven't harvested anything with it yet, but I will. Thus far I have only worked up one load. 270 grain Speers, as you can see shoot well, and chrono right at 2,500 FPS. Next I will experiment with 250 grain Sierra's and Barne's TSX's when I have time. I am sold, honestly it I really like this rifle and have had a good time experimenting with it.
Now, under normal circumstances would I have chosen, or sought this particular caliber out?; Probably not, already having multiple .35 Whelens, a custom 9.3x64 Brenneke, and multiple .375 H&H's on hand, but for happenstance I am glad I did, it's really been fun. Why was it built? Well, judging by the components, and talking with people that knew Mr. Palazzo, the rifle was probably built in the late 80's through the 1990's. Something like a 9.3x62 was not all that prevalent here in the states back then. Or perhaps that is what the original owner just wanted, who knows. I certainly can't rationally explain every purchase I have made, but I am glad I made this one.
