Am I being silly?

[DG Gunsmith]

Hi Kevin,

We have one client who has done two hunts with us with a defective VC over and under in .450-.400. It has one one barrel with a bent defective firing pin and I "believe" a oversize non bushed firing pin hole. Other than that it is one of the finest handling double I have ever handled and very accurate. He uses it as a single shot, what a shame.

What a shame if you have to ship it to France by way of SAA. When I had a "Premium" bolt rifle that was not reliable the Manufacture and a couple other people stated, "oh, just send it back". Sold it to someone who new the problem and could "live with it.

I think the Heym 89b is the way to go, but I would try to make the trip to Germany and get properly fitted.

For that kind o' money, a custom fitted Rifle should be mandatory... There is nothing better than a Rifle that fits you like a glove! The gun will virtually shoot itself, with sights being virtually unnecessary at close range... Once you've fired a Rifle that has been custom fitted to you like a fine tailored suit, you'll never want to shoot an off the rack gun again!

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Kevin , please send me a whattsapp. I would like to offer some good advise.

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[Kevin Peacocke]

Hi Kevin,

We have one client who has done two hunts with us with a defective VC over and under in .450-.400. It has one one barrel with a bent defective firing pin and I "believe" a oversize non bushed firing pin hole. Other than that it is one of the finest handling double I have ever handled and very accurate. He uses it as a single shot, what a shame.

What a shame if you have to ship it to France by way of SAA. When I had a "Premium" bolt rifle that was not reliable the Manufacture and a couple other people stated, "oh, just send it back". Sold it to someone who new the problem and could "live with it.

I think the Heym 89b is the way to go, but I would try to make the trip to Germany and get properly fitted.

Hi Lon, I am really surprised that VC ever put out rifles in this condition, now I hear of another. Yes, it will be just too painful to send it back to France, I read your thoughts on that and concur. My gunsmith says just use new ammo and never reload, but this barrel opening scares me and it may also happen with new ammo I think.

 

[Paul Raley]

Hi Kevin .
I do not think you are being silly at all and from what has been said above I can see that this rifle is causing you some unhappiness , disappointment and potentially a lot of frustration in the future if you have to send it to VC and have to sort out the whole logistical process and then have an anxious wait .
I would like to solve all the issues you have with this rifle , I live in SA which is not too far from you - out of the goodness of my heart I will volunteer to unburden you from this rifle , just courier it to me and problem solved ( I will even pay for the courier ) - just think of the relief and the weight off your shoulders once you get rid of this "problem" .
A beautiful rifle is like a beautiful woman , once they have broken your heart it is better just to get rid of them as quick and as painless as possible , and being a fellow firearms enthusiast who understands what you are going through I am prepared to take the "pain"'for you .

Obviously my message above is meant as a joke . On a serious note I sincerely hope that you get the rifle fixed as soon as possible so you can start enjoying a beautiful rifle in a great caliber !

PS : If I knew how to use the damn emojis I would have placed the relevant ones in the correct places !

 

[shootist~]

With the Hornady Cartridge Headspace tool you can compare the "Cartridge" Headspace at the shoulder between, new unfired brass, new factory ammo, resized brass both new and fired, and finally fired brass.

Even though it "headspaces" on the rim, it's the shoulder area that expands. A little or a lot.

I've checked factory new brass, fired and unfired factory 338 WM ammo (belted) and found ~.012" Cartridge HS to be the norm in three rifles. I resize those fired cases to be about .002 to .003" in my rifle.

Just food for thought.

 

[Hogpatrol]

The counterbores where the rim sits are too deep and yes it's visible.

@DG Gunsmith, Is the gun coming apart another issue or one related to the headspace?

 

[DG Gunsmith]

The counterbores where the rim sits are too deep and yes it's visible.

@DG Gunsmith, Is the gun coming apart another issue or one related to the headspace?

I suspect that is that there are extra vibrations that are occurring, during ignition, due to excessive headspace... I believe that this is causing the action to rattle open...

 

[IvW]

Yip and it will only get worse.....

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Hi Kevin .
I do not think you are being silly at all and from what has been said above I can see that this rifle is causing you some unhappiness , disappointment and potentially a lot of frustration in the future if you have to send it to VC and have to sort out the whole logistical process and then have an anxious wait .
I would like to solve all the issues you have with this rifle , I live in SA which is not too far from you - out of the goodness of my heart I will volunteer to unburden you from this rifle , just courier it to me and problem solved ( I will even pay for the courier ) - just think of the relief and the weight off your shoulders once you get rid of this "problem" .
A beautiful rifle is like a beautiful woman , once they have broken your heart it is better just to get rid of them as quick and as painless as possible , and being a fellow firearms enthusiast who understands what you are going through I am prepared to take the "pain"'for you .

Obviously my message above is meant as a joke . On a serious note I sincerely hope that you get the rifle fixed as soon as possible so you can start enjoying a beautiful rifle in a great caliber !

PS : If I knew how to use the damn emojis I would have placed the relevant ones in the correct places !

If i didnt need to get a permit Paul, even to give it away, you might be in luck! Lets see what VC comes up with.

 

[Hogpatrol]

They need to get that rifle back and see what flaw in their manufacturing and quality control process needs improvement. All the hub bub on this site and others about European arms, I have never heard of a recently built Remington, Savage or Winchester coming apart. My bet is that it's not the only rifle out there with that problem.

 

[IvW]

They dont build doubles....

 

[Hogpatrol]

They dont build doubles..

Irrelevant reply but they do build rifles that take 20,000 more PSI than the problem rifle. Searcy is an American made double rifle if you want to pick nits.

 

[IvW]

Sounds like you are saying Remington and Savage build better rifles than Heym, Krieghoff, VC, etc. etc. Which of course is hogwash....

 

[Pondoro]

My take on this is that VC should either repair/supply a new set of barrels..and cover all cost sending the rifle to France and back OR simply tell Kevin to throw the rifle in Zambezi and give him a new one free of charge..

 

[IvW]

Just a pity Jerome has gone to Rigby....

 

[Paul Raley]

If i didnt need to get a permit Paul, even to give it away, you might be in luck! Lets see what VC comes up with.

I am sure VC will find a way to sort this out . It is a premium product and they have a good name , I cannot foresee that they will not help in the correct way .
I am sure not many people order VC rifles in 375 Flanged so this is obviously something special that you wanted so I really hope it gets sorted soon so you can tell us all about how it performs on a hunt !

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I would suspect that it simply needs a Barrel Replacement... Depending if they practice GD&T or not, they make be able to simply ship you a new Barrel...?

That is what I have suggested to them - easy on them, relatively easy on me.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Aye, it the Headspace is off by that much, you should easily be able the see this with the Naked eye... Sounds like they reamed the Chamber too deep, perhaps?

Yes, and unevenly top and bottom.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Kevin, do you know anyone else that reloads for this caliber? If so, trying some of their reloads would sort out a couple things. If their reloads work just fine, the issue is probably your reloads. If they show the same failures, you have no choice but to get the rifle repaired by the manufacturer or one of their designees, at their expense of course.

As far as we know Shootist43 this the only 375 flanged magnum in Zimbabwe. My luck!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I was looking for the most versatile, do everything cartridge I could get, something I could use on an eventual trip to Africa but not be completely unrealistic for use in my normal hunting. The heym rep in NA (Chris Sells) was also amazing and walked me through the pro’s and cons of the 375 flanged vs the 450/400.
I have some experience with rimless cartridges in break action pistols that made me shy away from the 375 H&H for a break action, although I love that cartridge in my talkeetna and ruger no.1

Hi NJC, when you have a few minutes please may you jot down the pro's and cons of the 375FL and the 450/400 as you see them? I am pretty sold on the 375FL, but Info is precious stuff.