375 H&H moose bullet

[Pheroze]

I am taking the H&H moose hunting this fall as practice for Africa. I was hoping to use GS Customs but I am getting concerned that there is a manufacturing backlog. My backup plan: I have Horndy 275 gr interlock but I am also considering Woodleigh. I am favoring a RN bullet and there is a PP as well. Moose are not that tough but the ranges are probably maximum 275 yards, however, I suspect shorter distances are much more likely. The kind folks at Woodleigh suggested 300 gr in either Hydro or regular but they admitted no real experience on moose. I am concerned the Hydro would not qualify as an expanding bullet here in Canada... Hmmm....any advice on this conundrum?

 

[Pheroze]

As a clarification, I am sure all of the above will kill the moose. My question is really about the ballistics of the caliber and how best to utilize it. Thanks.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

250gr North Fork bonded core with H4895 behind it. Good for 2850fps and a dead moose I'm certain.

 

[Mr. 16 gauge]

What are you planning on hunting in Africa with your .375 H&H? Have you checked with your P.H. as to what type of bullet they prefer (Some P.H.s hate certain brands/types of bullets)? I guess if you are hunting plains game, and not dangerous game, then whatever you plan on using for Africa will work for moose, and if you can't get your GS customs (not familiar with those....could you please elaborate?), then I would go with whatever bullet your P.H. would recommend for game in Africa, and go from there. I shoot TONS of Hornady bullets for practice, but I know that a lot of P.H.s don't like them, and when it comes to hunting, I use Noslers (either partition or accubond). If your P.H. is good with Hornadys, go ahead and use 'em...........and good luck! Moose is the one North American game animal that I would really like to hunt, but haven't had a chance to.

 

[ChrisPy]

Moose are wimps, bullet placement is key. My kids have shot 3 moose with a 7mm-08 and watched them fall over. Big bores are just fun to shoot and hunt with

 

[BRICKBURN]

Just a bigger hole.
Works like a charm on deer.

I am not sure about the expansion issue. I sure would not want to be up against it with a Wildlife Officer trying to explain the strange bullet (to them) performance.

 

[Pheroze]

What are you planning on hunting in Africa with your .375 H&H? Have you checked with your P.H. as to what type of bullet they prefer (Some P.H.s hate certain brands/types of bullets)? I guess if you are hunting plains game, and not dangerous game, then whatever you plan on using for Africa will work for moose, and if you can't get your GS customs (not familiar with those....could you please elaborate?), then I would go with whatever bullet your P.H. would recommend for game in Africa, and go from there. I shoot TONS of Hornady bullets for practice, but I know that a lot of P.H.s don't like them, and when it comes to hunting, I use Noslers (either partition or accubond). If your P.H. is good with Hornadys, go ahead and use 'em...........and good luck! Moose is the one North American game animal that I would really like to hunt, but haven't had a chance to.

I am not sure how to break the quote up:

I am using the 375 for my trip. I had settled on a GS custom after discussing with PH. They are a south African brand of monometal bullet that seems to be quite good.

Good advice to call ph and discuss! A very sensible solution considering the object of the exercise is practice!

Thanks

 

[Mr. 16 gauge]

If your P.H. recommended the GS custom, and you wish to check their performance prior to going to Africa, then by all means go for it.......but I would have a "back up" plan in case you couldn't get them, and seeing as how it is difficult STILL got get certain bullets/loads/ammo, you might want to do it sooner than later (back up, I mean).

I am not sure about the expansion issue. I sure would not want to be up against it with a Wildlife Officer trying to explain the strange bullet (to them) performance.

I have to agree on this one.

 

[JWB300]

Any reason you wouldn't run a 235/270/300 Gr Barnes TSX?

Cheers,
JWB300

 

[Pheroze]

Any reason you wouldn't run a 235/270/300 Gr Barnes TSX?

Cheers,
JWB300

I am open to suggestions. I find the barnes hard to find locally in 375. I just happened to have found a local source of Woodleigh components.

 

[JWB300]

I'm sure the Woody would be a great choice too. We experience the same issues with obtaining barnes projies too. I see Cabelas had a sale on them recently but they won't ship OS!

 

[Pheroze]

The bit of knowledge I feel I am missing is the "why" of the different weights and shapes for the distances I shoot. Up to 250 yards there is not any great difference in the ballistics between the 270 and 300 gr. On paper the RN also does not greatly influence the decision. Yet the cartridge was designed with the three weights in mind. I do believe the construction of the 235 gr offering is too light for moose. But, from my limited experience I am not sure why I would chose 300 over 270 or round nose over protected point, except for reasons of availability. I am assuming that there will be an advantage of one over the other that maybe someone else has experienced?

To answer one question I failed to reply to, I am hunting eland as my primary animal in Africa. If finances, time or opportunity allow I will go after another animal but eland is the goal.

 

[JWB300]

If people are killing Moose with a 7mm 08 the 235 would be ample. How many moose get bowled with 300wsm/win mag's running 180's... Over 300 yds there is very little difference in trajectory and if you sight in for that weight projie it won't be an issue.

The differences in weight and designs are just choices. In reality there is probably very little variation in performance and recoil etc.

If I were using woodies for Moose I would run with the PP's to give better penetration as they are a big animal. Personally I've found no reason to stray from Barnes other than availability. If I can't get Barnes I will run 270 gr Woody PP's. I wouldn't be looking so much at weigh but at construction. All options will be fine if shot placement is good.

 

[larry4831]

Try a Sierra 250 grain, it's not an expensive bullet and I'm sure it would do very well on moose, I shoot them in my 375 H&H and they are tack drivers. That's what I'm going to use on moose this year

 

[Pheroze]

Try a Sierra 250 grain, it's not an expensive bullet and I'm sure it would do very well on moose, I shoot them in my 375 H&H and they are tack drivers. That's what I'm going to use on moose this year

I have not tried Sierra before but I hear good things about them. Good luck this fall!

 

[AZDAVE]

Swift A-Frame 300 gr through both shoulder will do the trick. In may I used a 300gr Aframe in my 9.3x74 2370FPS ( a little Less than a 375) One shot on a cape eland bigger broke both shoulder,s lungs and top of heart he ran 10 yards turned around and came back and dropped almost in the spot I shot him. Bullet was just under the skin on opposite side perfect expansion, weight 294gr.

 

[IdaRam]

If you've already got the 270 gr Interlock's I'd probably just shoot those. Moose or Eland, those are great medicine on game. They expand well, mushroom nicely and penetrate decent.
A couple other top choices on both of those animals would be a 300 gr Nosler Accubond at about 2500 fps, or the 260 gr Accubond at about 2700 fps. I'm kinda partial to Accubonds though...

 

[Rockjockey]

I'm shooting 235gr TSX out of my 375H&H at 3020fps and had no problem with anything I shot in South Africa this spring. The furthest was 350yrds on my Black Wildebeest, all other shots were within 200yrds and no follow up shots were required (I hit my Waterbuck and Gemsbok twice only because they were both within 150yrds from a whole bunch of nasty bush / steep terrain and didn't want the tracker and helpers having to hump the carcass up and out of the crap, second shot piled both up on the spot). Only one bullet was recovered which was a 185yrd 30° incline length wise shot on my Kudu. It was recovered in the opposite hind quarter and was a beautiful 4 petaled picture of perfection.
Nothing on this side of the Atlantic would pose any problem for this load in my opinion.
I've included a comparison of 235 to 270gr TSX for ballistics and unless you are going to shoot out past 625yrds the 235 's have better ballistics (good luck practicing to make these shots consistently) and not a lot.
I use this site to do my calcs:
http://www.shooterscalculator.com



RJ

 

[Longwalker]

I just shot my first moose with a .375H&H last week, and as it happens it was the farthest away I've ever shot a moose. 280-300 long steps. I used the plain standard Federal blue box 300 gr RN. I did not plan to shoot that far, and my shooting was not the best, but when that big old cow stepped out in the open and stood broadside I couldn't resist. The first shot was too far back, through the guts just behind the diaphragm. A running away shot broke her femur an slowed her down, and a more careful high shoulder shot broke her back and dropped her. Holes were different than from smaller faster cartridges, finger sized and not much bloodshot meat. All three shot exited the animal. The first poorly aimed gut shot did not cause much mess at all. I liked the performance of the cartridge, and it seems like its bone breaking power and deep penetration without ruining meat did compensate a bit for my lousy first shot.

 

[Rob404]

While I have to admit I have not had the opportunity to hunt game with my 375 yet, I have played around with plenty of weights and powders and H4895 works on loads under 300grs, for accuracy I can't say enough good things about 300gr Sierra's behind 78Gr of Win 760 measuring a touch over 2600fps out of my Whitworth