.375 Holland and Holland, the most versatile big game hunting cartridge?

[pathfinder76]

I went through an evolution with the H&H. Started here at home, with the one rifle for the world thinking. Ended up hunting much of what BC offers with it, taking it to Hawaii, Africa several times, then I started carrying it for a living on the coast in BC hunting Grizzlies outfitting. Never made it to Australia.

Over the course of that, I started at 270 and 300 grain premium monos hand loaded. Then I got busy and perhaps tired of hand loading and bought Federal blue box 270 cheap soft points. No discernible difference in performance from the premium monos, shot placement appeared to be all that mattered.

Throughout this time I started down loading the .375 as I realised I didn’t need to full house loads for 95% of what I was doing, and for everything on this continent. I had a .505 and .450 available if I wanted to eat ####. Effects deteriorated as I slowed the round down below 2400fps, so I adopted lighter bullets, 260gr and under to keep the milder recoil and the speed.

Now that I had a .375 H&H loaded with 200-260gr bullets at mid velocities doing .30-06 jobs, I sold my last .375s realising I needed a .30-06. Got by with a 7x57 and other moderate rounds. Just this season Hoyt got the last of my .375 H&H stuff. In the end I fell in love with the .375 H&H, and drifted away from it over fifteen years. I still love the cartridge, I just find I don’t need one. It certainly works however and was my preferred round for backing Grizzly clients, but that era’s over in my life, and for now so is the H&H.

This is well said and I don’t know that stopping anything coming in the direction of the shooter is a practical reason for any cartridge. Unless it is part of your living. I’ve stopped previously hit game before, but those have all been going the other direction. I don’t recall , in any of those situations, wishing for more cartridge. Even on the biggest of game. In fact I’ve stopped more moose than anything that were dead on their feet but heading for a deeper hole somewhere. Twice I’ve had Grizzlies come after me but in both instances they stopped of their own accord. One I was packing a 375, the other an 06. Both times their head was the target and both times they were so close I’m not sure cartridge selection would have mattered.

I’m a bit of a hopeless experimenter and have used so many different cartridges that my experience collectively is extensive but with individual cartridges not as much. That said, I cannot recall ever really honestly thinking, “wow, this is the one”. Just when you think you have found the hammer of Thor the next experience tells you that what you are packing might not be that different than the rest of them. Anything shooting a 120 to 300gr bullet between 2700 and 3300 fps is wicked and very affective.

This is why I think the 30-06 is so good. It can be built in a very portable rifle. It can accommodate an enormous variety of bullet weights, has an extensive array of factory ammunition and reloading components available, and it will house five to six rounds within the rifle. What’s not to like? The 7MM RM has most of the same virtues aside from the cartridge capacity yet mine will still contain five cartridges.

 

[nowarningshot]

This is well said and I don’t know that stopping anything coming in the direction of the shooter is a practical reason for any cartridge. Unless it is part of your living. I’ve stopped previously hit game before, but those have all been going the other direction. I don’t recall , in any of those situations, wishing for more cartridge. Even on the biggest of game. In fact I’ve stopped more moose than anything that were dead on their feet but heading for a deeper hole somewhere. Twice I’ve had Grizzlies come after me but in both instances they stopped of their own accord. One I was packing a 375, the other an 06. Both times their head was the target and both times they were so close I’m not sure cartridge selection would have mattered.

I’m a bit of a hopeless experimenter and have used so many different cartridges that my experience collectively is extensive but with individual cartridges not as much. That said, I cannot recall ever really honestly thinking, “wow, this is the one”. Just when you think you have found the hammer of Thor the next experience tells you that what you are packing might not be that different than the rest of them. Anything shooting a 120 to 300gr bullet between 2700 and 3300 fps is wicked and very affective.

This is why I think the 30-06 is so good. It can be built in a very portable rifle. It can accommodate an enormous variety of bullet weights, has an extensive array of factory ammunition and reloading components available, and it will house five to six rounds within the rifle. What’s not to like? The 7MM RM has most of the same virtues aside from the cartridge capacity yet mine will still contain five cartridges.

While the 375 H&H is the one cartridge to do the world, the 06 would do for one cartridge for.Kanada.

Those one cartridge threads....270, 30-06, 7mag, 300mag. Pick one according to your recoil tolerance, go kill shet.

 

[medvedqc]

While the 375 H&H is the one cartridge to do the world, the 06 would do for one cartridge for.Kanada.

Those one cartridge threads....270, 30-06, 7mag, 300mag. Pick one according to your recoil tolerance, go kill shet.

while it can be right. i will say for the bison whille legal here and some has proven it is working i will say it is on the light side.

 

[Ardent]

Won’t argue that, been on one .30-06 bison hunt where I wasn’t the shooter and it was totally adequate, in fact I would say it was perfectly appropriate. I also took one with the .375 H&H to the same effect, I certainly can’t argue a .375 would be worse but for Canadian bison hunting both were equally dead and quickly.

Guess in that non committal commentary I’m saying I’d go hunt bison with a .30-06 happily, but can’t argue a .375 doesn’t do all the same and potentially better.

 

[buckbrush]

Here in Alberta, after over a decade of no Grizzly season, Grizzlies have learned to come running to the sound of gunshots. At the least they score a gut pile, or more often a whole animal gutted, and a few times there is a whole hunter on the side. On the eastern slopes you literally need someone watching your back while gutting and quartering.

If you shoot and kill a Grizzly in defence of you and your animal, you will be charged if your naïve enough to report it. In black timber especially my .375 is very reassuring, or if a lot of walking is involved my 35 Whelen pump comes along. My days of solitary hunting in Grizzly country are over.

 

[gobigorgohome]

Do some reading on the Terminal Ballistics website about the 375 H&H and their details for bullet selection and loading. It's extremely detailed and goes way in depth on what to use in what situations.

 

[jjohnwm]

I got my first .375 back in my teens, in preparation for an African hunt. Didn't realize it at the time, but the preparation ended up lasting 35 years!

During that time I used that and other .375's for everything...not just deer/bear/moose (our "regular" big game) but also coyotes, groundhogs, crows, cats, etc. I wanted to become comfortable and famillar with it, and I did. Thank goodness that my dad neglected to scare the crap out of me about recoil when I was just learning to shoot as a kid, unlike so many of my childhood buddies who were "educated" by their fathers to be scared green by anything bigger than a .22.

"Most versatile"? That's a tough one, and in shooting as in almost any endeavour it can be translated as "useful for everything, perfect for nothing". I've never believed in overkill, but I have seen numerous examples of not-quite-dead, so I like to err on the side of caution. Does a .375 kill a deer or coyote "deader" than a .308 or .30-06? No, obviously not...but it does indeed kill the crittter, and at the same time it does something else much better: it teaches you to shoot a .375! This way, when you do eventually go up against something that is best slain with the bigger bullet, you are shooting the gun like an experienced craftsman using a familiar well-used tool, rather than like an all-thumbs housewife driving nails for the first time with a hammer purchased yesterday.

I'll agree that the .375 is not the most versatile if we are limiting ourselves to deer hunting, or perhaps even to most hunting in North America...but the phrase used in the OP was not "in my backyard" or even "in this country"...the exact phrase was "in the world". By that measure, I think the .375 is way closer to the all-around title than any .30-cal round.

 

[philthygeezer]

Perhaps! The recoil isn’t the principle limiting factor in my mind, it’s the weight of the rifles I don’t appreciate these days for BC style and walk and spot hunting on rough terrain.

Suppose that is a recoil thing in a round about way, as one can build a 6 1/2lb H&H. Just few are sadistic enough to want to shoot it. I find I like rifles under 7lbs all up and use them more, that has made me a .257R / .30-30 / 7x57 / .270 / .308 sorta fellow. I’ve got a real soft spot for 7RM from watching it work guiding, too, and can put up with it in a light rifle. But I digress.

On pure capability, and for stopping bears here at home, hard to argue with an H&H. I just find it an awkward fit for my pursuits these days.

This is sort of where I wound up too. For hunting, fine. For bush bashing/photography/field work, carrying something 8-9 pounds while you're doing something else, sucks. Even an 870 tends to weigh 7.5 pounds as it constantly gets in the way of everything else you're doing. I now think a lightweight 6.5-7lb stainless synthetic .30-06 with some 180 grain TSXs is close to ideal for a utility rifle paired with bangers and bear spray. With handloads, it could feed you with everything from grouse to buffalo.

However, also still think a cerakoted Winchester 70 Alaskan in .375 H&H (or .338 WM) would be the bees knees. Cut the barrel to 23" and move the front sight back if 25" is too much for you. IMO 22" would be minimum for me. I hate muzzle blast and it doesn't make shooting quickly any easier.

Again, hunting is another matter. But everything I've seen up north seems to be centred on .223, .303, .308 or .30-06 as well, so there's that.

 

[ShrtRnd]

Lots of interesting comments and observations on the 375 H&H in here.

Started reading this thread ‘cause inevitably I’ll be ending up with my Dads’ M70 375 which was a good friends before they passed.

While I’ve hunted and carried both 300WM and 300 WSM in the past, I find the recoil from the 375 much more tolerable on multiple shots then the two 300’s. Guess it doesn’t hurt that the M70 is somewhere in the #10lb+ range all in. A stark contrast to my R700 Mtn or Tikka that I typically carry.

 

[Ardent]

She did well by me, took me to Africa and overseas several times and watched my back guiding coastal Grizz. But in the end the only .375 I presently own is an oddball that’s much easier to carry. Carrying one for a living changed my perspective on gun weight.

 

[Dogleg]

The best way to use a 375 is the way it was planned. Light 235 grainers for light game (which is just about everything) and heavy 300s for heavy game. You could split the difference with 270s, and with todays bullets the heavy game part is sort of moot. In the iron sight era, and in conditions where iron sights would still be fine (most conditions, just not where I live) you might be able to get by without a sighting change. The 375 isn't really the best at anything. It isn't going to out STW an STW; and there is no way it'll out 458 a four five eight, but its sort of in the running for second or third place for just about anything. Sort of like a race-horse that seldom wins but always places. That's not all that bad, and if situations or legalities forced you to one caliber for the world it is awful close to the only choice.

 

[rhino62]

you'd probably like a woman in black-leather beating the arse off you with a riding crop too!

lol

 

[sherlockbonez]

If i can ever find some rl15 i will work up a load. Been sitting for few years now with yhe shortage.