.375 H&H Mag for deer ... mule and whitetail?

[natman]

I'm not sure there really is such a thing as "too much cartridge".

There is such a thing as "more cartridge than necessary" and with the exception of the great bears the 375 would be that in North America. This is certainly true for any deer. A 375 will work, but no better than a 30-06. Now if you don't mind the expense, recoil and weight, more power to you.

 

[NickEllis]

I'm not sure there really is such a thing as "too much cartridge".



There is such a thing as "more cartridge than necessary" and with the exception of the great bears the 375 would be that in North America. This is certainly true for any deer. A 375 will work, but no better than a 30-06. Now if you don't mind the expense, recoil and weight, more power to you.

I think that's about right. The 30'06 is to N. America what the .375HH is to Africa: both are excellent utility medium rifles, just about right across the board though a little on the light side for megafauna. I think the 375HH is a touch more flexible, as it can be loaded down to the 30-30 range and up to full-power loads.

As for weight, I have a 375 in a McMillan edge stock that weighs in at 7.5lbs. Note that I wouldn't prefer to shoot 350gn full power loads out of this rig, but it's great for 250 grn loads and below.

 

[H&Hhunter]

.375H&H rifles tend to be built a bit heavy from American manufacturers for some reason. However traditional English and European guns are not. They tend be a standard "stalking weight rifle of about 7.5 to 8.5 lbs. The New Winchester Alaskan in .375H&H built to the Pre-64 Alaskan specs and it comes in at about 8.8 lbs. I put mine on a diet with a McMillian as well she is about 8.5 scoped now.

 

[Robert]

Guess I will just have to suffer with my 9lbs rifle...

 

[H&Hhunter]

Guess I will just have to suffer with my 9lbs rifle...

Oh the HUMANITY!!

 

[T.R.]

My elk rifle is a .308 that produces half the recoil of the old 375 H & H. It's effective for as far as I care to shoot.

TR

 

[ZeroJunk]

The best reason for a hunter to use a 375 H&H for deer is because he wants to.

 

[rromeo]

I'm not sure there really is such a thing as "too much cartridge".

There is such a thing as "more cartridge than necessary" and with the exception of the great bears the 375 would be that in North America. This is certainly true for any deer. A 375 will work, but no better than a 30-06. Now if you don't mind the expense, recoil and weight, more power to you.

While it may be more cartridge than necessary for deer, you never know if the last remaining Wooly Mammoth herd will come out of hiding and charge at you.

The best reason for a hunter to use a 375 H&H for deer is because he wants to.

Exactly.

 

[T.R.]

The magnum loading is way too much power for deer. But I suggest hand loading down to 375 Winchester ballistics. This cartridge is sort of like a 38-55 on steroids and produces good energy for taking deer and similar game.

Good hunting to you.

TR

 

[ZeroJunk]

The whole too much cartridge thing might make sense if you were trying to shoot something and not kill it.

 

[Rick R]

I took a good sized whitetail deer last fall with my peep sighted .375H&H using a 300gr Hornady soft point over a book max load of Varget. Hit on the shoulder with his heart in three pieces he ran 50 yards and piled up. No exit wound, little meat damaged, it wasn't exactly what I'd call "overkill" but did a perfectly adequate job of putting meat in the freezer.

This year I've got a load using a 280gr cast bullet from an NOE mold that should be just right. Actually very few of us hunt to survive, we hunt to keep our mind in the real world. And if the pleasure of using a beautifully built elephant rifle or custom handgun or Kentucky rifle or sticks and string is what adds to the adventure then have at it.

 

[H&Hhunter]

No exit wound,

Those Hornady soft points are SOFT. I shot an elk with one years ago and it did the same thing, no exit wound. For any of you guys planning on using your .375 for dangerous game keep that in mind. the Hornady interlock is NOT a DG bullet!

 

[double bogey]

H&H, and Rick R, what did the bullets look like, when recovered. I use the interlock bullets in smaller calibers and like the performance. After reading this I will look elsewhere if I get a larger bore.

 

[H&Hhunter]

The one that I shot the elk with had a complete core separation. The jacket stayed together but peeled back and stopped within a couple of inches of penetration. The lead core made into the vitals and killed the elk. I think the big round nosed bullets are much softer and more prone to core separation in the interlocks than the smaller caliber spitzer type bullets.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

Well tomorrow a.m leaving early for the Eastern Cape. On the menu is Eland, Kudu, Impala, Warthog ............ what we find is what we will take. I am taking my Sako .375 with 300gr. Accubonds @ 2 540fps and planning on using it for everything.

Also taking my 6.5mm in case the piggies are a little far.

So yeah, the .375 for everything that I can afford.

 

[NickEllis]

On the menu is Eland, Kudu, Impala, Warthog

Excellent. Safe travels and safe hunting.

 

[Rick R]

Double Bogey

There was a good hole into the off side shoulder from the body cavity. I believe the bullet was caught by the skin on the exit side. I had to get it to the processor and didn't have time for a thorough look see.

My rifle shoots them very accurately and I think the Interlocks are quite sufficient for game up to groundhogs.

 

[AKMtnRunner]

I'll chime in since bullet selection hasn't been mentioned. I've discovered some limitations to the 375 caliber bullets when it comes to BC's and behavior on medium size game. The light-for-caliber bullets like 225 and 235 grainers are around the 0.3 range, with things only improving to around .47 with a 260 gr accubond unless you go really big with 300+ but then they're going pretty slow. I'm not saying a 375 won't work at longer distances, just saying the shooter will have a harder time finding the right bullets and loads to achieve the long range effect than with a smaller caliber.

How those lighter 375 bullets perform down range with slower speed is another consideration. I've read enough accounts of sleek, premium all copper bullets failing to expand in that scenario. But hey, that may not be a critical thing with an already wide, heavy projectile. But to me, it looks like standard boat tail constructed soft nose bullets like a Speer 270 gr BTSP or said Accubond are the way to go for medium game passed some distance.

This may matter, it may not. I just wanted to bring this up in case it does.

 

[H&Hhunter]

First lets define "longer" range. Because high BC doesn't really start coming into noticeable effect until somewhere after 500 to 600 yards. I have been playing with the 250 gr Barnes TTSX and the Hornady 250 gr GMX. Both have respectable BC in the .400 + range. My 25" .375 will start them just at 2900 FPS. As far as expansion with mono metal bullets. I have not had the opportunity to try them on game at extremely long range but have never had an issue with a .375 cal Barnes not opening up out to 500 yards or so with a 270 gr Barnes X or TSX bullet.

If you are planning on sniping game at extremely long range I would recommend a purpose built rifle/caliber. The .375H&H while certainly capable of taking even large game at longer ranges would not be my first choice for a super long range game getter. Just like a .30-06.

 

[NickEllis]

This is one of the reasons hard-cast bullets and the .375 are a great match, especially for the lighter bullets and light to medium game.

 

[AKMtnRunner]

"Longer" depends on how you define "noticeable effect". I didn't mention specific ranges for a reason, and that is that those thresholds depend on the shooter's abilities and needs. I was just pointing out a significant BC difference between a .375 bullet and the common .308 bullet. By just 300 yrds, a 260 gr 375 Accubond has lost over 500 fps, whereas a 200 gr 308 Accubond has only lost about 400 fps. Trajectory wise, it's fine, but one should make sure that their bullet will perform as they intend it at a foreseeable hunting range.

 

[NickEllis]

Using the ttsx for both .308 (200grn, .536BC) and .375 (250grn, .424BC), at 300 yards I get the following averages out if my rigs:

.308- 2318fps, 2386 ft.lbs, -12.7inch drop

.375- 2267fps, 2875ft.lbs, -12.4inch drop


Both ttsx bullets perform great, but with significant more penetration and diameter hole for the .375.

 

[AKMtnRunner]

Gaiudo, thanks for the real world results. I'd like to hear more about that 250 ttsx. What was the immediate affect on the animal (what animal?), did you recover the bullet, what did the expansion look like, ball park impact velocity? And have you tried other bullet constructions in the 250 gr range to compare effects with? It's just been really hard for me to find reports on it.

In about 3 weeks, I hope to report on how a 270 gr speer btsp worked on a caribou

 

[H&Hhunter]

My experience with the 250 gr TTSX is that you usually don't recover them. I haven't had a critter stop one yet. They open and drive when they hit. I've only shot wild hogs with them but find mature hogs to be very good test medium. They tend to stop bullets about as well as mature elk.

I haven't had the opportunity to kill anything at long range with them yet all kills have been inside 200 yards, but I have killed several big bodied elk at over 400 yards with the 270 gr TSX and the old 270 gr Barnes original. They open and drive deep even at that range. I'd expect to 250 TTSX to do about the same maybe a bit better.

 

[NickEllis]

AkMtRunner, H&H will have much more experience with the 250 TTSX. I've only paper data so far, as I'm moving from the 270TSX to the 250 for North American thin-skin game this season. I'm excited about the numbers and what's happening on paper, but the proof will be in the pudding!