375 Ruger

[BoarHog375]

Who has experience or owns one of these rifles, whether it be the African or the Alaskan. Looking for pros and cons. TIA!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Rugers are solid rifles. I've had a 375 Ruger for 10 years. It's an Alaskan model, laminated stock with a 23 inch barrel. They only made a few with 23 inch, as most Alaskans are 20 inch. Hornady developed the cartridge to get 375 H&H performance out of a rifle with a 20 inch barrel. They succeeded, as the two cartridges have essentially the same performance. The Rugers tend to be a little on the light side, compared to the H&H rifles, so felt recoil is very noticeable. The Ruger will give you a lower cost entry into big boy caliber rifles. Buy a bunch of factory ammo and reload is the way to go. You might want to buy a Lead Sled too.

Links to a good article

375 H&H Vs 375 Ruger Part I of II Godzilla Vs Mothera…With Handload Data – Real Guns

realguns.com

375 H&H Vs 375 Ruger Part II of II Good Grief! Anyone Have an Aspirin ? – Real Guns

www.realguns.com

 

[Rem280]

I own one and love it. Smashed a 49 inch cape Buffalo last year with it. Only down side is limited ammo options. My gun shots Buffalo Bore 270 grain TSX amazing. Just save all your brass.

 

[Mnovak]

Love mine, I have the Alaskan model. Ammo is a little limited, Swift has factory ammo with the 300gr A frames. Hornady offers the most factory ammo in 270gr and 300gr options. There’s a few other small batch run offerings and it’s hit and miss to get your hands on. If you reload that’s definitely a plus. Save your brass, other components are fairly common. I’ve had great success with H4350 and R15 powders. Gun handles nice, shoots great and it’s my go to if I ever hunt anything requiring a big bore, but that’s not very often unfortunately.

 

[Ndczerwinski]

I have a Gunwerks Skuhl chambered in 375 Ruger and love it. I reload 270 gr Barnes TSX at 2800 fps and it duplicates the factory 300 gr ammo energy with much better accuracy and much lower recoil.

I’m able to hit steel plates with it no problem out to 500 yds. I used it on a safari and took animals with this loads from 50 yds to 200 yds off of sticks. All animals were absolutely devastated by this load.

Animals taken:
-Cape Buffalo
-Sable
-Kudu
-Zebra
-Water buck
-Gemsbuck
-White Blesbuck

 

[Ryan]

I own a African model, picked it up very lightly used in 2011. I used it for giraffe in '13, then buffalo and four plains game in '21. I did upgrade the stock with a laminate from Accurate Innovations early on. Great rifle in my opinion.
Positives. Left handed (I am), reasonably priced, well made. Reliable -cycles well for me. Accurate.

Negatives. The stock was a bit light by most peoples standards for a 375. As I mentioned, I upgraded. The Ammo and brass availability has been up and down. In the early years, ammo was spotty but brass was everywhere, so I got into handloading. Now, it's impossible to find brass but Hornady ammo is available. Very little if any other manufacturers are making ammo. Compare to a 375 H&H which has plenty of choices. Ruger safety is very safe, but not the best for a DG rifle. A tang safety is a better choice there. Practice with it a lot. I know of one PH who had an issue with his Ruger safety when a buff charged and ended up in the hospital. He has since removed it.

 

[John Wasmuth]

I’ve got an “08”model Hawkeye. Got no complaints about it.

 

[ryno111]

Love mine. It is the Alaska model with rubberized stock. Used it on bears most recently in Canada. Paired it with a 1-8 scope.

 

[WI-2021]

I currently own about 2.75 rifles in .375 Ruger. I'm a lefty, so it was the easy way into a .375 for me, and I may have gone a bit overboard. I have a 20" Alaskan with laminate stock and a 23" African with walnut. Both bought cheap when CDNN was clearing out the original (non muzzle brake) versions. I like them, but they're toys for me, not serious hunting rifles, since I don't currently hunt anything requiring a .375.

They're well built for their price point and accurate. The sights are nice and I like the 3 position safety, though it is a bit small. They handle like a typical deer rifle, but the sporter stocks have had some cracking issues. Mine have not cracked, but I had both glass bedded to help prevent this. Factory recoil pads are not good. Both mine were replaced with Pachmayrs, which helped tremendously. The African in particular was a little sporty in the recoil department due to being fairly light and the factory pad being a hockey puck.

The other .75 of a rifle is a custom build that's just waiting for a barrel. Once that's finished and working, I'll either sell the African or finally turn it into a .458WM, which was my original intention when I bought it. I stuck with the Ruger cartridge for the custom simply because I already have a stockpile of ammo.

As others have mentioned, ammo options are somewhat limited, but it is available. .375 H&H would definitely be a better choice when it comes to ammo and brass options.

 

[Daisy]

I started with an African and two Alaskan models. Really liked them but switched to a barrel for my Blaser r8. Now have 375 Ruger and 416 Ruger barrels. I really like it and I enjoy having them at 20”. I do shoot suppressed.

 

[Bandera]

I have a left handed African, actually my second one.
The first was an early model without the comp on it. It was down right unpleasant to shoot factory ammo. 6 shots off the sticks and I had a headache.
The sling point on the stock was a bad idea Ruger had.
This kinda gun needs the barrel band sling point.

My current is a new model with the comp on it. Very pleasant to shoot compared to the first one.
Accuracy with the 300 grain loads is great.
Accuracy with my 270 grain loads is fantastic.

I also put a 1” red recoil pad on it. That also calmed it down.

I have a party of 7 (myself included) going to Africa with me in June.
Three of the party wanted a do all rifle. Hunt anything anywhere.
I suggested the 375 Ruger. 2 of the guys went the Guide gun.
The other with the African.

One is carrying a 30-06
One is renting.
Four are carrying a 375 Ruger.
One a 375 H&H.

So I read that at least on person experienced a failure to extract working the bolt fast & hard.
I put that to the test. I could not duplicate it.
First shot 50 yards 4” target on sticks.
Second shot 25 yard target off sticks full size silhouette target 8” spot on it.
Goal under two seconds.
So maybe the guy short stroked it. Maybe he broke or chipped his extractor. Who knows. There is always the Murphy factor.

Is it a Rigby? No.
Is it a functional rifle that looks good and shoots great? Yes
Ammo is not hard to find.
Reloading?
Brass is hard to find, 375 H&H is not so hard to find.
Projectiles are easy to find.
Powder is easy to find.
Magnum primers a bit more difficult.
Dies are easy to get.

Ruger’s customer service is first rate.

Now if you have to have a CRF rifle, Savage is now making rifles in 375 Ruger.

 

[Taylorz1]

I have a ruger alaskan with the hogue stock and love it. I may even like it better than my model 70 safari express in 375 hh and I love that gun. That little stainless ruger works for dangerous stuff in Africa, and elk hunting in the US, or bear hunting...or deer hunting or just a bad weather gun for anything...or a good weather gun for everything. Its very versatile. I much prefer the hogue stock to the laminated wood one. The worst thing about the 375 ruger is hornaday. They never make runs of brass for it and you are basically stuck with their soft or solid loads as nobody else is producing it to my knowledge. You can make brass out of the prc cases in a pinch but that doesnt help you of you need to travel to places that check headstamps.

 

[WI-2021]

I have a ruger alaskan with the hogue stock and love it. I may even like it better than my model 70 safari express in 375 hh and I love that gun. That little stainless ruger works for dangerous stuff in Africa, and elk hunting in the US, or bear hunting...or deer hunting or just a bad weather gun for anything...or a good weather gun for everything. Its very versatile. I much prefer the hogue stock to the laminated wood one. The worst thing about the 375 ruger is hornaday. They never make runs of brass for it and you are basically stuck with their soft or solid loads as nobody else is producing it to my knowledge. You can make brass out of the prc cases in a pinch but that doesnt help you of you need to travel to places that check headstamps.

Buffalo Bore also makes loads for it. I haven't tried them, but they're available. I suspect they use Hornady brass.

 

[WI-2021]

Regarding the failure to extract comment; I haven't heard of that and, short of the claw extractor breaking I'm not sure how it would happen. I have had an issue with failure to eject on a .308 Ruger Scout rifle, but not my .375's. The ejectors in these rifles are spring loaded and pop up as the bolt nears the end of its travel. In the case of my .308, the ejector didn't pop up fast enough when the bolt was run fast and the case head was past it by the time it was in position. Some polishing of the ejector and a stiffer ejector spring mostly solved the issue. Test for it by running the bolt as fast as you can starting with an empty case chambered. Do this repeatedly, both with an empty magazine and a full magazine. If the case is extracted but remains in the rifle, that's your problem.

 

[WI-2021]

Regarding the sling swivel on the forearm; if your rifle has one, replace it with the lowest profile screw you can find. Bandera is right, that was a really bad idea on Ruger's part, especially since they have a barrel band. My Alaskan came with a front swivel stud, but the African had a low profile screw in its place out of the box. I swapped the Alaskan to a screw. While I never bashed my hand with the stud on the .375, I did it once with my .300. It doesn't feel good.

If you happen to shoot suppressed, be aware that the current iterations of these rifles are threaded 5/8"-18, not the standard 5/8"-24; another poor decision on Ruger's part. To suppress it, you'll either need a thread adapter, or a custom hub adapter (and obviously a hub compatible .375+ can). Mine were the older, unthreaded version, so I had the Alaskan threaded 5/8"-24. Not an inexpensive undertaking due to the barrel band front sight needing to be removed and replaced. I use a .458 Rex Silentium MG7 on mine. It's small, so not very quiet, but it helps and it isn't huge. It's also very affordable by silencer standards.

 

[USMA84DAB]

Thanks to all of you for your input/sharing on this thread. This is a quite enjoyable read for .375 Ruger fan boys such as myself.

I like the Ruger Alaskan so much that I bought a spare/have a brace of them. One is stainless with no brake, the second is an earlier production in the black coating and no brake.

(After the South African Police (SAP) tried to steal my Alaskan, I got kinda anal about it. The PH said "people in the van, weapons and trophies in the bakkie". He then rolled the bakkie on the highway and the police gleefully tried to intimidate me into fleeing the country to avoid arrest for breaking their gun law requiring me to have the rifle in my possession at all times. They claimed it would take 6 months to test fire the rifle to prove it was a functional firearm prior to my court hearing. Now, when you go to SA and are never separated from your rifle, you can whisper "Thanks, USMA84DAB, for being the poster child on this issue." Since Somerby did a phenomenal job of standing behind me - Drom & Sune got the PHASA chief counsel to defend me up to the SAP general, put me up at zero additional cost while this played out - just perfect moral/ethical behavior - everyone running safaris in South Africa has learned the lesson, I am told.)

One Alaskan is currently sporting a VX5HD 3-15x44 with firedot and CDS dial. The darker copy has a VX6HD 1-6x24 firedot with CDS dial. Having fired a Guide gun version with laminate stock, I much prefer the Hogue overmold stocks. They flex during firing, absorbing some of the recoil, and I really like being able to hold onto the rubber coating. The PH christened the stainless version "Stubby" due to the 20" barrel vs. the standard H&H length barrels going 24"-26". My experience with the platform in Africa and deer hunting here in the States is that the shorter barrel and action make it a Goldilocks rifle for me. Truth be told, I am actually thinking of getting a third Alaskan just because I love it that much. I used to be like Toby on here - ALWAYS buying and selling rifles like Imelda Marcos buying shoes. The Alaskan has pretty much put an end to that.

I am more than livid with Hornady for their failure to support the reloading of this cartridge. They claim to have not been able to catch up with demand after the scamdemic. Around Thanksgiving the first run of .375 Ruger brass since covid, hit the stores and for about 1 week it was available. I bought 150 cases, and have another 100 inbound. I know one can pretty much always find 300gr ammo for $80 a box of 20, but I find the 270 grain TSX and SP-RP to be wholly adequate for my needs.

 

[USMA84DAB]

Buffalo Bore does indeed make ammo for the .375 Ruger as well. I took a box with me in 2021 - it was about $125 then, if I am remembering correctly.

 

[Papa72]

+1 on the African’s factory stock being too thin. I am a tall guy with long fingers and need more wood in the wrist area and I suspect most folks would agree. I purchased mine online without having handled an African so here we are.