Kurt:
Got one with 99 rounds of factory rounds in a trade 20y ago. It was a Mark V and I shot it about 20 rounds and took it out elk hunting. Took me 4 days of shooting to sight it in. It had a Weatherby brand scope which was crap. Long story shot a rag horn elk with it at approximately 100 yds. Only gun to ever scoped me in 60+ years of hunting and shooting. It killed the elk, but no more dead than any other suitable elk rifle.
Did a spring Coastal Brown Bear hunt just a couple years later off a 60ft yacht in AK. There was a 2nd hunter who I didn't know, who brought 2 rifles (340 & 378 Wby). The first night in the Sitka harbor, the Outfitter told him that he would not be using the 378! long story short we drew straws to see who would make the first stalk in a Zodiac to shore and then alternate. After stalks on 5 bears he shot his bore with the 340 with near disastrous results, but with the help of the young Master Guide and his Marlin lever in 45-70 they got the bear.
After 3 more stalks, I got my Bear with a 375 H&H DIT with Swift A-frame 300gr.
Took me a year to sell that 378 Wby at a loss, only time I was ever happy to lose over $1000.
Take it for what it is but there are a lot of big game calibers that will do a better job with less pain. And I love big bore rifles and own and hunt with them from 375 H&H, 400H&H, 416 Rigby, 470NE, 458 Lott,
and 500NE and they are all more pleasant to shoot than my limited experience with a 378!
Good luck with your quest, let us all know your "real world experience"
