Henry Rifle Forums

Whenever I find an older lever action rifle on a used gun rack I have to go over and check it out (AKA fondling it). My local gun shop had a Marlin 375 sitting on his rack, I looked it over and passed on it twice. When I went there for the third time and it was still there I knew it had to come home with me. The stock was a little bit rough, the action was filthy and it had a small amount of surface rust on the top of the barrel. When I got it home I first ordered reloading dies for it, then stripped the rifle down to the receiver. All the parts went into a parts cleaner and the stock got stripped down using Citri-strip. I wiped down and lubed the parts, gave the rust on the barrel a gentle scrubbing with 0000 steel wool, reblued that portion of the barrel, replaced the stocks missing bullseye that had fallen out, gave it a light sanding followed by three coats of tung oil. Not real shiny, but a decent match for the satin finish of the original Mar-Shield finish. I removed the sights and replaced them with a set of Skinner sights, plugging the rear sight dovetail.
Here's the finished product.

tip of my cap for your ability to undertake such a project .... congrats indeed on your new lever action .... looking forward to your coming range reports and use impressions .... do you have hunting and/or range work in mind for it ..

Hope you enjoy it. Let us know how it shoots with a range report when you get it going.

Coming from someone who has accomplished several older gun 'facelifits' (and a couple 'minor' restorations) you did and excellent job on a great rifle!

Fortunately you did not run into any 'hidden' problems and everything you did maintained or increased the value of the rifle.

A hint however for your next project - replace the steel wool with brass wool or try the 'penny trick' on small areas of rust. You might be able to save the original blue this way.

On my recent 'intense' cleaning of my 1899 WInchester I was able to remove essentially all of what minor rust was on the barrel and not damage any of the original bluing that remained using the 'penny' trick'.

Back when I was a young Marine stationed in NC at New River Air Station, I was mostly a hangunnner. I decided I wanted a long gun, and the exchange was having a sale. They had a Winchester Model 94 Lever Action on Clearance, and I had a Ruger Single Action... Sounded like a match. I asked why this one was marked down and the gal told me it was a special order caliber that hadn't been picked up... 375 Winchester instead of 30-30.

The ammo for each rifle was first box free, so I was out the door with my 375... Not realizing what I bought. The gun was beautiful, finish was flawless, and the stock was highly figured. I just figured all lever actions had that much recoil. I went back to the exchange for more ammo, and ... they didn't stock it. Like the rifle, it was special order... And precious on a LCpls salary. Hey... ... I was young, and am not ashamed to admit I didn't know much (of anything) about hunting rifles at that point.

I was bemoaning the purchase, when one of the Sergeants in the adjoining workshop heard my plight. He said he might be able to help. He would come over and take a look at my new rifle, and maybe take it off my hands, he had been looking for a new hog gun.

We worked out a nice trade, everyone was happy. (My Sergeant had come along, you know, to look out for his Marine.)

I wasn't going to hunt, just target shoot, improve my long gun skills. I think he traded me a 223 bolt gun. For some reason, 223 ammo was plentiful for that gun since I was shooting with the base rifle and pistol teams.

The 375 in the Marlin was a pretty rare bird, that's for sure. The 375 was just one of those cartridges that never really took off, though it sure looked like it would when it was introduced. I have seen the same happen with many new cartridges over the years. That's why I never jump on the new cartridge bandwagon.

North Country Gal wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 11, 2019 10:44 am

The 375 in the Marlin was a pretty rare bird, that's for sure. The 375 was just one of those cartridges that never really took off, though it sure looked like it would when it was introduced. I have seen the same happen with many new cartridges over the years. That's why I never jump on the new cartridge bandwagon

AMEN .... I've seen the same and feel the same .... I enjoy learning about new cartridges but tend to stick with those I know and am very familiar with

I have a .375 Marlin that I bought brand new. I wanted a Marlin 38-55 but they were not made in a new rifle at that time. I bought R.C.B.S. reloading dies, a few boxes of new .375 brass, a Lyman bullet mould , and 200 220 grain jacketed bullets. I still have the rifle and enjoy shooting it.

Travlin wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 12, 2019 12:16 am

I have a .375 Marlin that I bought brand new.

I know nothing about a 375 .... any info you would care to share about firing one would be appreciated .... recoil .. .. muzzle blast .. .. barrel jump .. trajectory ..

The 375 Winchester was one of three new cartridges introduced in the late 70s with Winchester's Model 94 Big Bore, which was a strengthened Model 94 to handle higher pressures. The other two were the 307 Winchester and the 356 Winchester.

Here's an interesting fact about the 375 that I found on the Buffalo Bore website. Good ting to know if you can't find 375 ammo.

"OUR 38-55 AMMO WORKS IN ALL WINCHESTER 375 RIFLES

Our 38-55 ammo is also designed to work in ALL 375 Winchester chambered rifles. ALL means ALL. Winchester, Savage, and Marlin all chambered rifles in 375 Winchester. All 375 Winchester rifles utilize chambers long enough to accept the 2.085 inch 38-55 brass, even though 375 Winchester brass is only 2.020 inches long. By using the longer 38-55 brass, we accomplish two things:

1. We get the bullet closer to the rifling’s and this creates a generally more accurate load.

2. The longer 38-55 brass, with thinner case walls than 375 Winchester brass, gives much more case capacity and this allows chamber pressures to drop immensely. i.e. our 38-55 loads give the same performance (a 250gr. bullet @ 2000 fps) as the original 375 Winchester loading, but at only 38,000 CUP instead of the industry max. pressure of 52,000 CUP that the original 375 Winchester was rated at. "

interesting .... since Buffalo must meet SAAMI specs would it be reasonable to believe that would be true of 38-55 ammo made by other manufactures

Correct, but there's precious little in the way of factory loaded 38-55 ammo these days, too. Better than the 375, of course, but still not ammo you'll find in the average gun shop.

10-4 .... it appears that hand loading may be the best option for both

Correct. The few 38-55 shooters I know handload for it.

The best way I can describe shooting the Marlin .375 is that it is about a 3/4 45-70. When I bought my rifle, along with the W.W. .375 brass I also bought a few boxes of 38-55 brass. These I cut down to the same length as the .375 brass and used them for my reduced cast bullet loads. What is never mentioned about using 38-55 brass or blown out 30-30 brass is the strength of the case. Weigh a .375 case and then weigh one of the others. If you could see a .375 case cut lengthwise down the middle, you would notice that the head is noticeably healthier. Also notice that the Winchester 94 had the back of the receiver thickened to handle the .375. The Marlin .375 looks just like any other Marlin 30-30 or .35 etc. What do we learn from this ?

I almost forgot, my rifle just has the stock buttplate and no add on recoil pad. The rear site is a Williams Fool Proof that I put on before I ever fired a shot. As far as recoil , it is not a big deal although you know it when you pull the trigger. I am 6' 3" and about 185 but I am on blood thinner but no bruising unless I shoot about forty or fifty shots from the bench in one sitting. When I had a 71 Winchester .348 the recoil never was a problem. As far as bullet trajectory etc. it depends on the load . Consult the tables.

I owned a 375 Winchester for a short time but I think the gun had issues I could never get it to shoot very well it was shooting real high. I sold it to a friend who wanted it real bad and knew of the issue I was having. Hes working with it to try to figure it out. I will just keep my 38-55's.