Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Downloading the 375 H&H

After reviewing replies my post "What To With A Magnum Action" I thought I would ask here what powders you guys are using to slow down a 375 H&H and ask what velocities you are getting.

My intention is to consider building a big bore deer rifle for our whitetails on a magnum action and a Rimrock stock, both of which are gathering dust.I have plenty of rifles but this just sounda like a lot of fun.

As 375s aren't hiding behind every tree here in Pennsyvania I thought The African boys might be of help.

Bullets under consideration would be the 225 Hornady FP as well as the 260 Partition and Accubond. Not sure about the 235 Speer.Northfork and Hawk would be high on the list as well.

I entered 375 H&H in various headings in the reloding section under search and got everything BUT what I'm trying to find.

TIA. Pig.

I'll look through my reloading manuals (I have about 5) and see what I can scare up.



Chuck

My old Speer has some reduced loads in the 16- 1800fps range but I was thinking more like 22-2400fps.

A man can git hisself in just as much trouble by puuting too little of the wrong powder in a case as he can by putting too much.And with a case the size of the venerable 375 ................ I don't want to have a bullet stuck in the bore or to starting counting my fingers.

I use 74 grains of Rel 15 With 235 grain Speer bullets and Fed 215 primers for my light load. I have some loads from a web site talking about some super light loads using Green Dot and Blue Dot with cast bullets. I have used them in my 470NE and 416 Rem Mag, real plinkers. If you what that info PM me, I will dig it all up.

With a good report from the neurosurgeon I will try to chrony 375 loads next week. It's only been 4 weeks since surgery, but I am going snake sh--. I have loaded every piece of brass I can find, steamed out a few "love bumps" on stocks, and super cleaned every firearm I have.

Good luck with your recovery

Hi Pigasso, my Speer Manual list 63g of IMR 3031 as a starting load with the 235g Speer or 64g of IMR 4895 also with the 235g Speer. Both are good for between 2100 to 2200 fps. With my recoil calculator using a 9 lb rifle these loads come out to about 20 ft lbs of recoil, comparable to a 30-06 shooting a 180g bullet out of an 8 lb rifle.



Chuck

Thanks colorado.I'm going to have to start a file listing loads for the 375.Your recoil estimation is right on with what others have said.If this comes to fruition, I think an 8 1/2 lb rifle will be the ticket.I have a new pad ordered for my 45/70 and one like it will go on the Rimrock if it works out.Thought I would try something other than the Limbsaver which is very good.

http://www.kickeezproducts.com/grp_magnum.php


More comments and loads will be most welcomed.

Thank you, Pig.

colorado,
What # volume of the Speer book are you using.Did a little cross referencing and these figures would run that bullet about 300+ fps faster.Thanks in advance.
Pig.

We cronographed some loads yesterday. With the speer 235 64.5gr of H4895 was around 2550. I think we ended up using 70gr and it came out around 2850 or so. Recoil was nothing. I think around a 30-06 with 180's and definately less than my 6lb 338-06 by a long shot.

Pigasso,

I use the 220gr Hornady Flat points. They are cheap & shoot less that 1 inch at 100 for me. I tweak it so it's point of impact at 100 is the same as my 270gr Woodleigh full house loads.

I use 42.0gr of AR2205, Win cases & WLR primer for about 2200 fps with very low velocity variation. Bullet seated to cannelure. According to the ADI book the AR2205 is equivalent to H4227. ADI makes a lot of the Hodgdon powders but you need to check yourself if its the same.

Also no need for fillerrs or anything like that. Very fun to shoot - sort of like a black powder load.

Regards
JohnT

For a reduced load, I loaded Speer 235gr bullets over 35 grains of H4227. They shot well and hit the same point of impact (at 100 yards) as my 300gr loads. Recoil is very light, compared to the full-bore 300grain loads. I think that would be a decent short-range (150 yards or less) deer load.

More info here.

Pigasso, so sorry my mistake. A case of CRS (Can't remember [bleep]), on my part. I consulted two reloading manuals, I had hte loads right but the velocities wrong.

My Speer Reloading Manual #14 for 375 H&H has

Starting:
IMR 3031 63g 2478fps

Regards,
Chuck

Hey Guys keep those post coming please. I'm learning a little each day. Sounds like it has the potential to be a very fun deer rifle.

Have any of you Afrikaners actually used this round here in the states.
25-2600+ fps sounds ideal so what bullet are you using.

colorado Thank muchly

I just shoot an 06 or a lighter rifle.

Some folks download to work up to recoil and thats going at it backasswords IMO...better to shoot a hot loaded 458 Lott then shoot your .375 or 416 and they will feel like a maidens caress! At least that is how I learned to shoot big bores by accident I might add, try it, it works...

With all the hoopla for the 9.3x62, I played around a little bit with Sierra's ballistics software to look for .375 loads with 9.3-esque recoil. A 235 grain Barnes X at 2600 fps has good enough ballistics for large game out to 300 yards, and low recoil in a 9 lb rifle. Assuming the TSX has a similar BC as the old X, that kind of load would cover a lot of hunting.

On developing recoil tolerance, shooting a bunch of 12 gauge buckshot loads will help.

Hodgdon recommends 4895 for reduced loads. You can take any max load for a given bullet and reduce it by 40% (multiply by .6) as a starting load.
In the H+H case I settled on 48 gr with either the Barnes 255 FP Original or the 220 Hornady. Both leave the tube right at 2000 f/s.
And when my 300 Partitions are printing 1" hi the Barnes load is @ "0".

SOS