Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers 375 Winchester musing & hunting...

Good to see some posts on this old favourite...

The more I read up on the net wrt the 375W, the more it seems to be the girlfriend lost with fond memories and regrets. So many find they just cant leave it alone without some serious consideration when it comes across their paths! and it crosses them every so often and the draw is irresistible! ... selling one ..buying again ..

Apparently only 12 Win BB's in 375 entered the southern tip of the dark continent through the old Kings Sports in Durban. I read one article in all my years on the back page of a magazine of a Ruger no.3 somewhere in the Eastern Cape province used by an old timer as his only rifle to take bush buck.

A Win BB with very few rounds through it came upon my path unexpectedly about 8 years ago in South Africa, and it made the journey to Australia when I relocated. The pic is of a warthog hunted a few years back in Africa in the highveld of central South Africa. CAS is not accredited in SA last time I checked, and most lever's are used in target club shoots and hunting bush pig and warthog.

This fella was taken on the run with a shot high through the spine. He tried to keep up with his mates with only his front paws going with his rear lame. They left him to his own devices and it took a 2nd shot embedded in the back of the head. As you can see he has a big grin on his face having moved on to piggy greener pastures.


If I remember correctly, I shot him with 250g Win PP factory round. Have about 6 boxes of factory 250g PP left and was wondering if any of you tried the Barnes 255g? Any feeding problems with seating at the cannelure? I will need to start reloading at some stage. My experience in Africa is to stay with the bigger pills .. also no need to hotrod this cal. It works just fine around 1900-2000fps. If your thinking of pushing this girl you need to find another platform.

Like most, I found the Hornady 220g very accurate, but prefer to stick to the bigger boys if I can find some. Australia has a fair amount of Win BB's going around $900-1200AUD depending on condition.

Fond memories of that hunt comes flooding in, sitting in the back of a truck with that BB between my legs and an ice cold beer from the cooler box.. life was good. Buy one if you can get one!, hold on to the one you got! steal an beg ammo ... its one of those big bore calibers that punch above its weight with manageable recoil.

Your insights are correct. There's a soft spot in my heart for the .375 as well. Marlins, Winchesters, Savages, I liked them all, or aspects of each, but none was completely right. Quite a bit of game has fallen for me to a Savage 99 in .375.

The Savage was great because it had a tang safety and no hammer, carried well with it's wonderful round bottom receiver, and was super accurate. But it was a long 22" barrel and heavy forearm with a straight grip stock. The Marlin was great with it's pistol grip stock and shorter barrel but was a little heavier than I wanted, and I don't like a hammer so much. The Winchester, ah the little Winchester, light, short, accurate enough for 100 yard shooting with good young eyes, what a joy to carry, but it has a hammer too, and never did like scopes on the 94.

So, when opportunity met motivation, I put together the perfect for me .375. I know I've shown this photo a lot in the last few months, I guess it just proves my love for Winchesters baby .375 cartridge.

This is a Savage 99 "Brushgun" with a shortened barrel (from 22" to 18"). It now hangs on the end of your arm without dragging in the dirt, like the Winchester and Marlin versions, like a true levergun should. The straight grip rear stock was replaced with a 1950's lightweight 99F with a curved grip. That required fitting a curved lever in place of the straight one that came on the rifle. The curved grip made levering faster and more comfortable. The 1980's fat beavertail forearm was replaced with a lightweight 1940's forearm from a 99R. The 99R piece is shorter, which looked better on the newly shortened barrel, and is also narrower and lighter.

Chopping inches off the barrel and ounces off the stocks made the first Savage 99 .375 carbine a real joy to carry. A Weaver 2.5x scope was added to help with visibility.

It shoots 200 grain Sierra and 220 Hornady handloads into an inch from the back deck 80 yard range. This one will see a lot of woods time.









I was playing around with some loads for it to use on small game and put together these three-ball loads. They group 4" or so at 20 yards, I figure about the maximum effective range for them on small critters.

That is an amazing rifle! You made short ref in the other post, but the scope of the work done now dawns upon me ..did not know Savage made a 375!

i have very few rifles at present and majority is custom made or in process thereof or tinkered with to my needs, seems you think along the same lines.

Being left handed forces one a bit along that path as well. With the rotary mag you have a greater selection of projectiles .. as long as the pointy one's fit and expand I suppose. Could never understand why certain levers look good with a scope and others dont.. it's the hammer! I get it now!

My limbsaver really made a difference and made the winny a pleasure to shoot. Went back to the semi buckhorn rear sight recently replacing the lyman...thinking of filing the ears of the buck horn and find a load once the factory stuff runs out, thats about all I need to do with it. Has Hornady started making 220g again?

The Winchester really is a fantastic little carbine in the .375. I knew a man that hunted Roosevelt elk in Oregon with one and always seemed to knock em down hard. My eyes struggle with iron sights on short barrels so I do better with a low magnification scope.
That is one cool looking pig you smacked there. Wouldn't want him hooking your calf with those shiny whites!

Another fantastic cartridge available in lever guns that has quite a bit more thump is the .358 Winchester. Also, the 356 is available in the 94. A few hundred feet per second faster, but still in the same class as far as recoil.

Marlins newer chamberings like the 338 would be a dandy too. I have a 99 in 338 Federal and it's a thumper with 160 grain Barnes ttsx.

See how you get me going? I love the lever guns and the medium bores are just great sport. Congrats on finding the rare rifle down there, I have no doubt you will cherish it.

BTW, here's the brushgun in 375 I carried off and on for 25 years. It was a one-holer, but I always wanted a carbine more like the Winchester in feel but Savage in manufacture. Hence the build. I hunt a lot of thick hemlock forest where ranges are extremely short, sometimes feet.

Warthogs are far less dangerous than our bushpigs .. which you dont want to meet up close in a corn field unless ya packin something serious! ...

I almost got the 338 Fed, but settled for the 338WM, beautiful forest your stalking in .. yip, nothing like a big lazy push in the shoulder from a medium bore! ..take care..

What's a bushpig? Is it just a domestic let loose, gone wild or some other sort of wild boar? What would you choose to defend yourself against a little ankle biter beastie at close range in thick brush if not the 94 .375?

It's one of my favorite levergun calibres. Though that probably has just as much to do with the rifle. Those 94BB's were well made and are quite light at around 6.5lb. Easy to carry and handle well.

I tend to use mainly heavy cast pills in my 375 Win. Generally in the range 250-300 gr. There are some good mould designs around, including some made in Oz. I find the longer cast pills to be accurate and can be pushed along. My regular load is a 300 gr cast at 1850 fps.

Love my 375 win.

Lucked into finding mine.

A .375 Winchester just showed up at my house today, lucky me!


Anyone use these for the .375 Win?

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/19...-260-grain-lead-long-flat-nose-gas-check



The 200gr Sierra is in the cart but I like the looks of the Cast Performance bullet.

It's too bad brass is mostly impossible to find, and when you do it's price is "higher than giraffe pus*y"!!!

BRASS

AMMO

Yeah, that would be high alright.

And I see folks spending over $100 for a box of 20 Winchester ammo. That's $5+ PER SHOT!!! I can shoot 2 rounds of reloaded 50 BMG for $5!!!

There's some good info on 38-55 brass at that Buffalo Bore link. I recall Paco Kelly writing something similar years ago.

I was lucky i got 12 loaded and 3 brass for 5 bucks yesterday at a small gun show, guy gave me his # said to give him a call next week said he had some more and bullets too! hopeing luck holds out!

I fell right in that giraffe puzzy the other day then and didn't even get stinky. 3 boxes of once fired brass for $10.00....

Its easy enough to form cases out of 30/30 brass. 38/55 brass will work but it's not as strong. 30/30 brass comes out a little short and holds 1-2 grs more. I reserve any 375 brass I have for top end loads. If you form your own cases and cast your own bullets it's a very inexpensive calibre to shoot. Powder consumption is on a par with a 223 but a lot more powerful.

You guys ever use these in the .375 Win?

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/19...-260-grain-lead-long-flat-nose-gas-check


I'm waffling between these and the 200gr Sierra.

Got lucky also! [img:center][/img]