.375 H&H Reloading, Sierra vs Woodleigh

RangerPark

RangerPark

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I'm working up a load on my new .375 H&H built on a Remington 700 action, McMillan Game Warden stock, McGowen 1:12" twist 24" barrel. More on that later.

I'm getting very average results with the Sierra 300 gr Game Kings, best is at 1.1 MOA. I'm using Hornady brass, H4350 and Federal 215M primers.
Come to think of it, that bullet yielded 1 MOA in a Sako 85, same twist and length barrel. I'm starting to think it's not that great a bullet.

I got a very nice surprise with Federal Power Shok 270 gr printing a .34 MOA cloverleaf 3 round group at 100 yards. This is no doubt a freak group and not typical but it's an encouraging sign. I'll be finishing this hunting season with those and work on a new load in the Spring.

I'm thinking of ditching the Sierra bullets and moving on to something like Woodleigh PP 270 grains. I'm looking for input from folks who have experience with Sierra and Woodleigh bullets in .375 H&H. Which bullet worked best for you? What rifle and components were you using?
 
Consistent 1.5" groups at 100 meters off the bench with Woodleigh 300gr RN and H4350 at 2400 fps MV. About the same with Nosler 300gr AB's and Re19 at 2300 fps MV. Tighter groups likely possible with further load development.

35246701963_c14a72e4d0_b.jpg

.375 H&H Magnum Sako 85 Kodiak and Leupold VX-2 1-4x20mm
 
Slamfire, I've been told that MOA is about as good as it gets for a .375 H&H, especially in the 300 gr range. Is that your experience as well? Also, did you give the 270 gr Woodleigh PP a try?
 
BigUglyMan said:
MOA out of a medium bore hunting rifle. What more do you want?
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Sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

Back on topic, for an off the shelf rifle, I agree MOA is good. This is somewhat of a custom build, I was hoping for a bit more. That being said, the Federal 270 grains show promise, got a couple of cloverleafs out of them, but at $4 a pop I'm not looking to shoot more groups with those.

That's why I'm asking about the Woodleigh 270 gr. MOA with the Sierra 300 gr is fine, but I think the rifle can do better.
 
H4350 should burn well with the 300gr BTSP. You could try Win760 or H414, CFE223, Ramshot BigGame as alternatives. Have you checked bullet runout with the seater die?
 
I'm using Forster dies, no runout issues. I'm getting good speeds from H4350 and 300 gr pills, last time I ran 5 rounds through the chrono I got 2636 FPS with an SD of 4. I was quite happy about that. The groups aren't bad, they usually print a nice even triangle at just over MOA.

For a heavy hitter to 200-300 yards I'm set. I'm still wondering if I can make a more accurate load though, seems the Sierra 300 gr is around MOA no matter what I do, which I guess I should be happy with.

Still insulting when Federal blue box stuff is more accurate that your reloads though.
 
Buckmastr said:
Nice scope! That's plenty of magnification to shoot good groups
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I LOVE those scopes. I have one in LV with capped turrets and now one in IHR with ZS turrets. Hunted exclusively with them this year, couldn't be happier with them for hunting optics. I really hope Nightforce modernizes the rest of the NXS line. Digillum, PTL and non rotating eye piece are all great features.
 
RangerPark said:
Slamfire, I've been told that MOA is about as good as it gets for a .375 H&H, especially in the 300 gr range. Is that your experience as well? Also, did you give the 270 gr Woodleigh PP a try?
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300gr bullets at 2650 fps MV is impressive, should work pretty good out to extended ranges on heavy game. Heck of a good scope you've got btw.

Didn't spend a lot of time doing 300gr load development this past season because the Moose rut was on and 1.5" groups was good enough. Pretty sure with more effort I could get tighter groups. However, I plan to go with lighter bullets instead next season like 260gr AB's or 270gr TSX to get higher speeds. The barrel on my Kodiak is 21-1/4" so with 300gr bullets muzzle speeds are a bit low.
 
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.375 chambers are throated to take 300 grain round-nose, sometimes leaving them touchy about which other bullets they shoot. The best shooting bullets will be those that tolerate or thrive on long jumps to the lands, and those that are shaped such that the jump is reduced. Monos thrive on the long jumps, and flat bases are more tolerant because of their longer cylindrical section. I think the blue box is telling you to check out flat-based bullets.

The H&H is practically the poster child for pure hunting rifles, and bullet choice is better made by terminal performance than 100 yard groups.
 
Dogleg said:
.375 chambers are throated to take 300 grain round-nose, sometimes leaving them touchy about which other bullets they shoot. The best shooting bullets will be those that tolerate or thrive on long jumps to the lands, and those that are shaped such that the jump is reduced. Monos thrive on the long jumps, and flat bases are more tolerant because of their longer cylindrical section. I think the blue box is telling you to check out flat-based bullets.

The H&H is practically the poster child for pure hunting rifles, and bullet choice is better made by terminal performance than 100 yard groups.
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This makes a lot of sense, thank you. The Sierra is a boat tail, it's got the highest BC of any 300 gr bullet I could find. Why a high BC bullet? The truth is I don't really know. The Woodleigh offerings are flat based, I think this is where I'm going to look next.
 
Slamfire said:
300gr bullets at 2650 fps MV is impressive, should work pretty good out to extended ranges on heavy game. Heck of a good scope you've got btw.
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That was the idea behind this build. At 2636 FPS with the Sierra 300 gr, the Nightforce Velocity 600 LV reticle is a perfect match all the way to 600 yards. I mean PERFECT, less that 1" off all the way to 500 yards and 2" off for 550 and 600 yards.

Now would I shoot a .375 H&H prone at game 600 yards away using a BDC reticle? No. But knowing the rifle is capable of doing that is pretty nice. Being actually able to make those shots consistently is also a skill set I would enjoy developing.
 
You might consider Cutting Edge Bullets such as their new 300gr Maximus for long range applications. Assumed 1:12 twist is adequate for stabilization. They don't list the ballistic coefficient yet but quite likely > 0.5 -

https://cuttingedgebullets.com/375-300gr-rifle-maximus

I have 340gr CBE MTH V15 bullets loaded in my .416 Ruger and these shoot sub-inch groups at 100 meters off the bench. 0.78 b.c. :eek: :cool:

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The trouble with higher BC bullets in a .375 H&H is by the time they work their way all the way up to mediocore BC they are are so heavy that they are barely moving.

Awhile back I was playing with one of my .375s in an effort to make it more useful for my North American hunting which definitely includes long range. Where I ended up was with 235 Grain CEB safari Raptors with a BC of "only" .400. The thing is, they started out at 3050 fps and by 600 yards they were 3 MOA ahead in trajectory. Wind drift was about the same as the SBT. Recoil was about the same as an annoyed .300. Those lathe turned CEBs are the easiest thing I've found for getting to shoot; load development not being much more than finding max and going with it.
 
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