Effective range for a .375 H & H

[sheephunterab]

Effective range? I'd say likely in the the 700 yard range for reliable bullet expansion. I killed my giraffe at 286 yards with a 250 grain GMX and I killed a black wildebeest at 318 yards with the same bullet. With the proper optics I'm sure it would be a reliable 500-600 yard rifle but I don't think I'd want to do a lot of prone shooting with it. My limit on sticks is around 300 yards.

 

[35bore]

Effective range? I'd say likely in the the 700 yard range for reliable bullet expansion. I killed my giraffe at 286 yards with a 250 grain GMX and I killed a black wildebeest at 318 yards with the same bullet. With the proper optics I'm sure it would be a reliable 500-600 yard rifle but I don't think I'd want to do a lot of prone shooting with it. My limit on sticks is around 300 yards.

I couldn't agree more with the statement about proper optics. With optics and a first hand knowledge of ballistics, the maximum effective range of the 375 H&H/and or any other caliber, depends on the shooter and his intended use for whatever caliber they choose.

I've read the stories of American bison falling from the 45-70 BP from over a thousand yards.

So we come again, full circle, if you know your rifle and YOUR LIMITS then I guess you know the limits of your 375 H&H.... The more you learn about its capabilities (and yours) the better off you'll be. You are the only one that can determine that though, no one else on this or any other forum can.

Practice, practice, practice. .. from all kinds of shooting positions, prone,kneeling, standing,bipod,tripod,etc.,etc. You will find your own comfort zone.

 

[Longwalker]

I don't normally stretch my shots to "long" range but I did manage to kill a moose very effectively with my .375 H&H and a 300 grain RN slug at just over 300 long steps away last year. That's as far as I'd care to shoot at unwounded game, and the results were instantaneous.

 

[Pheroze]

I don't normally stretch my shots to "long" range but I did manage to kill a moose very effectively with my .375 H&H and a 300 grain RN slug at just over 300 long steps away last year. That's as far as I'd care to shoot at unwounded game, and the results were instantaneous.
View attachment 159448

That's very interesting. I keep shying away from that bullet just in case I have to shoot across a clearing. Nice photo BTW.

 

[James Cook]

375 will definitely work w/ lighter loads at longer ranges. hornady makes a 250 grn gmx (mono) that shoots as flat as most magnums - sighted dead on at 200; -8" at 300; -20" at 400 & -40" at 500 w/ plenty of knock down power. shot a zebra at 200+ and gemsbok at 250 that both pretty much dropped where shot.

 

[ve7poi]

Taken moose at 300yds Barnes 300tsx
Black bear on the run at 200 same bullet
Moose at 100 with 250 tsx all one shot kills
Rifle fit well and shot like a dream now it is the one that started my big bore addiction. Lol
375H&H
375 ruger
470 ne
404j
458 Lott
400/450ne
500j

All shoot very well

 

[IvW]

300 gr bullet @ 2550 Fps sighted 2 1/2 inches high at 100 meters will have you dead on at 200 and between 8-9 inches low at 300 meters if you cannot hit it with that you should not be hunting at that range and you are not going to hit it with either a 260 or a 270 gr travelling faster anyway....

300 gr all the way...

Use one load practice with it and know what it does at which range that is all you need, nothing more nothing less.

 

[sgt_zim]

Thank you Marius does that mean that hunters with the one rifle approach shoot plains game with the conventional 286gr.

regards
corey

I think you may be confusing 9.3x62 with .375 H&H. 286 gr is the standard bullet weight for the former.

As to the OPs question, 250 and 260 gr bullets from 375H&H will have about the same flight path as 180 gr 30-06 - similar BC and similar MV means similar ballistic arc. If you're up to it, 300 yards is certainly do-able for most PG.

 

[BC.Pat]

Like many I don't often shoot game at extended ranges. But I did once in my youth drop a bull moose at 500 yards ( measured on a map & before I could afford a range finder).
Last day of the season and all. IMHO the 375H&H with the right load is a fine long range messenger. I fairly regularly take moose between 200~250 yards.

regards
Pat

 

[Ed Lally]

FYI - Choice Ammo offers the Barnes 250gr Barnes TTSX BT in 375 H&H. The website says backorder but when I called, they were able to ship me 3 boxes. Very accurate in my R8. I mounted a Leupold VX5HD 2-20X42 with a CDS dial created for thus round on this barrel. This system eliminates estimated hold over and, if you know the range, a good solid hit is assured.

 

[Hoss Delgado]

I get 3 inch Groups from my .375 HH Magnum Winchester Model 70 at 100 yards.
My BRNO ZKK - 602 in .375 HH Magnum shoots less than 1 inch groups up to 80 yards using a bench rest

 

[Forrest Halley]

When we qualify the effective range of the .375 H&H what are we using it for? We could really wring it out with a 300-350gr VLD Mono to maybe 1000 yards depending on the target and ability to make the range. The CEB's look really good on paper. A 300gr coming out at 2600 fps is supersonic beyond 1500 yds with a .700 BC. A 320gr bullet at 2450-2500 is supersonic beyond 1700 yds with 1750 ft/lbs at 1000 yds. It's a really cool cartridge and it's over a hundred years old. I think the short answer is the cartridge is effective beyond the range of the average shooter's competence. I'm so happy with mine that I wish I had never purchased a .300WM.

 

[colorado]

300 gr bullet @ 2550 Fps sighted 2 1/2 inches high at 100 meters will have you dead on at 200 and between 8-9 inches low at 300 meters if you cannot hit it with that you should not be hunting at that range and you are not going to hit it with either a 260 or a 270 gr travelling faster anyway....

300 gr all the way...

Use one load practice with it and know what it does at which range that is all you need, nothing more nothing less.

Agree, I shoot 300g A-Frames through our 375 Weatherby (Rem XCR II rechambered) at 2800 fps. So basically same bullet drop as a 30-06 but hits a lot harder. Agree 300 to 400 yards is a reasonable hunting max at least for me.

 

[rookhawk]

Greetings Gents from Scotland.
Can I please ask if anyone on the forum can answer my question.
I have a Blaser R93 .375 H & H and would like to know what the most effective killing range is using this calibre.
Would it be up to 100 yards or under 200 yards
I use a Blaser R93 .300 Win Mag out over 300+ yards with great results.

All the very best

DavieH

With excellent bullets and a steady rest, I’ve taken game out to 345 yards with a 375 and a 6x scope. The key ingredient was a firing solution to have the holdover correctly dictated by my ballistic rangefinder. This was with a 70 year old Mauser, not a new super accurate Blaser.

Off of sticks without knowing your holdovers? 200 yards.

 

[WAB]

Back when we ran a boat out of Valdez, I took a very large black bear at 350. He had us pinned or I would have stalked closer. The bullet was a 270 gr Swift A-Frame.

 

[CoElkHunter]

With 235gr,250gr,260gr and even 270gr bullets,the .375 is easily a 300 yard rifle.I have,although I prefer not to,taken animals at distances over 250 yards using hand-loaded 250gr Sierra GameKing's.Knowing your rifle's trajectory and shot placement will still ALWAYS be the most important factors in taking longer range shots.

Beware of the Sierra Game Kings on large game. My hunting buddy shot an elk three times at 25yds with his ‘06 with this load and four times on a cow moose at 25yds. The animals just stood there and eventually fell to the ground. They were dead, but just didn’t know it. This bullet seems to kill well, just not quickly. At longer distances? I know the jacket is thicker on the .375, but I wouldn’t/don’t trust this round on larger game at any realistic distance. Just my perspective from real hunting experiences.

 

[rookhawk]

Beware of the Sierra Game Kings on large game. My hunting buddy shot an elk three times at 25yds with his ‘06 with this load and four times on a cow moose at 25yds. The animals just stood there and eventually fell to the ground. They were dead, but just didn’t know it. At longer distances? I know the jacket is thicker on the .375, but I wouldn’t/don’t trust this round on larger game at any realistic distance. Just my perspective from real hunting experiences.

The American handloader cares about these things. Wants to know what bullet his gun “likes”. In Africa, we sound like total goofballs with things we say and do in North America.

How a gun feeds and loads trumps anything match grade accurate. How quick one can acquire, shoot, and cycle is hugely important. Bullet construction is really important.

Which one groups best by 1/2” at 100 yards is totally irrelevant.

So unless you’re dealing with double rifles where some bullets won’t regulate, the bolt action 375HH for Africa is really simple:

Pick your soft: a-frames, partitions, or TTSX.

Pick your solid: mono metal solids with or without driving bands.

Done! I’ve yet to see a 375hh that shoots the good stuff above in 10” groups, yet shoots some other witches’ brew minute of angle. It’s all pretty good, and rifle and bullet type trump match grade nonsense every time....for Africa.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Beware of the Sierra Game Kings on large game. My hunting buddy shot an elk three times at 25yds with his ‘06 with this load and four times on a cow moose at 25yds. The animals just stood there and eventually fell to the ground. They were dead, but just didn’t know it. This bullet seems to kill well, just not quickly. At longer distances? I know the jacket is thicker on the .375, but I wouldn’t/don’t trust this round on larger game at any realistic distance. Just my perspective from real hunting experiences.

Continuing. The Sierra Game King in .30 caliber and 165gr boat tail IS an extremely accurate killing bullet on mule deer and pronghorn antelope from my experiences with my son using his .308 and my hunting buddy and his son using their ‘06s. On elk and moose, not so much. My son, at 12yoa , shot his first elk at 200yds with his .308 and this bullet. Two lung shots within 3 inches of each other (I’m not sure I could have done this). The cow just stood there, and eventually fell over dead. Three more elk over the years at shorter distances, all required more than one killing shot. This Sierra bullet tends to “blow up” inside the animals, which is great, until you hit a rib, shoulder or other bone mass. Just observations from my hunting experiences with this bullet on larger game species.
I’ve used Remington Core Lokts’ in my .270 and later in my.338WM with no issues as far as killing an animal goes. Yeah, I know they’re not “premium” bullets , but I don’t care. They’ve worked well for me!

 

[Ed Lally]

Sierra Game King. Why use a bullet "which is great until"??? I was advised by my PH years ago to use Barnes TSX or TTSX and 2 PG Safaris and several NA big and smaller game animals later I use nothing but. I have used all my other previously purchased or previously hand loaded ammo in .22-250, 7x64, .300 Wby and .375 H&H for practice and use nothing but Barnes TTSX and TSX for hunting. Going back to RSA in a week and bringing nothing but Barnes. They are accurate, penetrate and expand well, retain almost 100% of their original weight, kill very well and do not leave a bloody mess of gunshot tissue behind. Ed

 

[Ed Lally]

Only exception. I would use Woodleigh Hydro Solids instead of Barnes. The design of the tip of the Woodleigh creats a large diameter wound channel while still remaining an un-mushroomed and un-deformed solid with straight line penetration.