What about a .375 Wby?

[rookhawk]

As great of round as the .375 H&H is, I’ve always thought the .375 Wby might be an even better choice. Same bullets. Due to it’s 100+ fps advantage, a slightly flatter trajectory and a little more energy. Couple those advantages with the ability to fire H&H ammo if needed, it sounds like it might be a great option.
I know a few of you have experience with this round so my questions are as follows:
Is your rifle a Weatherby or other rifle originally chambered for the .375 Wby? If not, did you simply rechamber a H&H or rebarrel a rifle to it? Who did the work?
Lastly, if you had to do it over again, would you stick with the H&H or go with the Wby?

You can get that 100FPS difference by handloads if speed is your thing. You can get a flatter trajectory by using copper bullets that have more volume at a given mass.

So then it comes down to the gun itself. Many 375 weatherby rifles are indeed, weatherby rifles. Most credible 375HH rifles for Africa are controlled round feed, nearly all Weatherby rifles ever made (excluding early mausers) are push feed.

So if you decide you're going to get a CRF rifle and are eyeing the 375 weatherby, the question then becomes why would you spend all that custom money to accomplish about what a 375HH will do? Might was well get a 404J or another caliber where the juice is worth the squeeze of paying all that expense for a CRF custom.

Just my thoughts. I've never missed an animal or failed to kill cleanly due to a missing 100fps, but I sure have had issues with bad stock fit, jams, and failure to extract. For those reasons I don't want a weatherby branded gun, I want a foolproof CRF in a very reliable caliber for extraction like 375HH, 404J, 458WM, 416 Rigby, etc.

 

[IvW]

I would drop the 458WM......

 

[450 Dakota]

Life is short. Build what you want. You can download the Weatherby, but you can’t up load the H&H. I’ve got an H&H, An Ackley Improved and a RUM all on Winchester actions. Just ordered a Krieger barrel to do a Weatherby. H&H would be the first to go if I was selling. Get some weatherby brass if going out of the country. get some Peterson basic brass and form it to weatherby if in US. Better brass than any 375 offering.

 

[JD Noblin]

I own a Weatherby Mark V in 375 Wby....hunted moose and cape buff with it. It's a great round, and I like the extra FPS it gives. I also had a 470 Capstick barrel made for this rifle and used it on cape buff.

 

[Jim Golden]

I built my .375 Weatherby on an Enfield Model 1917 action. So it is controlled round feed. I chronographed it at 2889 ft/s with a 300gr. I only shoot 300gr out of it. Tried to get some 350's but haven't had much luck.... But anyway, I think that's closer to 300 ft/s more than an H&H (which I do have and dropped a Russian Razorback hog with it twenty years ago....). The H&H is excellent. Probably the best all around cartridge ever developed. But I think the Weatherby outshines it. Mine makes more energy than a .458 Winchester Magnum. We'll see what it does to a dagga boy. I'm now building a .458 Lott on the same type of action. I need to quit building guns and get my butt over to Africa!

 

[meigsbucks]

You can get that 100FPS difference by handloads if speed is your thing. You can get a flatter trajectory by using copper bullets that have more volume at a given mass.

So then it comes down to the gun itself. Many 375 weatherby rifles are indeed, weatherby rifles. Most credible 375HH rifles for Africa are controlled round feed, nearly all Weatherby rifles ever made (excluding early mausers) are push feed.

So if you decide you're going to get a CRF rifle and are eyeing the 375 weatherby, the question then becomes why would you spend all that custom money to accomplish about what a 375HH will do? Might was well get a 404J or another caliber where the juice is worth the squeeze of paying all that expense for a CRF custom.

Just my thoughts. I've never missed an animal or failed to kill cleanly due to a missing 100fps, but I sure have had issues with bad stock fit, jams, and failure to extract. For those reasons I don't want a weatherby branded gun, I want a foolproof CRF in a very reliable caliber for extraction like 375HH, 404J, 458WM, 416 Rigby, etc.

I already have a .375 HH, .416 Ruger and .458 Lott. The Wby has always intrigued me. I see it as an option for a one gun safari rifle for buff and PG where the PG might be in more open country.
.

 

[freefall]

A guide I worked with had one, he had whatever H&H he had reamed out for it. His attitude was "Why not? I can still use H&H factory loads, handloads can gain me 2-300 fps, what's the down side?"

 

[K95]

@meigsbucks
In a Australia we have an esteemed gunwriter Nick Harvey and his thoughts on the matter are he can't figure out why weatherby stopped clambering rifles for the 375 Weatherby.
It is a better round than the original 375 and doesn't slap you silly like the 378. In his opinion it is the pick of the bunch of the 375s.
He had a Winchester model 70 in 375 and had the Weatherby treatment done to it. As you said if you want you can still use the normal in the Weatherby chamber.
Bob

Yes Bob
Nick loves his 375 Weatherby. I have shot it a number of times and it was such a pleasant thing to shoot. May have been the wood grained synthetic stock it wore but it kicked less than some 300’s I have shot. Nick still talks about it as the perfect long range big game caliber rifle he has ever owned .

 

[colorado]

You can get that 100FPS difference by handloads if speed is your thing. You can get a flatter trajectory by using copper bullets that have more volume at a given mass.

So then it comes down to the gun itself. Many 375 weatherby rifles are indeed, weatherby rifles. Most credible 375HH rifles for Africa are controlled round feed, nearly all Weatherby rifles ever made (excluding early mausers) are push feed.

So if you decide you're going to get a CRF rifle and are eyeing the 375 weatherby, the question then becomes why would you spend all that custom money to accomplish about what a 375HH will do? Might was well get a 404J or another caliber where the juice is worth the squeeze of paying all that expense for a CRF custom.

Just my thoughts. I've never missed an animal or failed to kill cleanly due to a missing 100fps, but I sure have had issues with bad stock fit, jams, and failure to extract. For those reasons I don't want a weatherby branded gun, I want a foolproof CRF in a very reliable caliber for extraction like 375HH, 404J, 458WM, 416 Rigby, etc.

I get 2800 fps with both Weatherby factory ammo (300g Partitions) and my own handloads (300g A-Frames). I've yet to see a factory 375 H&H round get more than 2550 fps which is standard and fine.

 

[K95]

Yes Bob
Nick loves his 375 Weatherby. I have shot it a number of times and it was such a pleasant thing to shoot. May have been the wood grained synthetic stock it wore but it kicked less than some 300’s I have shot. Nick still talks about it as the perfect long range big game caliber rifle he has ever owned .

 

[K95]

Yes Bob
Nick loves his 375 Weatherby. I have shot it a number of times and it was such a pleasant thing to shoot. May have been the wood grained synthetic stock it wore but it kicked less than some 300’s I have shot. Nick still talks about it as the perfect long range big game caliber rifle he has ever owned .

He tells me that he much prefers to use the 375 h&h on Buffalo then his 458 Win. Still after shooting over 160 Buff with the H&H he thinks the 375 Wea is a much better option.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

He tells me that he much prefers to use the 375 h&h on Buffalo then his 458 Win. Still after shooting over 160 Buff with the H&H he thinks the 375 Wea is a much better option.

@K95
Why use good when you can use better.
When are you going to get that lovely Sako 375 reamed out to the Weatherby version mate.
Bob

 

[colorado]

In all honesty, I often shoot 375 H&H factory 300g A-Frames though my 375 Weatherby. They seem to do the job just fine on the big bears. For elk where longer ranges might be encountered a 300g A-Frame at 2800 fps is a nice option (kind of like a 338 Win Mag on steroids). Though I have to admit my younger son has laid claim to the 375 Weatherby, so I'm stuck with either my 270 Weatherby or my 500 jeffery for elk this season.

 

[K95]

@K95
Why use good when you can use better.
When are you going to get that lovely Sako 375 reamed out to the Weatherby version mate.
Bob

It’s not a H&H, it’s the 375 Ruger, another case that doesn’t grow in length ever time you pull the trigger

 

[IvW]

So is the 375 WM and and 375 H&H AI on par?

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

It’s not a H&H, it’s the 375 Ruger, another case that doesn’t grow in length ever time you pull the trigger

@K95
Sorry Ken I was having a senior moment. I do remember your 375 was a beautiful rifle tho.
Bob

 

[colorado]

So is the 375 WM and and 375 H&H AI on par?

Yes, only difference is really the radius shoulder of the Weatherby and you can buy Weatherby factory ammo for the 375 WM. They can both shoot 375 H&H ammo as well.

 

[K95]

Yes pretty much the same

So is the 375 WM and and 375 H&H AI on par?

thing except the Weatherby shoulder.

 

[K95]

Here is a picture of Nick, bottom right with a couple of his old hunting buddies. Does anyone recognize some of the faces ?

 

[ACM]

I too am a 375 WBY fan (especially after reading Warren Page), BUT I will say I get 2710fps out of my H&H when using VHT N540 powder. Bullet 300gr TSX & Woodleigh RNSN. The small bump I would get from reaming one of my H&H’s to WBY is not worth it to me. Vihtavuori 500-series powders are amazing. I have shot hundreds of these loads in my 375 (in TX summer heat), and never had any signs of pressure. Not even a sticky bolt lift. Much of my brass is 4x reloaded.