Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa only can have one- 30/06 or 375 holland and holland

I don't know anyone who can afford to hunt Africa that only has one rifle. That includes those that couldn't afford it but managed to scrape the money up. Then there's who have dozens of rifles and feel that they can't afford Africa but that's a somewhat different topic. I could say something to the effect that if you absolutely can't have more than one rifle you will struggle to afford to shoot a .375 any meaningful amount, since the cost of real shooting quickly makes the purchase price of normal rifles seem like chump change. So does the price of a safari to be frank.

That's the bad news, it gets better. If I had a dollar for every time that someone told me that I wouldn't make it to Africa I'd have made it there 10 years sooner and still be hunting on the change. You can do the same, and will if you want it bad enough.

It would be easy to say that a .375 is a great one rifle for the world choice and it would be true enough. I've shot animals from steinbuck to giraffe with them and its seldom a bad choice. Taking a M70 Alaskan in .375 on a brown bear hunt in British Columbia in 6 weeks.

Its just as easy to say that a 30-06 is a fine whitetail and most of North America hunting choice, even if much of the coolest NA hunting costs more than much of Africa and those hunters that I know that are doing it seldom seem to be packing a 30-06. It is also a great choice for much of the plains game. Ranges tend to be short, and anything that you would happily clobber an elk with will handle most of it.

I'd recommend that you get what suits your needs right now, and spend less time worrying about possible future uses. If and when you go to the dark continent buying another rifle will seem cheap compared to the cost of everything else. If you are shoe-stringing it remember that a plane ticket and no rifle will get you closer to Africa than a rifle and no plane ticket. You can same enough in ammo cost shooting a 30-06 to pay for the .375.

Here is a Remington M 700 .375 RUM,as is in the pic it weighs 7lbs 12oz.



Great to carry,but brutal to shoot. It's being re-stocked with a laminated stock as I type this. Hopefully bringing up the weight to 9lbs +.

Just remember a lighter rifle is gonna recoil more,no matter the cartridge. And since practicing with it is important I like a little more weight, 8lbs is good for a .30/06 and 9lbs + is good for a .375.

I get disagreed with all the time.

Have an office staff of women and one at home...

But, Loonies won't be content with just two basic bullet types in the .375. Just because they will work doesn't really mean a lot to that audience...

My point being, one can down load, do a bunch of creative stuff with the .375 as a reloader, those options are more limited at the store. Full house 300's are a bit much for everyday WT hunting. 220's, 225's, 235's loaded appropriately, at least in my mind, make a lot more sense.

DF

Now, that's about the best answer to this question I've read and a great summary in general.

DF

Think you missed the point about factory ammo,the choice is limited in the .375,but pick one and use it for everything. Factory ammo for a .375 H&H is hardly "fast" with it only going 2530 fps for a 300 gr bullet. The recoil from that load (to me at least) is not that bad. It'll kill WT all the way up to Cape buffalo and elephant (using a solid),which is pretty versatile IMO.

Reloading does open up a new venue for a .375,but I'd rather use a 300 gr bullet. Keeping it simple.

The 270 and 300 grain bullets have long been the standards for the .375, and like many others I gave little notice to those in the 230 grain range. Having been told over and over that although they started out fast they slowed down just as fast and weren't very flat shooting. Everyone knows that right? Right?

Well, when I started playing with my M70 Alaskan I couldn't help noticing that it was much lighter than it was catalogued at. 8.2 pounds with a Leupold 3.5-10 x 40 to be exact. This is so much different than the 10 pound .375s that I'd been packing around that I got to thinking that I could likely pack that anywhere I'd take a normal rifle around home. A 10 pound rifle doesn't seem like much in Africa when you probably will kill a couple animals a day, but its a bit much when you carry it for a week and shoot once. As it turned out I had a couple boxes of Cutting Edge Bullets' 230 grain ESP Raptors that I'd added to an order on a whim. 74 grains of H4895 in Winchester brass got them up to 3025 fps. I'd actually took them up to 77 grains before pressure signs started, but never bothered chronographing those. Besides, the 74 grain load shot right a MOA and was producing plenty of velocity so why push it? Loads heavier started getting more compression than I cared for.


The eye opener for me was when those loads tracked to a B&C reticle exactly like a .300 Win and many others out to 500 yards. Hmmm, maybe they don't have a clue what their own BCs are? The fact that they just double the BC of any bullet with the optional tips does suggest that there wasn't a lot of testing involved. All this does make a guy wonder what an 8.2 pound dressed walnut and steel rifle that will group 230 grain fragmenting mono bullets under 5 inches at 500 yards with a .300s trajectory and a ton of retained energy wouldn't be good for. I think Misters Holland and Holland's old cartridge is about to step out and take some new ground back from the smaller magnums, when the downsides of rifle weight, recoil and trajectory disappeared. 'Course, it can return to its "normal" configuration and push buffalo around just with an ammo swap.

230 gr. fragmenting Raptors at 3K does open new doors of possiblilties, even at extended range.

Keep us posted. May want to try that combo myself.

DF

I see where you're going with that.

But, you may be KISS'ing too much Loony stuff out of the equation...

Hard core Loonies don't want it too simple...

DF

DF,true on the looney stuff. I loaded 235,240,250,260,270 and 300 gr bullets in the Super Express I own.

Finally just settled on the 300 gr for it.

By the way had the SE for 21 years. Taking it to Africa next fall for a lioness hunt.

Also have a Stainless Steel .375 H&H loaded with 260 gr NP and right now I'm tossing the idea of using a 300 gr Hornady or NP in it. Just to keep everything simple (sort of) by using just one bullet weight.

Lots of positive talk about the 270 TSX in the .375 for big stuff. Have you tried those?

DF

Get the 30-06 for now and save up for the 375 down the road.

If I could afford a Holland and Holland, I'd pack up my 45-70 Guide Gun and go to Africa twice. Then again my 45-90 slings out some 545 grain slugs. Might take that if something of substance was going to show up.

I used both the 270 and 300 grain TSXs with good results. I've bounced back and forth, and although I want to say that the 270s kill a little faster it sure wouldn't be by much, if in fact there is any difference at all.

My standby load for the .375s is now the 270 grain A-Frame. No problem telling a difference when those hit, compared to a TSX. I've shot 9 buffalo with that bullet, and a bunch of smaller stuff.

Randy and Connie Brooks definitively preferred the lighter weight TSX bullets in the 375 and 416. In their testing, they seemed to kill faster.

Yeah, that's what they told me too.

No.

Have tossed the idea of using Woodleigh 300 gr softs and solids in it.

Those 230 Raptors have my attention.

Gotta get a box and try them.

DF

An old rusty push feed Remington 700 ADL in 30-06 shooting 150 grn Accubonds at 2900ish killed everything my wife and I pointed it at back in 2014

11 different species of game

As for the H&H

.375 Ruger for me.......or 9.3x62

Okay I will bite. Why can you have only one rifle? You are basing this on a "trip to Africa perhaps someday"? If you can't afford two rifles, you probably will never make it over there. But then to answer the question, get the '06. Perfect for plains game. DG on you bucket list? Much more expensive; see above. 30'06 is lighter, easier to lug around, and less expensive ammo. Don't know if you reload.

Hell, just get a CZ550 in 9.3X62 and you are covered.

"Perhaps someday" is code for "more than likely NOT going to happen.

Get the 06.