.375 ruger or .375 H&H.....

Which .375, the OG or the Ruger?

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Gordon said:
Here's Midway selling .375 H&H for $57 and if I search I am sure I can find it quite a bit cheaper
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1...agnum-270-grain-jacketed-soft-point-box-of-20

Here it is for $37 https://grabagun.com/rem-375h-h-270gr-sp-20-200.html

Privi partisan 300 grain is $32 ! I have had good luck with Privi ammo in other calibers !
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Cant get ammo mail order in hawaii, only a couple places possibly (one i know for sure and ifs federal dg loadings) stock it. I could get a shop to order it for me and wait for it to barge in, but id have to buy a bunch in one shot, tho i suppose that wouldnt be too bad.

I like PPU ammo and components too, i use their stuff if they make it for a caliber I shoot. Only bad thing i got was some recalled Grendel brass, and id already shot that all once before i got the note on the recall.
 
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Damn this forum! I'm always learning something new which often leads to spending more money. Now I'm thinking about the .375 Weatherby Mag which I've never done before. What's not to like about a .375 cal cartridge that provides an additional 100 yards of effective hunting performance over the .375 H&H for elk and similar, and with no obvious downsides for the handloader! Once of the reasons that I want to switch from using a Barnes 250gr TTSX to a Nosler 260gr AccuBond is that it would get me an additional 200 yards of effective hunting range i.e. 400 yards to 600 yards. I'll have to look into this some more and even consider the idea of ordering a reamer for my Talkeetna at some point. :what:

The Weatherby has a much better case life
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@Gordon , why the improved case life? I assume that you mean compared to the .375 H&H which for me is just fine. I'm on the sixth firing of a bunch of Remington cases with no issues. I neck size only, bump the shoulder back when needed and anneal the case mouths and don't have an issue with primer pockets getting lose.
 
I just spent a ton of money restocking and rechambering a new model Winchester M-70 Ak from .375 H&H to Weatherby. It was one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever wasted money on. The Weatherby only gives you real world velocity advantage with 300 gr or heavier bullets. You can not get max loads out of fire formed H&H brass due to web thickness at the belt. AND there is a new movement amongst African countries that your ammo must match your rifle. So if your caliber listed and your rifle is marked .375 Wthby DO NOT show up with fire formed H&H brass!

That being said head stamped .375 Weatherby brass is bloody expensive for the menial velocity gains you get for it. I am not a fan.

Now to the point of the OP. The .375 Ruger is a modern non belted efficient case that was designed for smokeless powder and designed to run in a standard length action. The .375 H&H is a long sloping belted case that was designed to run in Nitro Cellulose in a magnum length action in tropical heat. Therefore like all cases designed in that era for that purpose it feeds functions and extracts slicker that owl poop. It is not super efficient by today’s standards. But it still feeds functions and extracts slicker than owl poop and it is plenty efficient enough with modern powders.

If you demystify the reloading manuals the .375 Ruger does exactly what the .375 H&H does but the Ruger does it in a 20” barrel and the H&H needs a 24” barrel to match it. The Ruger only slightly beats the H&H when it is also in a 24” barrel. And all if the data for the Ruger is either 24 or 26” data. Keep that in mind if you are buying one of the 20” Ruger offerings.

If I were building a modern standard length all purpose hunting rifle in .375 I’d probably seriously consider the Ruger. But the H&H is more cooler. So the truth of the matter is I’d most likely build it in H&H anyway. Because more cooler matters.;)

PS

If you are wondering what I did with that .375Weatherby that I hated? Well I’m glad you asked! Just to upset Robert. I rebarreled it to a horrible .300 Dakota Magnum in a long throated 1 in 11 twist barrel which pushes 180gr bullets at something faster than 3200 FPS and actually does vaporize light game like deer or antelope. Now I hate it too and am back to hunting with my .375H&H. But will most likely use the Dakota when I hunt with Robert just because it’ll be a twist in his britches the whole time.
 
@H&Hhunter , thanks for your real-world observations on this .375 cal debate. As always your opinion carries a lot of weight and clearly you wouldn't advise someone to rechamber a .375 H&H to .375 Weatherby Mag.

The .375 H&H is a long sloping belted case that was designed to run in Nitro Cellulose in a magnum length action in tropical heat. Therefore like all cases designed in that era for that purpose it feeds functions and extracts slicker that owl poop. It is not super efficient by today’s standards. But it still feeds functions and extracts slicker than owl poop and it is plenty efficient enough with modern powders.
Click to expand...

Here's a Kimber Talkeetna chambered in .375 H&H showing how well a properly built .375 H&H can run .... I think D'Arcy Echols would be proud! That's me running the rifle but it belongs to a guy from First Lite. Mine runs just as well if not better.

 
MCMXI said:
@H&Hhunter , thanks for your real-world observations on this .375 cal debate. As always your opinion carries a lot of weight and clearly you wouldn't advise someone to rechamber a .375 H&H to .375 Weatherby Mag.



Here's a Kimber Talkeetna chambered in .375 H&H showing how well a properly built .375 H&H can run .... I think D'Arcy Echols would be proud! That's me running the rifle but it belongs to a guy from First Lite. Mine runs just as well if not better.

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Nice! What if any modifications were done to that rifle?

Mine runs the same it’s just a worn out old M-70 but I think we did some polishing on it to make it run that smooth.
 
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The only changes I made were to add a spring stop inside the stock and make sure that there were no sharp edges inside the action since I had the rifle for a few days. The spring stop was the main issue and I've printed up numerous inserts that fix the problem of the rear of the follower "sagging" due to the lower spring leg moving forward. Oh yeah, the owner had managed to shear off one of the Talley scope base mounting screws but I was able to remove it. I also dressed up and Cerakoted the front scope base which he'd whittled on in order to gain clearance for the objective bell of his scope. He's a happy customer for sure.
 
The .375 Ruger doesn’t float my boat, the .375 H&H does. But since the rifle isn’t CRF I’d rebarrel it to 26 Nosler. Not one of the choices you offered so I’m hoping our friendship will remain true after I’ve tried to take your thread off topic.
 
H&Hhunter said:
That’s a world wide hunters dream rifle.
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No it isn't. My Weatherby Mark V w/ custom XX English walnut AI stock is. I'm positive about that. :)

All it really took was a combination of classy Lufthansa special baggage logistics, finding yourself on a hunting trip somewhere on the Limpopo river bank unarmed and being handed a nice Sako L61 loaner in .375H&H. A couple of days later I had fallen in love and was convinced that I have to have a rifle in .375H&H, no matter what. Admittedly it was a tough choice between Dakota, Sako, Kimber and Weatherby.
 
@LoonWulf , are you getting any closer to a decision? :D


hq said:
No it isn't. My Weatherby Mark V w/ custom XX English walnut AI stock is. I'm positive about that. :)

All it really took was a combination of classy Lufthansa special baggage logistics, finding yourself on a hunting trip somewhere on the Limpopo river bank unarmed and being handed a nice Sako L61 loaner in .375H&H. A couple of days later I had fallen in love and was convinced that I have to have a rifle in .375H&H, no matter what. Admittedly it was a tough choice between Dakota, Sako, Kimber and Weatherby.
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And after all that no pictures!! :D Your Weatherby sounds incredible. The 54 degree bolt lift is really cool as are many other features. How is extraction with the smaller bolt lift angle? Do you have any problem breaking the case free of the chamber? Anyone looking for a .375 H&H has to be happy that there are lots of great choices. In another life I would collect .375 H&H rifles.

H&Hhunter said:
That’s a world wide hunters dream rifle.
Click to expand...

I bought my Talkeetna in large part due to the insistence of a coworker at Remington who was obsessed with hunting in Africa. He has three incredible Biesen rifles and after a year or more of weekly "you should get a .375 H&H and hunt with me in Africa" combined with shooting his .375 H&H I gave in. I don't exactly remember how I chose the Talkeetna but it probably had something to do with my being very impressed with the 300 WSM Montana I had bought sometime earlier. In truth I don't think I considered much of anything else since I wanted CRF, stainless and synthetic. As it stands I would buy the Talkeetna over and over again despite all of the work I put into it such as cutting the barrel down by 2", removing the iron sights, adding a front sling swivel stud, removing the barrel band and having it dipped. In stock form the Talkeetna is a phenomenal rifle that although considered production is much closer to a custom rifle and is a lot of rifle for the money.
 
cdb1 said:
The .375 Ruger doesn’t float my boat, the .375 H&H does. But since the rifle isn’t CRF I’d rebarrel it to 26 Nosler. Not one of the choices you offered so I’m hoping our friendship will remain true after I’ve tried to take your thread off topic.
Click to expand...

HAH! Oh dont worry between my own interest and horsey and now you mentioning it, im already looking for an excuse to try the Nosler! Im running out of long actions to dink with tho probably have to buy a few more...ooohhhh sigh......

MCMXI said:
@LoonWulf , are you getting any closer to a decision? :D
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LOL, yeah im getting ready to flip a coin :p:D

Seriously tho, thank you guys, i appreciate the input and info.
 
H&Hhunter said:
I just spent a ton of money restocking and rechambering a new model Winchester M-70 Ak from .375 H&H to Weatherby. It was one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever wasted money on. The Weatherby only gives you real world velocity advantage with 300 gr or heavier bullets. You can not get max loads out of fire formed H&H brass due to web thickness at the belt. AND there is a new movement amongst African countries that your ammo must match your rifle. So if your caliber listed and your rifle is marked .375 Wthby DO NOT show up with fire formed H&H brass!

That being said head stamped .375 Weatherby brass is bloody expensive for the menial velocity gains you get for it. I am not a fan.

Now to the point of the OP. The .375 Ruger is a modern non belted efficient case that was designed for smokeless powder and designed to run in a standard length action. The .375 H&H is a long sloping belted case that was designed to run in Nitro Cellulose in a magnum length action in tropical heat. Therefore like all cases designed in that era for that purpose it feeds functions and extracts slicker that owl poop. It is not super efficient by today’s standards. But it still feeds functions and extracts slicker than owl poop and it is plenty efficient enough with modern powders.

If you demystify the reloading manuals the .375 Ruger does exactly what the .375 H&H does but the Ruger does it in a 20” barrel and the H&H needs a 24” barrel to match it. The Ruger only slightly beats the H&H when it is also in a 24” barrel. And all if the data for the Ruger is either 24 or 26” data. Keep that in mind if you are buying one of the 20” Ruger offerings.

If I were building a modern standard length all purpose hunting rifle in .375 I’d probably seriously consider the Ruger. But the H&H is more cooler. So the truth of the matter is I’d most likely build it in H&H anyway. Because more cooler matters.;)

PS

If you are wondering what I did with that .375Weatherby that I hated? Well I’m glad you asked! Just to upset Robert. I rebarreled it to a horrible .300 Dakota Magnum in a long throated 1 in 11 twist barrel which pushes 180gr bullets at something faster than 3200 FPS and actually does vaporize light game like deer or antelope. Now I hate it too and am back to hunting with my .375H&H. But will most likely use the Dakota when I hunt with Robert just because it’ll be a twist in his britches the whole time.
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If you just want to spend money with little return I have a few projects we could talk about...
 
I have 3 now .375 Weatherbys. One is a 27" Lothar Walther #4 barreled blueprinted Whitworth Magnum actioned 11 pounder scoped with a Nightforce NXS 2.5x10 that I bought 15 years ago or so . The gun is not ported and has a 1.5 pound trigger . I shoot it off an Atlas bipod and it is truly a 1/2 MOA weapon out to 600 yards in the hands of my son who is 42 and a little less for me. I shoot 260 grain accubonds out of it at right around 3000 FPS and it is certainly a long range hammer ! On the other end is a Brown Precision 8 pound Remington stainless .375 with a Gentry brake and a Leupold VX3 1.75-6x . It is a MOA gun and recoils like a hi base 12ga. load iin a regular weight SG . I like .375 H&H (weatherby) and find .375 H&H factory loads about like full on 12 gauge slugs in a gun of equal weight. I found .338s to be vicous kickers over the years IMHO. I have taken the Brown precision .375 to Africa and did use factory Federal Safari ammo. Since the .375 H&H Head spaces on the belt you don't have to wory about the small H&H shoulder banging around. Conversly when you fire form your brass you can just neck resize and have the shoulder of the Weatherby shaped brass bear against the shouilder in chamber therefore getting much better case life versus the constant thining around the belt which occurs in the long tapering H&H case. Of course this is not a worry for hunting, but if you shoot the thing a bit, it does give more reloads for shooting.
 
Gordon said:
I have 3 now .375 Weatherbys. One is a 27" Lothar Walther #4 barreled blueprinted Whitworth Magnum actioned 11 pounder scoped with a Nightforce NXS 2.5x10 that I bought 15 years ago or so . The gun is not ported and has a 1.5 pound trigger . I shoot it off an Atlas bipod and it is truly a 1/2 MOA weapon out to 600 yards in the hands of my son who is 42 and a little less for me. I shoot 260 grain accubonds out of it at right around 3000 FPS and it is certainly a long range hammer ! On the other end is a Brown Precision 8 pound Remington stainless .375 with a Gentry brake and a Leupold VX3 1.75-6x . It is a MOA gun and recoils like a hi base 12ga. load iin a regular weight SG . I like .375 H&H (weatherby) and find .375 H&H factory loads about like full on 12 gauge slugs in a gun of equal weight. I found .338s to be vicous kickers over the years IMHO. I have taken the Brown precision .375 to Africa and did use factory Federal Safari ammo. Since the .375 H&H Head spaces on the belt you don't have to wory about the small H&H shoulder banging around. Conversly when you fire form your brass you can just neck resize and have the shoulder of the Weatherby shaped brass bear against the shouilder in chamber therefore getting much better case life versus the constant thining around the belt which occurs in the long tapering H&H case. Of course this is not a worry for hunting, but if you shoot the thing a bit, it does give more reloads for shooting.
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You’ve cracked the code on the .375 Wthby. Use a long barrel and have it purpose built. Rechambering a 24” H&H is not worth your trouble. I was getting about 2900FPS out of mine with 260 gr AB’s and it was doing 2850 with the same when it was still an H&H.
 
MCMXI said:
And after all that no pictures!! :D Your Weatherby sounds incredible. The 54 degree bolt lift is really cool as are many other features. How is extraction with the smaller bolt lift angle? Do you have any problem breaking the case free of the chamber? Anyone looking for a .375 H&H has to be happy that there are lots of great choices. In another life I would collect .375 H&H rifles.
Click to expand...
Here's one. It doesn't do justice to the grain at all but it still gives an idea what it is. Essentially a slightly lighter colored, all matte equivalent of normally polished Deluxe/Custom, with some Accurete Innovations' magic (alloy frame, mercury recoil reducer etc.) hidden inside the externally OEM-shaped stock.
The smoothness of the action is great, it even works in fast-paced driven hunts and the only "complaint" I have is that the action is LONG. You have to move your head to chamber a round in order not to knock your teeth out. It might be a combination of the slightly tapered casing and well-polished chamber but extraction is easier than with any of my other bolt action rifles, including Mark V in .460WbyMag and even short action Sakos.

I gave my previous go-to big game rifle, Marlin XLR, to my son and once he realized what I got to replace it, he's been looking for a left-handed Mark V action to build one for himself. These guns are addictive, especially in .375H&H.

Weatherby.jpg
 
LoonWulf said:
A man after my own heart.....
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I had an epiphany, go with the ruger, if you get bored, or just don't like it, convert to Holland, then if it STILL doesn't float your boat, go for the previously mentioned 26Nosler or 6.5 leopard, and then you'll have PLENTY of findings to share with the rest of us when WE'RE debating over classics vs latest and greatest ;).
 
horsey300 said:
I had an epiphany, go with the ruger, if you get bored, or just don't like it, convert to Holland, then if it STILL doesn't float your boat, go for the previously mentioned 26Nosler or 6.5 leopard, and then you'll have PLENTY of findings to share with the rest of us when WE'RE debating over classics vs latest and greatest ;).
Click to expand...

Dude! Are we related? That sounds like something I would do. But in the end I’d wind up selling it for a loss to finance my next project.:rofl:
 
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