375 as a 1 rifle battery

[DillonG]

Hello all,

I hope my post finds everyone well during the holiday season. I recently purchased my first .375 and am waiting for it to be delivered to my local FFL. My question for all who have experience with the caliber is rather simple. In your opinion, is a .375 considered a universal 1 rifle battery for PG and DG (excluding elephant)? If this question has been risen and answered on old posts, I do apologize. I did just a quick search and did not scour all of the threads. You can imagine that there are a lot of threads regarding this caliber.

 

[IvW]

Perfect choice with the right premium grade bullets and capable of elephant as well with correct shot placement.

It is the perfect all rounder for Africa and the single most useful caliber for this application and has been for the past 108 years and nothing in sight to displace it yet.

 

[DillonG]

Perfect choice with the right premium grade bullets and capable of elephant as well with correct shot placement.

It is the perfect all rounder for Africa and the single most useful caliber for this application and has been for the past 108 years and nothing in sight to displace it yet.

I appreciate the feedback. I do not have intentions of hunting elephant, at least not for a long time. Have you ever used the 375 and experienced too much damage on smaller PG like mountain reedbuck?

 

[IvW]

Never...use premium grade controlled expanding bullets on medium to large PG. They do not over expand. Forget about lighter softer high speed bullets for the 375 H&H you do not need them for hunting in Africa, stick to minimum 300 gr bullet.

On the real small ones such as the different duikers, stein buck etc. use solid bullets.

Only trick is to get the solid and expander to shoot to same POI, which is not a problem for a re loader. You may get lucky with factory ammo.

Typical 300gr Factory ammo sighted in for 200 yard zero will give you about 8-9 inches drop @ 300 yards, if you cannot get closer than that find a different PH...

 

[375Fox]

I am as confident with my 375 at 300 yards as I am with my 300 win mag. I took my 375 to Namibia last year and used it on everything from jackal and duiker to hippo and giraffe at ranges 25 to a little over 300 yards. No problems with over expansion for taxidermy on the duiker. I used 250 grain Barnes TTSX on most and 300 grain Swift on some of the heavier animals. This will get argued but I like the 250 grain bullets. They shoot more accurately in my rifle, shoot flatter, and recoil less. I see no need to ever get a 338 if I can shoot a 250 grain bullet in my 375.

 

[Red Leg]

Have taken everything from Suni to cape buffalo with a .375 - from 30 ft to nearly 300 yards - all with 300 gr bullets. My favorite.

 

[DillonG]

Sounds like I made the right choice then. Is everyone using premium expandable bullets for the most part? I would sight the gun in using 1 bullet and have it be basically universal.

 

[375Fox]

I really like the Barnes 250 grain, but if I was only going to pick one bullet it would be a 300 grain Swift a frame. I’ve never seen them fail in my 375 or my 300 H&H when I use to regularly use it for everything. One interesting thing, I would shoot ground hogs for practice with my 375 and Swift a frames before my buffalo hunt, they would actually run away without a perfect shot because too thin skinned to initiate bullet expansion. The picture attached bullet on left is from buffalo bullet on right is from blue wildebeest.

 

[Red Leg]

Sounds like I made the right choice then. Is everyone using premium expandable bullets for the most part? I would sight the gun in using 1 bullet and have it be basically universal.

I like to keep my world simple. I use a 300 gr TSX or Swift A-Frame for everything except the tiny ten type animals (Suni, Duiker, etc) for which a solid is perfect. With it, I can deal with anything out to as far as most PH's will allow you take a shot.

 

[Ridgewalker]

My experience has been 4 trips to Africa 3 using only the 375 H&H. It will go on my next trips assuming we can get back there before I croak!
If you’re not a nerd like me, I’d highly recommend the Swift A-frame and solids shooting to the same point of impact as IVW suggested.
If you are more nerdy, you can follow Dr Kevin Robertson’s suggestion and have QR scope mounts. A 1-5x for DG and 300 or heavier bullets. And a 3-9x for PG and 250-260 bullets. This has worked well in my experience. You can read my reports to learn more of my experiences.
I use Leupold VX6s. A 1-6x and a 2-12x. The 12x is a bit high, but I got it specifically for a croc hunt where you need to see and hit a golf ball size target at 100 yards. Worked well for me.
Search for an article by Kevin Thomas to find out more from his PH experience and the 375 H&H. A good article IMO!

 

[Ridgewalker]

What Calibre to Bring on a One-Gun Safari?

What Calibre to Bring on a One-Gun Safari?; With a heavy personal bias towards the .375 H&H by Kevin Thomas .375 Holland & Holland With heightened security being the order of the day across the globe, and not likely to disappear anytime in the future – in fact with the passage of time...

www.africahunting.com

Here‘s the article I mentioned. Enjoy!

 

[Philip Glass]

Hello all,

I hope my post finds everyone well during the holiday season. I recently purchased my first .375 and am waiting for it to be delivered to my local FFL. My question for all who have experience with the caliber is rather simple. In your opinion, is a .375 considered a universal 1 rifle battery for PG and DG (excluding elephant)? If this question has been risen and answered on old posts, I do apologize. I did just a quick search and did not scour all of the threads. You can imagine that there are a lot of threads regarding this caliber.

The short answer is yes. You can do most anything with the .375. It is best to have one gun so you never have the wrong gun! Get proficient with it and never look back.

 

[BeeMaa]

Yes is the answer you are looking for.
As others have stated the 300 grain bullet is the most versatile.
Barnes TSX, Swift A-Frame and Norma Oryx will be good starting points.

I took 9 head of PG with a 375H&H and 300 grain SAF's.
Only recovered 4 bullets.

 

[DillonG]

Yip, after all of these comments I’m getting excited. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of farm ground to shoot on, so getting trigger time isn’t my problem!

 

[375Fox]

Yip, after all of these comments I’m getting excited. I’m lucky enough to have a lot of farm ground to shoot on, so getting trigger time isn’t my problem!

What 375 did you buy?

 

[DillonG]

What 375 did you buy?

I bought a CZ550

 

[Royal27]

I like to keep my world simple. I use a 300 gr TSX or Swift A-Frame for everything except the tiny ten type animals (Suni, Duiker, etc) for which a solid is perfect. With it, I can deal with anything out to as far as most PH's will allow you take a shot.

Agree.

And if you have to shoot a little one with a soft just center punch it. I did that with a Sharp's Grysbok and it worked perfectly.

 

[curtism1234]

Imo the 375 hh or ruger is a perfect if you want to hunt medium and large game. That bring said, I am not a fan of hauling a 10+ pound rifle/scope all day when hunting non-eland plains game; that's just silly imo. 8 1/2 pounds provides manageable recoil and managable carry weight. That limits your 375 options. Personally I have been drooling over the Browning xbolt for a number of years now. 7 1/4 pound walnut stock rifle with a 10-13oz scope with mounts/rings is just about perfect. A spare magazine in your pocket and you are ready to follow up quickly if you have to.

 

[steve white]

It is such a good choice that I actually heard of one man taking TWO, just in case one got put out of commission.

 

[Newboomer]

375HH with two bullets: 235gr TSX for pg, 350gr TSX for dg. Perfection.