I think it is to do with macho man. Most of us have at least a mild case.
Jack
Jack,
While I respect your view, I am one that did not base my purchase of a 375H&H on Macho Manisum! It was based on fact & fiction. I had read about this wonderful cartridge while I was just a very young lad. Not even old enough to hunt in my home state. I read a book called Death in the Long Grass and Big Game and Big Game Rifles. I was hooked on the idea of the perfect all around 375H&H. I actually did not get a 375H&H until I was 37 after hunting elk with a 7mmRM and did not like the results. I read a lot about elk hunting cartridges and there was a toss up between the 338WM & a 375H&H. Boddington, O'Connor, Keith, Capstick, Taylor, Sitton, Aagaard, Spomar, Truesdell, Simpson, & others consider the the 375H&H THE all around choice for hunting the world. Which I had dreams (Fantasies) of doing such a thing. So for me the 375H&H was a sensible choice over the 338WM.
Heck if they can use it in Africa from everything from Dik-Diks to Elephant it should be capable here in the US for everything also. I am also a firm believer in the one rifle theory. Learn it, shoot it, and you'll be better than most that shoot a bunch of different rifles. I know my 375H&H inside and out, handle it very well, and I shoot it very well.
Could you kill everything in the US with something smaller...like a 223AI...Probably? But you can't find that ammo almost anywhere. Boddington actually wrote if he could only have two rifles, he would choose a 30/06 & a 375H&H. If he could only have one it would be the 375H&H.
Now here comes the anti-macoism...you don't need to load it to warp speeds for it to perform. Reduced loads are very accurate and easy to shoot. But if you need the power it is there. You can't do that with most other cartridges, like the 223AI.
I guess if I was more of a American cartridge history buff I might be hunting a 45-70 or maybe a 40-90 or some other sort of old black powder gun. Or if I just hunted deer maybe a 30-30 lever gun. For my hunting a 375H&H & Recurve bow seems to be just about right for everything.
