Big 375 chamberings

There's good reason why the 375 H&H is so popular worldwide- it simply works. Whilst my favourite buffalo rifle is a 458 Lott because it hits harder and I feel more confident tackling bigger game with it, it actually doesn't kill things any deader. What kills big game best is good bullets properly placed. The 375 is easy to carry and shoot in a lightweight rifle, and if your ammo doesn't arrive as happened to me in Mozambique you will be able to find some locally. And it's versatile, capable of taking a wide range of game very efficiently.
This is very wise advice.
However, as Steve knows, as he also has a 375 Weatherby and has shot mine, they definitely hit harder with a 300g doing 2850fps or so.
My 375 Bee started life as a New Haven Classic Stainless in 375 H&H, the same day it arrived, I re-chambered it to 375 Weatherby and had the reamer cut to .500" freebore. This allows an additional 100fps in most instances due to extra case capacity allowances.
It weighs 10lbs, wears a HS Precision Sporter stock and a compact 2-7x32 scope. The original factory barrel has been lapped, it was very good to start with, but this improved it some.
My custom 416 Rigby weighs only 9lbs, but recoil is not an issue.
This thing just hammers everything it touches.

Cheers.
 
World wide hunting? I would look to a major commercial round. I wouldnt want to arrive in Kodiak for the hunt of a life time and my ammo be lost for my whiz bang crazy caliber and end up getting screwed. Lots of 375 out there I have a 375 WTBY and love it not the most commercial the RUM or H&H too.

I traveled to Northern BC on black bear hunt and my rifle arrived with no other luggage making it. I had picked a caliber (30-06) figuring if something happened I could always buy ammo and I did my luggage arrived 3 days later to the air port but we were hunting 4 hours N W of airport. I got it on day 5 when someone went to town. Didnt matter as I was done killed a bear on day one and day three...
 
World wide hunting? I would look to a major commercial round. I wouldnt want to arrive in Kodiak for the hunt of a life time and my ammo be lost for my whiz bang crazy caliber and end up getting screwed. Lots of 375 out there I have a 375 WTBY and love it not the most commercial the RUM or H&H too.

I traveled to Northern BC on black bear hunt and my rifle arrived with no other luggage making it. I had picked a caliber (30-06) figuring if something happened I could always buy ammo and I did my luggage arrived 3 days later to the air port but we were hunting 4 hours N W of airport. I got it on day 5 when someone went to town. Didnt matter as I was done killed a bear on day one and day three...
This is why I chose a 375 Ackley which duplicates the ballistics of the 375 Weatherby. If my handloads don't get lost I have a very formidable 375 caliber rifle pushing a 300gr bullet at over 2800FPS if need be. But in a pinch I can fire standard 375 H&H ammo if things go sideways with my ammo on a trip
 
This is why I chose a 375 Ackley which duplicates the ballistics of the 375 Weatherby. If my handloads don't get lost I have a very formidable 375 caliber rifle pushing a 300gr bullet at over 2800FPS if need be. But in a pinch I can fire standard 375 H&H ammo if things go sideways with my ammo on a trip
Same goes for the 375 Weatherby, just fire H&H rounds and compensate for the drop difference. It loses around 80-100fps fireforming to the Weatherby chamber.

Cheers.
 
Standard plain Jane old fashion boring 375 H&H has stood the test of time for nearly a century, it will serve you well no matter where your boots are walking. NO PAIN, NO ANXIETY and I would think available in any big game circle worldwide....
 
This is very wise advice.
However, as Steve knows, as he also has a 375 Weatherby and has shot mine, they definitely hit harder with a 300g doing 2850fps or so.
My 375 Bee started life as a New Haven Classic Stainless in 375 H&H, the same day it arrived, I re-chambered it to 375 Weatherby and had the reamer cut to .500" freebore. This allows an additional 100fps in most instances due to extra case capacity allowances.
It weighs 10lbs, wears a HS Precision Sporter stock and a compact 2-7x32 scope. The original factory barrel has been lapped, it was very good to start with, but this improved it some.
My custom 416 Rigby weighs only 9lbs, but recoil is not an issue.
This thing just hammers everything it touches.

Cheers.
@MagnumManiac what is the recoil of the 375WBY compared to the 375H&H? Is it still a push, or does the added speed make it more of a sudden kick? I have two M70 CRF and wonder if its worth converting the Classic Stainless.
Thanks
 
@MagnumManiac what is the recoil of the 375WBY compared to the 375H&H? Is it still a push, or does the added speed make it more of a sudden kick? I have two M70 CRF and wonder if its worth converting the Classic Stainless.
Thanks
The difference is substantial. My Classic Stainless weighs 10.5lbs and it has 90lbs/ft recoil with a 300g bullet.
My Talkeetna in 375H&H weighs right at 8lbs and has around 65lbs/ft recoil with a 300g bullet.
The speeds of both bullets are very different.
The Weatherby pushes a 300g Woodleigh PP to 2850fps, I settled on 2830fps, 1g less powder due to it's accuracy.
The H&H pushes the same bullet to 2610fps which is the absolute fastest load I could muster.
The Weatherby is much snappier, rattles the teeth really good, but it is actually more accurate than when it was a H&H.
I think it's biggest virtue is that the brass no longer stretches, you can either fire factory H&H rounds to form brass, or use COW like I do, it's simple to form and takes forever after the necks shrink to get back up to trim to length, barely any case stretch at all.

Cheers.
 
The difference is substantial. My Classic Stainless weighs 10.5lbs and it has 90lbs/ft recoil with a 300g bullet.
My Talkeetna in 375H&H weighs right at 8lbs and has around 65lbs/ft recoil with a 300g bullet.
The speeds of both bullets are very different.
The Weatherby pushes a 300g Woodleigh PP to 2850fps, I settled on 2830fps, 1g less powder due to it's accuracy.
The H&H pushes the same bullet to 2610fps which is the absolute fastest load I could muster.
The Weatherby is much snappier, rattles the teeth really good, but it is actually more accurate than when it was a H&H.
I think it's biggest virtue is that the brass no longer stretches, you can either fire factory H&H rounds to form brass, or use COW like I do, it's simple to form and takes forever after the necks shrink to get back up to trim to length, barely any case stretch at all.

Cheers.
Thank you for taking the time! I think I will keep it as is unless I end up with another one down the road!
 
I was looking, in the future, to hunt world wide and would need a rifle for long range dangerous game. Whether it be kodiak bear or a Cape buffalo. I want a rifle of .375 caliber and was looking at a few different chamberings namely: 375 mercenary, 375 snipetac, 375 cheytac, and lastly the 375 mjolnir. I am not an expert on these cartridges so if you won't mind, pass on some wisdom if you have any experience with these. From my limited knowledge the 375 cheytac is the parent of the snipetac and is just an improved version of it; The 375 mercenary and mjolnir are both wildcats from swamplord. It seems the Mercenary caters more to ultra long range shooting, it fits in a cheytac action and has a cheytac boltface I believe, the mjolnir on the other hand seems to be ment to be used in a lapua action but still has an impressive case capacity. If any of y'all have any knowledge of the differences between the velocities if these four cartridges Id love if you'd share your knowledge. Feel free to correct me on anything or offer any input.

-Coercionist
The 375H&H was pretty much the go to for all dangerous game for most of a century.

The 375 Ruger came along and surpassed it by about 150-200FPS, roughly equalling the 375 Wby.

I tortured myself for a year considering what to buy for my first trip to Africa and settled on a 375 Ruger after shooting a few of the much bigger cased 375's including the Cheytac.

Without going into a long spiel I promise it's more than adequate to meet all of y our needs without absolutely brutalizing you with excessive muzzle blast and recoil.

I also bought a 375 Rum to compare it to and the Ruger was night and day more enjoyable to shoot.

In the field it's said, and largely true you don't feel recoil. You however have to sight the thing in occasionally and if you're going to load your own shoot them quite a bit during load workups etc.

If you're under 250lbs those bigger cased 375's will really pound on you, even the best MB's and suppressors can't do anything about the shifting mass equal and opposite contribution to recoil, they can only reduce the effects of the "rocket motor effect" of the gasses pushing the rifle back your way.

I've shot them braked, unbraked, and with a suppressor so I have experience with all three.

I have a 375 Ruger custom patterned after the original Safari production rifles and I'm absolutely in love with it. Inside of 400 yards it's probably the gun I'm most likely to reach for if I have three or more in the truck for anything but varmints and I have shot a few varmints with it as well.

You can certainly go bigger but that comes at a great cost and there's lots of those big cased 375's, 408's, and 416's that can be bought for a song used because the builders or original buyers could not stand the pounding from them.
 
If you are going to hunt "world-wide" I would not choose any of those....you most likely hunt your cape buffalo or Kodiak bear at less than 75 yards. I took every cape buffalo (3) I ever hunted at less than 50 yards. I did shoot one bull that we were following up wounded at 125 yards just to get him down--but the guy that wounded him shot him at 30 yards....If you want a worldwide gun--get a 375 HH...want something different get a 375 Weatherby--and you can shoot both 375 Weatherby and HH...I use a 375 RUM...love it--but not great on finding ammo worldwide....
That was one of my primary concerns heading to Africa, and was surprised to find a ready supply of the .375 Ruger available as well as the H&H.
 
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