.375 hh

[huntintoo]

I've never even shot a .375 H&H but I recently had a Mauser, barrelled and chambered for the .375 Ruger and have never been happier with its accuracy, shootability and performance on animals. Mule Deer Elk and Shiras Moose have succumbed to the one shot stopping power of this gun. A 30.06 length case, machined bolt face, .270 Barnes FX, Win. 760 powder, Federal Match Magnum large rifle Primers in Hornady brass. Equals Smiles on my face

 

[Bang4theBuck]

I don't have a 375, of any sort, but I was considering one recently, and while one could never argue with the effectiveness of the cartridge, my research told me that I could get similar, if not better performance out of the 375 Ruger. I have to admit, I did actually wince a little when I read to the part of your post about getting a .375 H&H in a 700, with a tupperware stock. I love Remington 700s, and have a slew of them, but my choice would be something like a Ruger Hawkeye/Alaskan or Mauser, or Model 70 Safari, or similar. Strictly my personal preference based on the collection that I have, not saying that the Remmy wouldn't work.

 

[BLK]

I got two artificial shoulders and I am terribly sensitive to heavy recoil. I bought a 7MM Mag Model 70 Winchester stainless, with plastic stock. It has the ADJUSTABLE BOSS which I do not think they produce any more. As i understand it, Winchester bought rights to use the Adjustable Boss on this rifle for two years only. I got one and I totally love it. I would highly recommend you use a boss if you buy a high recoil rifle. I know gunsmiths put on a recoil compensater but I love the boss I got cause it ADJUSTS for different factory loads or reloads. Changes the barrel harmonics. Works great. It has supposedly been documented that after firing 10 shots on a bench with a 7MM Mag you have a mild concussion. That cannot be good.

 

[Nutmeg]

Or a 9.3x62 if you wanted something different. It will fit in a standard long action, good capacity and will not beat you with recoil...

 

[johnlittletree]

slowly building my collection which honestly isn't very big at the moment but to cover all the bases I have a .22, .223/5.56s, 7mm08, .300 win.....thinking of adding a .375 hh. Just a basic stainless Remington factory 24" bbl Tupperware stock. I am a little on the fence with it or .338 win. I want to to stick with cartridges that components and ammo are relatively easy to acquire. Not looking to start a conversation about .338 vs .375 but I feel the .375 is a logical jump to really cover any use I might have.

Good for you! As someone that lost everything in the housing bubble I am slowly rebuilding everything! "Always ask yourself is too good a deal to pass-up?" " Will this satisfy my desires at this very minute?" "Do I really want this?" "Do I need this?" etc.....If it is a good deal you can always flip or use it as a foundation for a later project. If it is not something you want or would ever buy outside of great deal it is normally a waste of money because you will not get a sense of satisfaction from it. It is kind of like when you are craving something but you do not know what it is you want. It never fails you eat something and it does not satisfy you so you end going through you cupboards and refrigerator eating a bit of everything but you are still hungry for something. The same thing can happen with "things". So keep those things in mind and the rest is easy right!

Remember if it is supposed to be fun and it is not your doing something wrong!

It is a lot easier to source brass and bullets for .338 (take your pick)vs .375 locally I am sure. If you mail order it does not matter. I have to think your choices and cost would be better per round with the 338 Win Mag. The 375H&H is too small for most dangerous game countries like in Africa and is over kill on 90% of thin skinned. animals. In the USA and Canada the 375 H&H is a bit much and I doubt bullet selection and brass selection even comes close to 338 Win Mag.

When I lost everything I had to use an Old Mauser in 8mm. That 8mm on game 500m and less was every bit as deadly as my 338 Win Mag that I sold to a relative. So if you do not need it right this minute take your time and really think about what you really want to own. You have enough other rifles that you do not nee to make an impulse buy.

If it is a good deal I do not worry about the stock since the glass like or plastic like finish on most companies wood stocks today looks terrible. I figure if I want wood I will either have to buy some decent wood and make a stock for it or at the very least refinish it so it does not look like it was dipped in roller rink polyurethane wood floor finish!

Do not get me wrong I have nothing against the 375 H&H other than it is hard to find components for at times and it can be very expensive as well. If you plan to use it for long range hunting like the title of this sight the various 338 Magnums would do much better. You might also consider 9.3x62, 416 Rigby or 404 Jeffery if looking at big bores. None of those are common or cheap to reload in the USA. 458 Lot is an interesting old cartridge.

I would also argue that even used examples of the above make great rifles over new. These guys recoil a lot so few shooters ever put that many rounds through them. Often used examples of the above are mechanically like new.

 

[RevJim]

If long range is your huckleberry, then the .375 Weatherby/.375 Ackley Improved, .375 Ruger, .375 RUM and the "hoss" .378 Weatherby are your picks.
CRF- Mod70, Ruger Alaskan, African, and CZs. The CZ 550 is great in 9.3x62, but I'd put a 550 Safari in that synthetic stock as they can be heavy in wood.
If push feed is OK = I would "guess" the Vanguard or Remington 700 SPS is about the lowest. Rebarrel jobs work swell with the right length actions for the H&H; the .375 Ruger has more options.
A .35 Whelen is also one great cartridge...with the right bullet, it can stomp or reach out and sting! But just don't 'settle". Get what you are dreaming of!

 

[CRaTxn]

I'm also looking into getting another 375 H&H. Had a ruger No 1 I should have never sold and a Remington 700 for awhile. Anybody have a suggestion for which brand rifle to go with? I'm considering one of the Winchester, the Safari or Alaskan. Maybe one by Montana Rifle Co.

Hopefully I'm adding to your thread JMack

Without knowing the intended use there can be little cogent answer to this too vague question i.e. IF you might hunt brown bear or polar bear or musk ox...then a stainless synthetic by Ruger/Savage/Remington/Browning/Winchester all fill the bill ..where do you prefer your safety location, push feed or control round feeding [ if you really think you will short throw the bolt or shoot while upside down ]...IF you might go to Africa you can enjoy the warmth of wood or laminate* [ *pretty heavy if tracking elephant all day ]. With today's bullets...there is no need for anything heavier or more recoiling than a .375H&H. Hell, I drove a flat meplat solid thru a elephant's ear, neck, skull into its brain quartering away at 53 paces...you don't need and are not as accurate with those heavy, marginally regulated express doubles.

 

[CRaTxn]

Good for you! As someone that lost everything in the housing bubble I am slowly rebuilding everything! "Always ask yourself is too good a deal to pass-up?" " Will this satisfy my desires at this very minute?" "Do I really want this?" "Do I need this?" etc.....If it is a good deal you can always flip or use it as a foundation for a later project. If it is not something you want or would ever buy outside of great deal it is normally a waste of money because you will not get a sense of satisfaction from it. It is kind of like when you are craving something but you do not know what it is you want. It never fails you eat something and it does not satisfy you so you end going through you cupboards and refrigerator eating a bit of everything but you are still hungry for something. The same thing can happen with "things". So keep those things in mind and the rest is easy right!

Remember if it is supposed to be fun and it is not your doing something wrong!

It is a lot easier to source brass and bullets for .338 (take your pick)vs .375 locally I am sure. If you mail order it does not matter. I have to think your choices and cost would be better per round with the 338 Win Mag. The 375H&H is too small for most dangerous game countries like in Africa and is over kill on 90% of thin skinned. animals. In the USA and Canada the 375 H&H is a bit much and I doubt bullet selection and brass selection even comes close to 338 Win Mag.

When I lost everything I had to use an Old Mauser in 8mm. That 8mm on game 500m and less was every bit as deadly as my 338 Win Mag that I sold to a relative. So if you do not need it right this minute take your time and really think about what you really want to own. You have enough other rifles that you do not nee to make an impulse buy.

If it is a good deal I do not worry about the stock since the glass like or plastic like finish on most companies wood stocks today looks terrible. I figure if I want wood I will either have to buy some decent wood and make a stock for it or at the very least refinish it so it does not look like it was dipped in roller rink polyurethane wood floor finish!

Do not get me wrong I have nothing against the 375 H&H other than it is hard to find components for at times and it can be very expensive as well. If you plan to use it for long range hunting like the title of this sight the various 338 Magnums would do much better. You might also consider 9.3x62, 416 Rigby or 404 Jeffery if looking at big bores. None of those are common or cheap to reload in the USA. 458 Lot is an interesting old cartridge.

I would also argue that even used examples of the above make great rifles over new. These guys recoil a lot so few shooters ever put that many rounds through them. Often used examples of the above are mechanically like new.

 

[CRaTxn]

The new bullets invalidate your comments re. .375H&H being too small for dangerous game. You are not a PH backing up...you are a client needing precise accuracy so the PH doesn't have to back up. I have taken all save rhino with my Blaser .375H&H. Remember it is bullet placement ...especially on elephant and hippo...hell all of them.

 

[wwalker]

I lost my first .375H&H in a forest fire in 1998 along with a collection that came from both grandfathers and what I had bought personally. A Browning X-bolt .375 H&H was the first rifle I replaced. Love the cartridge and reloading both cast and factory bullets with my favorite factory bullet being a 260gr partition and a hard cast 335gr round nose gas checked bullet being my favorite for bear and elk. I have never felt under gunned with a .375 and you have minimal meat damage. A perfect cartridge for medium to the largest of North American Game.

 

[WildRose]

Craig Boddington just wrote a good article in Guns and Ammo? - about the relative merits of the newer .375 Ruger and the good old .375 H&H. A good review of each one and their relative merits. Overall - he loves the Caliber.

In truth the only difference in the two is 150-200fps all else being equal and better extraction characteristics of the Ruger due to the difference in case taper and shoulder angle.

The only other real major difference is that you have a slight advantage with the Ruger in seating bullets farther out in the same length action.

As far as I'm concerned the lack of a belt on the Ruger is pretty meaningless. The belted magnums have been doing everything we need for more than 70 years now.

 

[WildRose]

See: http://www.rifleshootermag.com/ammo/choosing-the-375-thats-right-for-you/

Unfortunately that link is broken.

 

[WildRose]

I lived (and hunted) in Tanzania from 1970-1973. I started hunting with a 7 mm Rem Mag when I first arrived, but Jon Speed told me one day he had seen a Win Mod 70 African in .375 H&H in a gun shop in Tanga. We flew up and took a look at it, and after waiting for a license to come through I picked it up for around $200, IIRC. I have never regretted that purchase.

I used it on everything from dik-dik to cape buffalo, with a lot of plains game thrown in. And when I ran low on ammo on safari in the north of Tanzania, I was able to pick up several boxes at the local gun shop in Arusha, which would not have carried any of the wildcats that people here are telling you are better cartridges. Perhaps on paper they are, but in rural Africa, they are not.

My longest shot with that rifle was around 500 yards on an antelope of some sort -- probably a Grants gazelle, as we shot a lot of them for camp meat and leopard bait. Most shots were in the 70-150 yard range, and I only remember once having to use a second shot. That was on a zebra, which are notoriously hard to kill and will run for miles if not dropped with the first shot.

I also carried a .450 Nitro Express for a while, but only for cape buffalo or elephant. And indeed, the .375 H&H was my preferred rifle for buffs. I once had to dispatch a buff in thick grass after someone I was hunting with managed to wound him. The .375 put him down right now!

Hunting near Tarangire the last year I was in Tanzania I broke the stock behind the action when I tripped on a root chasing a herd of buff. I epoxied it next to the camp fire that night, wrapped it with the only electrical tape I had (white), and was hunting with it the next day. I have a picture of myself holding that taped-up rifle, with a nice oryx that I took the next day at around 300 yards.

So yes, there are more efficient cartridge designs, and there are probably better rifles than the Win 70 African with a wood stock, but they will not kill game any deader or so far away you cannot see if they're a trophy.

And when I returned to Ohio and hung a metal target at the far end of my farm, my .375 H&H was my best choice to ring that gong nearly half a mile away.

My vote would go to the .375 H&H. Fred

Love it and I'm jealous, the Grant's Gazelle is very high on my list for my next trip over.

 

[WildRose]

The new bullets invalidate your comments re. .375H&H being too small for dangerous game. You are not a PH backing up...you are a client needing precise accuracy so the PH doesn't have to back up. I have taken all save rhino with my Blaser .375H&H. Remember it is bullet placement ...especially on elephant and hippo...hell all of them.

The .375 has always been quite capable on dangerous game.

The PH carries a cannon because he's the last resort after the hunter makes a bad shot and everyone's life is on the line.

You'd still be better off though with the .375 even in such a case if you are more accurate and confident in your ability with it.