What do you think about the 375HH for use on Plains Game? Share your opinion. I have been hunting with the 375HH for about three years now and honestly, for use on plains game in Africa and North America, I have not been all that impressed. To put that into context, with the exception of a poorly placed first shot on my Kudu this year, all of my first shots with the 375 have been well placed. My rifle shoots exceptionally well and I shoot it well. I am not particularly recoil sensitive and enjoy shooting full power 500g loads in the 458wm. Not that the recoil of the 375 is all that different. Some but not much.
So, why am I making such a blasphemous claim? Don't get me wrong. Every animal I have shot with the 375 has died, but...
With the exception of a whitetail deer that I shot in WV a few years ago as an ammo experiment, none of them were one shot kills. They all required one or more follow up shots. And the inspection of the internal damage on the deer indicated that the bullet did less damage than a 270win would (my usual deer rifle). I think that the usual bullets loaded into a 375 are built tough for killing large tough game and as such they expand more slowly and penetrate deeply and dump energy more gradually. While it might be necessary for Buffalo, it is not helpful on smaller, lighter game. I have used 250g Trophy Bonded Bearclaw, Barnes 300g TSX, and Swift A-Frame. All performed more or less the same.
The most impressive kill on game with a 375HH that I have made was a Blue Wildebeest. It was a world record class Alpha herd bull that stood his ground and faced us at 160y. I made a perfectly placed slightly quartering frontal shot that took out the right lung, the plumbing at the top of the heart and just nicked the left lung. Penetrated almost 36" and lodged in the paunch. That 300g TSX bullet expanded to 1.9x or 2.0x as I recall. The bull ran 60y and fell. A 2nd shot at 60y to the neck was a pass thru and the last shot at 10y was to finish the beast hit the chest and lodged on the opposite side and expanded to 2.2x. The first shot killed it but it still took two more. WB's are tough. I often wonder what a 30-06 or 300wm would have done on the same bull?
I have killed five African PG animals with the 308 and over a dozen deer and ALL were one shot kills except one deer and that was traced to a poorly constructed bullet that did not expand at all and functioned like a solid. Even in that case I killed the deer after several shots. I have used the 270 on at least a dozen deer and ALL were one shot kills and most dropped in their tracks. I have taken five or six with the 44mag in a rifle and ALL dropped in their tracks DRT. I have used the 7mm Mag and the 7mm/08 on PG and both worked effectively, even when some shots were not placed perfectly.
So, why is the 375 not the cat's meow? Slower MV with controlled expansion bullets is part of the issue. Even with the 180g heavy for caliber ammo in the 308, at 200y the 308 hits at speeds roughly 10% faster than the larger 375. Using 180g federal fusions the 308 expands to 2.4x and still penetrates well. The 375 with a 300g TSX is going to expand to about 1.9x at the same distance (200y). So, if both bullets expand to about the same 0.7 inch diameter and both penetrate enough to reach the vitals, will the one hitting faster do the most damage? I don't know but the empirical evidence would favor the smaller, faster, option.
Now, we are not advocating the use of a 308 or 270 to hunt Cape Buffalo. That is a different animal. Thick hide, large tough bones and a supernatural will to live and trample whomever pissed it off. Just sayin.
All, I am saying is that from what I have seen so far, the 375 while adequate for PG hunting, is not a magic bullet. A 30-06, 308, 7mm Mag or 300wm all might be a better choice. Lighter rifle, less recoil, and just as effective if not more so, on the typical PG prey.
None of us mere hunters are going to ever get enough personal experience to solve this question. We just do not have the time or funds to gain that kind of expertise. I would ask that our PH's who hunt hundreds of days each season and take hundreds of animals every year weigh in and share your opinions. I would ask that our older, more experienced hunters also share your experiences and opinions. Have you used the 375 on plains game or witnessed its use? How did it do? What was the internal damage when compared to other typical PG rifle choices? How often was the animal downed with one shot? and how often did it drop in its tracks? (central nervous system shots do not count).
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