I am with
BeeMaa on this one: spend the money on Swarovski, Zeiss or Leica, to which I would add Schmidt & Bender, which I am sure
BeeMaa will agree with
Admittedly, Leupold straight tube scopes have a good reputation.
I agree with you
shardin2 that the .375 H&H has enough reach to justify a scope with 6 or above magnification and a light gathering 40 mm or more objective bell. Straight tube scopes have by necessity very narrow objectives (typically 24 mm) and their light-gathering capability is minimal at dawn and dusk when a 42 or 44 mm objective is much preferred. On a .416 this would be a different story, but on a rifle as universal as a .375 H&H this can be a limitation...
A few words of caution regarding scope selection for the magnum length CZ 550...
Scopes with front objective bell
There is a difficulty with true magnum-length actions. They are too long for many scopes. The length of the action between front and rear bridges is longer than the section of tube on many scopes, and the scopes do not fit between the bridges; they are too short. I will spare you a lot of time and frustration by sharing this little drawing I put together regarding 30 mm tube scopes requirements for the CZ 550 magnum-length action when mounted with 1/2" high rings:
- If the tube length "B" is not at least 5.31”/13.5 cm long, the scope is too short to mount over the CZ 550 magnum-length action with rings that clamp directly into the bridge dovetails. Sadly, this eliminates most of the classic 1.5-6x42 scopes from Zeiss, Swarovski, Schmidt & Bender, etc.
- If the objective bell length "C" is longer than 4.9”/12.5 cm it will not fit behind the rear iron sights, with 1/2" high rings that keep the scope low over the barrel as desired.
- If the objective bell diameter "D" is wider than 2.25”/57 mm it will not fit over the barrel, with 1/2" high rings that keep the scope low over the barrel as desired.
- If the ocular length "A" is significantly longer than ~4”/~10 cm, the risk increases for the scope to hit you under recoil.
Based on my research for my own rifles, the desirable scopes with light-gathering 40+ mm objectives for the CZ 550 magnum-length action include:
Scopes without front objective bell
The classic way to eliminate the challenge is to mount a straight tube scope that does not have an objective bell at the front - they ALL fit.
However, until recently these scopes did not offer more than 4x magnification, with is a little low for the .375 H&H when used on plains game (PG). Variable scopes now exist with straight tubes and 1-6x, or more, variable magnification, so this solves this problem. However, and most importantly for a one-rifle safari, as previously mentioned straight tube scopes have by necessity very narrow objectives (typically 24 mm) and their light-gathering capability is minimal at dawn and dusk when a 42 or 44 mm objective is much preferred.
Straight tube desirable scopes for the CZ 550 magnum-length action include all straight tube scopes with ~1x magnification at the lower end of the variable range: Zeiss Conquest V4 1-4x24; Zeiss Conquest V6 1.1-6x24; Swarovski Z6 1-6x24; Swarovski Z8 1-8x24; Leica Visus 1-4x24; Leica Magnus 1−6.3x24; Schmidt & Bender 1.1-4x24 Zenith; Schmidt & Bender 1.1-5x24 Stratos; Schmidt & Bender 1-8x24 Exos; as well as a number of Leupold scopes.
I addressed the rings question in the rings thread that you created.
Here are mines in .300 Wby, .375 H&H and .416 Rigby: