New addition to the herd, in .375 Ruger no less!

I have the African too. Fits me well. It will shoot under an inch when I do my part. Mine likes 84.0 grains of H4350, 260 grain NAB, WLRM primers. That load is over published max so be careful as always. That's good for 2860 FPS.
 
My #1 son hunted Africa with the African with a 1.5-5 Leup and found it very lacking. He has now gone to a 2.5-8 and loves it and I use a Zeiss 1.5-6 on my H&H 700 Rem. The 375 Ruger is capable of over 3100 with the 260 AB easily and I have 3 different chrono sessions to prove it, also getting 3-4 loads out of garbage Horn brass. He has now gone to fireformed 300 WM brass in W-W cases and is getting over 3200 fps from 260 ABs and no brass expansion and 5-7 loads per case. Flame me all you want but the Oehler 35P don't lie and neither does the brass life..............see my experiment back last fall blowing 300 WM out to 375 Ruger with 7 maximum loads and no primer expansion and fall out extraction.
The point being that the 375 Ruger or H&H needs more than 2 or 5 X scopes, 8X is not too much...............as much as I HATE to agree with Gatehouse, he would seem to have one of the most appropriate scopes for this caliber on his rifle.
 
Dogleg said:
I had one on my .416 for awhile, with the Heavy Duplex. With careful target choice it was OK on the range and had every indication of being unbreakable. It is a great combination of short eye-piece and long eye-relief if not getting hit is your highest priority. That's the good part.

The bad part was when I got it into the field. What seemed to be bright enough at high noon on a range turned into a dim little darkness gathering POS in the bush. You really should get into a situation where you have a buffalo herd on 3 sides of you, a bull at 20 yards and crosshairs you can barely see. It's quite invigorating, in a frustrating sort of way. I couldn't get it off the rifle fast enough when I got home, reasoning that anything I could do with 2.5 fixed could also be done with a higher quality variable set at 2.5. It is one of the very few Leupolds that I ever sold, and the 1.75-6 that replaced it is what should have been on the rifle to begin with.
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That's disappointing to hear. Just wish someone would start making some decent small scopes, something like the 2.5 in 30mm or 34mm tube, simple and reliable that doesn't break the bank so you don't mind banging it around. March make a nice 1-8x24 ffp that has side focus and illumination, problem is the illumination itself costs $750 extra and isn't even daylight visible, but it's nice and trim with true 1x power yet can be useful way out there too.
 
Gunslinger said:
That's disappointing to hear. Just wish someone would start making some decent small scopes, something like the 2.5 in 30mm or 34mm tube, simple and reliable that doesn't break the bank so you don't mind banging it around. March make a nice 1-8x24 ffp that has side focus and illumination, problem is the illumination itself costs $750 extra and isn't even daylight visible, but it's nice and trim with true 1x power yet can be useful way out there too.
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Nightforce? They have their compact series, the 2.5-10X32 is longer than the March by just under 2" but weighs about the same. Illumination is standard. They also have a 1-4X24. Smaller and lighter than the March. Both around the $1500 mark.
 
c-fbmi said:
My #1 son hunted Africa with the African with a 1.5-5 Leup and found it very lacking. He has now gone to a 2.5-8 and loves it and I use a Zeiss 1.5-6 on my H&H 700 Rem. The 375 Ruger is capable of over 3100 with the 260 AB easily and I have 3 different chrono sessions to prove it, also getting 3-4 loads out of garbage Horn brass. He has now gone to fireformed 300 WM brass in W-W cases and is getting over 3200 fps from 260 ABs and no brass expansion and 5-7 loads per case. Flame me all you want but the Oehler 35P don't lie and neither does the brass life..............see my experiment back last fall blowing 300 WM out to 375 Ruger with 7 maximum loads and no primer expansion and fall out extraction.
The point being that the 375 Ruger or H&H needs more than 2 or 5 X scopes, 8X is not too much...............as much as I HATE to agree with Gatehouse, he would seem to have one of the most appropriate scopes for this caliber on his rifle.
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Interesting. Was this with the 23" barreled African? What powder? I've heard both reloader 15 and 17 can produce some great velocities in this cartridge, but are temperature sensitive. What was the approximate ambient temperature when you worked up the loads? I'm hoping to work up a load with Varget as I have always had succses with it.


rem338win said:
I'm pretty sure the H&H puked in its mouth a little when you took its picture beside the Ruger.
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Haha I have them sitting side by side in the safe so they'll have to work out their differences.
 
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I love my .416 ruger Alaskan, those hogue stocks aren't for everyone, but I've got two rifles and know of two more that shoot fantastic with those stocks. For my .416 I went with the Trijicon 1-4x25mm scope with a red post reticle. I would not hesitate to make a 400 m shot with that gun/scope combo as I shoot it lots.. Probably too much cause I'm going through that sh!t hornady brass like crazy.

If I had a .375 I believe I would want a 2-7 type power scope however as I would use it more as a flat shooter than the slower hard hitting .416 I have loaded with the 400gr tsx.
 
c-fbmi said:
... the African ... The 375 Ruger is capable of over 3100 with the 260 AB easily and I have 3 different chrono sessions to prove it, also getting 3-4 loads out of garbage Horn brass....QUOTE]

Would you be so kind to share some of that load data? I would be interested in working up to some of those numbers... with caution and at my own risk of course. Please and thank you.
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SuperCub said:
How so?
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X2
I've always like the 1.5-5X. What African critter was James hunting that he couldn't see it at 5X? In Tanzania, the M-70 I used had a 2.5-8X, which is a wonderful scope, but would I have been able to make a shot with it that I would have had to pass up with the 1.5-5X? I don't think so. Perhaps it comes down to what you're used to. If you get used to looking through 10X glass, then that's what you want.
 
RatFink said:
Don't the new Ruger Africans come with those muzzle brakes?
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The new ones come with a removable brake as well as a thread protector. They also have an ebony forend cap. My rifle is the older style, built in 2011 acording to the serial #. I haven't seen any of the new style up here yet.
 
sgt.rock said:
My .375ruger just took 2 moose and a wolf last weekend. (Alaskan with the overmold stock................I must be the only guy that loves those stocks. I have another 2 Howa rifles with those Hogue stocks also) Now it has a tally of 5 animals and counting. Correction, 5 animals that never took a single extra step and their demise was nothing short of breath-taking. I really think that it is an awesome round. Reloading for it, (other than almost "hanging off the reloading press" to give the brass the oomph it needs to re-size) is a pure joy, and I gave up fiddling with COAL. It shoots great with almost EVERYTHING I have loaded for it. I used to hear that .375's were inherently accurate for some reason, NOW I KNOW IT TO BE TRUE.
The wolf was taken with 235gr speer bullets, and the moose both saw 300gr X-bullets.
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No need to full length resize the brass. Just set your die up to expand the neck, and ya won't have to "Hang off the press lever". Your brass will last alot longer and as long as you're loading for just the one rifle, you won't have to worry about chambering issues.:)
 
SHELL SHUCKER said:
No need to full length resize the brass. Just set your die up to expand the neck, and ya won't have to "Hang off the press lever". Your brass will last alot longer and as long as you're loading for just the one rifle, you won't have to worry about chambering issues.:)
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Thanks. Will adjust process. Brass is still semi hard to find.
 
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