The .375 Zayne

[Doublezranch]

Last year December I brought an idea to JE Custom for a wildcat for my son Zayne. His 15th birthday was in August and I wanted to celebrate him by creating a wildcat that symbolized him. I put a reamer drawing together and sent it to JE Custom. He looked at the drawing, called me immediately and said, I have always wanted to do one if these but have never came to surface. So we sent the drawing to Dave Manson and had him look everything over. His thoughts were that it would be a great case, but a hammer to shoot. He built the reamer and a way we went. A super heavy Liljia contour 1:9 twist and a Assassin brake. Next I asked Richards Microfit for a very specific color scheme. They came through in just over 2 months. Once I recieved the stock I called a friend, Mr. Jorl Russo for his thoughts on what I needed to do to pull this off. Under his direction I shaped, filed, and sanded for 3 months until it was right were we wanted it. I mailed the stock to JE Custom for pillars, bedding, and in-letting. When the rifle was complete (late July), JE Custom was able to test fire it. The results of what he showed me were completely incredible. I have achieved exactly what I was after. So, the 375 Zayne was complete. Joel, JE Custom, and myself did all of this without Zayne knowing anything. 9 months totally secret!!
In August we drove to JE Custom's house and as we walked into the shop, Zayne immediately looked at a rifle on the shelf and said, "Whoa, that one is super cool!" We had him pick it up and look at the caliber on the barrel and the rest was tears and hugs. The 375 Zayne is a 378 Weatherby Improved. It holds 144 grains of powder and one of the most coolest things I've ever done as a father.

 

[Doublezranch]

A very, very special thanks to JE Custom and Joel Russo for all your help.

300 win, 300 rum, 338 Texan, 375 rum, 375 Zayne

 

[Doublezranch]

The gun without the scope...

 

[FEENIX]

That's in-Zayne!

You've done well Sir and Zayne is one lucky son to carry on the tradition.

Cheers!

Ed

 

[rickiesrevenge]

Thats pretty SWEET!

Aaron

 

[7mmShooter]

That's one wicked rig! Awesome work guys

 

[Doublezranch]

Thanks to all. Zayne is the oldest of my 3 children and by far the most responsible. He always does the right thing and lives to hunt and fish. Currently his rifle shoots .25 minute at 200 yards with fireform loads. The gun weighs 15 pounds and recoil is super smooth. A true dream to shoot.

 

[HARPERC]

Thanks to all. Zayne is the oldest of my 3 children and by far the most responsible. He always does the right thing and lives to hunt and fish. Currently his rifle shoots .25 minute at 200 yards with fireform loads. The gun weighs 15 pounds and recoil is super smooth. A true dream to shoot.

Sounds like all the important things came together! Congratulations.

 

[HARPERC]

Thanks to all. Zayne is the oldest of my 3 children and by far the most responsible. He always does the right thing and lives to hunt and fish. Currently his rifle shoots .25 minute at 200 yards with fireform loads. The gun weighs 15 pounds and recoil is super smooth. A true dream to shoot.

Double tapped the keyboard>

 

[Joel Russo]

Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this special occasion.
I only wish I could have been there to see his face.

 

[TXAoudadKlr]

Spill the beans, what sort of performance is that beast cranking out. Bullet weight and velocity?

 

[Doublezranch]

I do promise to keep no secrets. Waiting on the dies to arrive so we can put it through it's paces. Currently he's fireforming 378 Weatherby cases with 105 grains of H4831sc and the 260 accubond. We have 325 Chinchaga, 394 Hammers, and 350 SMK's to try out. Should be a super fun gun for him. I'll let you know how fast he can spit those bullets out when he gets his dies.

Sorry Joel, I missed spelled your name in my first post.

 

[J E Custom]

Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of this special occasion.
I only wish I could have been there to see his face.

I can tell you Joel, it was great to see Zayne's face when he realized that the rifle was named after him. and also the first time he shot it. I think he was a little intimidated with the 378 loaded case but after he shot it the first time to get a POI, then we adjusted the scope and he hit dead center, the smile got even bigger.

From then on he just kept putting one after the other in the same hole. (I don't think he worried about it any more).

Some will wonder, Why the 378 case ? and a belted one at that. Anyone that has built a wildcat
knows the problems with fire forming. None of these problems are present with the belted case.
You simply load the case and fire it . The belt holds the case in place so there is no need for the donut or seating the bullet against the lands. this case went from an average case volume of 124
to 126 grains of powder to an average of 144 grains and takes advantage of the biggest 375 bullets without a special action. plus after the case is fire formed proper sizing eliminates the need for the belt.

The one unbelievable thing is still how his dad kept him from finding out for almost a year. there was also a very tolerant shooter two tables down from us that was puzzled as to why his chronograph kept reading 1650 ft/sec occasionally,(His sky screens were set up 30 ft downrange and 20 or so feet to our left) until he realized that we were setting it off with the shock wave off this beast hitting the screens (We got a chuckle out of that and he even said he enjoyed seeing Zayne shoot it)

J E CUSTOM

 

[WildRose]

I was never that lucky as a kid. This looks like a real hammer. How does it compare velocity wise to the .375Ruger? Another 150-200fps increase in velocity with the same bullets?