On this episode of #SundayGunday, we’re taking a look at a beautiful custom rifle built to take on the biggest, meanest and nastiest critters from the plains of Africa to the big forests of the North, the Dangerous Game Rifle from Hill Country Rifles.
Built with reliability at the forefront, this rifle is one you can trust to go bang when you need it to, because when you’ve got a cape buffalo or a big brown bear in range, having a rifle that doesn’t fire and function flawlessly is about as useful as a blunt stick.
At the heart of the Hill Country Dangerous Game Rifle lies a ParkWest Model 76 action. Originally known as the Dakota 76 action, ParkWest bought the rights to this model 70-type action from Remington in 2021 when that company went belly up, essentially rebuilding and rebranding the once proud Dakota Arms as ParkWest Arms.
The modern ParkWest 76 action used in the Hill Country Dangerous Game rifle is as stout and dependable as ever. Fully blueprinted, a blend of pre-’64 model 70 and Mauser actions built with the precision of modern machining, the Model 76 action is a controlled round feed system with a one-piece, jeweled bolt and extended extractor that delivers reliable feeding, firing and extraction, every time.
It sports a three-position safety that permits feeding without firing in the middle position, a tuned ParkWest trigger that breaks right at 3 pounds, a hinged floorplate, and a flush-mounted lever that releases the bolt. In our Dangerous Game Rifle chambered in .375 H&H, the Model 76 action ran flawlessly—smooth as butter and completely free of any binding or hangups.
Building off the model 76 action, Hill Country Rifles adds to the Dangerous Game Rifle a 22-inch stainless steel match-grade barrel with a #5 contour, which is then aluminum pillar and glass bedded into a McMillan Supergrade stock with a Decelerator recoil pad. That barrel, available with or without open sights—either a NEGC barrel band front sight with an express rear sight, or, in the case of our test rifle, a Tally barrel band with a sling stud. Thes sights are custom fitted to each rifle and fully regulated and tested for a 50-yard point of impact, making this a rifle that is extremely accurate and ready to fight from the box. As for scope mounting, the Hill Country Rifles utilizes beefy 8x40 screws, and if you choose to have them mount your scope, they will deliver it mounted and sighted in with a 3-shot sub-MOA guarantee using the recommended factory ammunition, and they provide you with the target to prove it.
To top off this package and make it as weatherproof and durable as the dangerous game you’ll likely pursue, Hill Country Cerakotes all the metal parts with the color of your choice.
Available in three hard-hitting dangerous-game capable chamberings, the .375 H&H, .416 Rem. Mag, and .458 Win. Mag., the Dangerous Game Rifle from Hill Country Rifles can be custom built to suit your needs, available in a multitude of stock and Cerakote colors, barrel lengths and with a custom length of pull to fit you like a glove with a price tag starting at $7,599.
For more information on this and other premium custom rifles from Hill Country Rifles, visit hillcountryrifles.com. And for more #SundayGunday, check out our playlist on YouTube, where all previous episodes are archived.
