375 H&H for long range

[AFRIFLEMAN]

Anyone have experience shooting a 375 H&H long range? I need a new barrel and can't decide between 1 in 11" or 1 in 12" twist. If I get a 1 in 12" I can get a barrel quickly. The 1 in 11" requires me to wait 7-8 months. Shooting 350 gr SMK's, looking for 3/4" MOA or better.

 

[dig]

Anyone have experience shooting a 375 H&H long range? I need a new barrel and can't decide between 1 in 11" or 1 in 12" twist. If I get a 1 in 12" I can get a barrel quickly. The 1 in 11" requires me to wait 7-8 months. Shooting 350 gr SMK's, looking for 3/4" MOA or better.

To maximize the 350 SMK out of the H£H you will need a tighter twist, like 1 in 10. The velocities will be a little slow in the good old H&H, all else being equal and normal elevation. Something people don't take into consideration is speed with heavier bullets and twist.

 

[AFRIFLEMAN]

Thanks. I'm getting 2400FPS now out of 1 in 12. With that bullets BC 1K yds is doable if I can get the groups down. What kinda speed do you think I'll get with 1 in 10?

 

[dig]

It's bullet stabilization. The 1 in 12 will not stabilize unless the velocity is pushed or at high altitude; ergo, accuracy will suffer. 1 in 10 or tighter should stabilize the 350 SMK. The H&H just doesn't have the velocity. Is the bullet performing for you now? Have you ladder tested.

 

[AFRIFLEMAN]

No, it's not. It randomly throw's a bullet out. it's been giving me issues for months. I've tried everything. Even made a post but no one could tell me what was wrong. It'll shoot fine for a shot or two then throw one 6-10 moa off. usually to the right. Thanks for the advise. How will changing to a 1 in 10 effect my ?

 

[AFRIFLEMAN]

effect my velocity?

 

[dig]

Won't affect velocity, will stabilize the bullet. If you increase velocity you can get away with a lighter twits, ie a 378 Weatherby in 1-11 will stabilize the 350SMK. You are stuck with a 375 H&H velocity wise. Hence the need for a tighter twist such as 1-10. You may try the 300 grn Accubond. I have had great results with that bullet to 800 in H&H. Look at the charts and determine. Sometimes BC is not everything.

 

[AFRIFLEMAN]

Dig,

Thanks for the help. I was able to order a 1 in 10" twist from brux with only an 8 weeks wait.

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

There could be a few things causing the fliers. . How is your rifle set up? Safari style with all the bells and whistles " barrel bands? user barrel recoil lugs ect?
As far as gaining velocity. The easy thing is to have a Ackley, Weatherby, Mash burn reamer open it up. With the 300 gr bullets it will gain u 150 fps. So with the 350 you will gain 100 or a bit more velocity. Also. If you are going with a quicker twist barrel that is the route I would go.
I have a soft spot for the 3+ six bits. The longest game shot I have ever made was with it.

 

[AFRIFLEMAN]

Thanks for the info. I'll keep the reamers in mind once I get the barrel in.

 

[BigDaddyRay]

I'm curious also. What kind of range can I expect out of my m70 factory heavy barrel? I want to say it's a 1in13? What kind of Bullets should I start with? Weight?

 

[Cold Trigger Finger]

It depends what you are going to do with it! .
If you want a true long range target rifle then that is kinda a slow twist.
If its a general hunting rifle that you want to be useful to 600 yards and you want to keep it in H+H chamber configuration. Then the old standard 300 grain Sierra GameKings work. The 260 AccuBond works also. I prefer monometal bullets tho so I prefer the Barnes TTSX and would try the GSC HV line.
It has been my experience that the 375 is an easy caliber to make shoot well.

For my hunting with the 375 I always fall back on the bullet that started the monometal bullet in N.A. the 270 gr Barnes X. Now TSX. . At 27-2800 fps it may be an oldy but its a Great load.
Not a serious long range contender tho.

 

[Tumbleweed]

Take a serious look at those Cutting Edge bullets. There's MTH 320 and 330 grain hollow point hunting bullets available with very high BC's for this caliber. Kind of spendy, but may be a great solution for you too. I also noticed that a 1 in 12 will stabilize the 330 grainer. I'm personally looking into these as a good long range solution for my uncle's 1 in 12 .378 Weatherby.

 

[RHC]

When I had a 375 HH in a M70 and $300 express safari sights, I could shoot clay pigeons and softball size snow balls with those iron sights at 300 yards and could consistently hit them 9/10 if I could see the front sight razor sharp and could see the target it was dead. The only reason I got rid of it was it only like Swift A-Frames (Which are not cheap!). It just got too hard to find those bullets so I let it go. Fun gun but it's hard to shoot it a lot when you've tried every bullet you can get your hands on and one of the most expensive ones does the best, yet it's hard to get them. Would like to own another one someday.