The best 375?

Rumsun's Son

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So I knew that by necking up/down, widening or just re-chambering in certain ways you could re-design a caliber, and create an entirely new one, but I did not realize this had been done so thoroughly and intricately with the 375 caliber.

I know a couple people on here shoot 375 Chatfield-Taylor, and Im sure theres a couple proud owners of an H&H or even a Ruger, but which one do you think is the best, and why?
 
i think H& H is the most common, ammo should be easy to find and its proven. Ruger looks interesting, kinda like a 375 short mag.
 
375 Ruger - it holds enough powder to duplicate the ballistics of the H&H, fits in a normal sized action, and is available in practical, affordable rifles
 
My Cousin bought a 375 Ruger Alaskan, and we fired it off the other week. I was really impressed with the way the stock handled took the recoil, My 300 Wby has more recoil imo.

Plus at 400 Yards, freehand, with un-altered open sights, steel gong goes clang.
And that was the 3rd shot out of the gun.
 
375 Taylor. It does everything the Ruger/H&H does, but you CAN'T get factory ammo for it. Thus it means only the most hardcore of the hardcore GunNutters have them. Everyone knows factory-available ammo is for pansies.
 
375 Taylor. It does everything the Ruger/H&H does, but you CAN'T get factory ammo for it. Thus it means only the most hardcore of the hardcore GunNutters have them. Everyone knows factory-available ammo is for pansies.

So what caliber brass do you have to use? Sorry if its an obvious question
 
If you want nostalgia, go .375 H&H
If you want to use up a bunch of .338 brass, go 375-Taylor
If you want horsepower, go with the fastest .375, the .378 Weatherby

If you want what the H&H would look like, if it was introduced today- Go .375 Ruger.;)
 
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! I am the Wizard of Oz, er Gatehouse, er...." He doesn't know what he's talking about.

Ballistics-wise, I can't really say for sure, as I don't have a chronograph to verify speeds. SuperCub can give clarification on that. All I know is that through all my number crunching, I'm getting close to 2800fps with a 250gr spitzer boattail, and I have my 300gr round nose going 2400ish fps.

So running the ballistics on that, the 250gr load has a similar trajectory to a 308. What does that mean in real life? It means I'm ringing the gong at 350m with hardly any hold-over.

(All ribbing aside, most all the 375's do the same thing, just with different cases/powders. The 375 weatherby gets the nod regarding numbers though, as Gatehouse said.)
 
Id hate to be hit with that.
Like I said, I found an untitled document on the web, that listed a cornocopia of 375's
such as a 375 Whelen, 375 Epstein, 375 Dakota, and tons else. And it just struck me as intriguing.
Not that I'd want to shoot one at the current time, besides my cousins 375 Ruger(And that took a bit of convincing), it'd break me, I get punished enough by my Weatherby.
 
My favourite .375 is the 38/55 Win., all the gun you need for deer, moose, bear, etc. If you need a bigger gun then that, then you need you a 45/70.
 
378 weatherby the ultimate killing machine 300gr barnes x at 3050fps and .75 inch groups at 100 yards and it shoots flatter than a 7 mm mag:rockOn:
 
I know a couple people on here shoot 375 Chatfield-Taylor, and Im sure theres a couple proud owners of an H&H or even a Ruger, but which one do you think is the best, and why?
All three are VG cartridges. All three are about the same in performance. Picking one over another boils down to personal preference in the guns they come in. The 375 CT is a wildcat made by necking up 338Win brass to 375cal. Like the 458, it was best suited for the 98 length action, not requiring a magnum action like the H&H. The 375 Ruger does the same, but in factory form.

My 375 Chatfield-Taylor will get the same speeds as an H&H.

here's a couple pics of the 375 CT I own ......

375Nosler009.jpg

375Nosler08moose006.jpg


This load was a bit hot, but the primers were good and I still got good
extraction. NOT RECOMMENDED!

375CT2866fps.jpg


375CT003.jpg

375Taylor004.jpg


Here's a pic of the MONSTER, SMASHER moose it took down last fall. This one's in the books now! ;)

2008moosehunt007.jpg
 
I tend to think that if you need more than a .375 H&H you need a bigger bore, the next logical step being a .458. When I had my .375 Ultra built it was to get the ballistics of a long barreled .375 H&H in a carbine length handy rifle. It does this with some to spare. I don't know if I'd have bothered to go this route had the excellent Ruger Alaskan been available, but at the time it wasn't, and I am very satisfied with the way my rifle turned out.

I did consider the choice of the .378 Weatherby, but I had just had a .416 Rigby and I didn't want to spend that much on brass again. This was going to be my primary rifle, so I intended to have around 500 pieces of brass. At Weatherby prices that would have been the equivalent of another rifle. The cost of Ultra brass is actually less than the cost of brass for the .375 Ruger, so I'm getting more bang for my buck - literally.

My favorite bullet is the 380 gr Rhino. I have been able to clock 2350 with those from my 20" Ultra, which is about 100 fps faster than I could with the .375 H&H. Rhino developed the bullet to be used on buffalo with a MV of 2250. The .375 Ruger doesn't do particularly well with this bullet due to it's short length and the amount of powder volume lost to the long bullet; 2150 was the best I could get. As bullet weight drops, the velocity advantage of the Ultra compared to a long barreled H&H is diminished.

Clearly though, anything I could do with the Ultra could be eclipsed by the big Weatherby, but that level of power was not my purpose when I had this rifle built. I can hit well out to 300 yards, so I don't consider a flatter trajectory particularly useful. One of the things I like about the .375 H&H performance level is the ability to take smaller game with full powered ammunition without excessive damage. I'm not sure this would be the case with the .378. For many years to come, the .375 H&H will be the performance level other .375's are measured against, so from a performance point of view, I say the .375 H&H is the best .375.
 
There is the .375 H&H, which yawns, rouses itself, and with a shrug, smites any creature on earth.:cool:

Then there are the numerous .375 H&H wannabes, which give themselves hernias struggling to emulate the undisputed King of Cartridges.....:puke:
 
Right on!! ......... Hear that Clarky Boy? :rockOn:



.


Factory ammo is for the weak, of course. But most wildcats these days are redundant, I'm afraid...;)

I tend to think that if you need more than a .375 H&H you need a bigger bore, the next logical step being a .458/QUOTE]

I agree with that 100%- a bit more velocity isn't going to change much in terms of performance on game, but going with a much wider, heavier bullet will. I'd probably go to a .416 rather than .458, just for versatility.


There is the .375 H&H, which yawns, rouses itself, and with a shrug, smites any creature on earth.:cool:

Then there are the numerous .375 H&H wannabes, which give themselves hernias struggling to emulate the undisputed King of Cartridges.....:puke:

The H&H has been deposed as king, when the Ruger took over. Long live the NEW KING!:rockOn:
 
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