Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 375 Ruger prevalence?

Gents,

How prevalent is the 375 Ruger in Africa or even Alaskan hunting settings?

Saw a used Howa at a LGS store and got to wondering about it. Ammo/brass seems to be available online though not cheap.

Thanks y'all.

Last time I was in Joburg (April) we stopped in at Safari Outdoor, and it was well stocked with Hornady .375 Ruger ammo.

I'd like to assume they wouldn't stock it if folks weren't using it... but our Cabelas is famous for that haha. The best supply of 224 Valk on earth!

17 years later and the H&H seems prevalent as ever despite initial prognostications.

I am not sure. I usually see ammunition for it where I see ammo for the 375 H&H in the road system population centers.

I have had one or more from shortly after its introduction. I began handloading for it not long after acquiring the first one. To me, it is a favorite cartridge.

It's stocked everywhere up here in Alaska. And it's always on the shelves. 416 ruger too.

I haven't seen 375R on the shelves since covid started. Hornady is about the only one loading for it. Usually see a bit more variety for H&H chambers.

In the past couple months I've seen a few boxes of Hornady 416R land on the shelves in town.

Even in Houston it is stocked in a well known gun shop chain. I could not find 375 Ruger brass anywhere online during covid and I went in 3 different times to buy 375 Ruger Ammo to take down for the brass to hand load and it was on the shelves.

I'm going to hypothesize both the 375 Ruger and 375 H&H have picked up market share of the large calibers.

And, maintaining it’s relevance since….. 1912! 😉 memtb

I love both my 375 Ruger and H&H. I’ve taken a number of animals (18) in Africa with my 375 H&H.

I have not taken any animals with my 375 Ruger yet, but I will be taking it along with my 404 Jeffery in 2026. Next year I’ll be taking my 338-06 plus the Jeffery.

The Ruger round is a 300 gr. @ 2,660 fps, and my H&H is the same bullet @ 2,530 fps. Only about a 100+ fps faster, so no animal will probably note the difference.

For Africa, the H&H makes the most sense, in case ammo does not show up. However, I have also taken a 25-06, 35 Whelen & 9.3x66 (370 Sako Mag.) to Africa, none of which you’ll find over there if your ammo is lost in transit, and had wonderful safaris! This year I took a 46” Buffalo with the 9.3x66, so I am also not afraid to take an unusual round.

My Ruger African in 375 Ruger is smaller and lighter than my 375 H&Hs, no larger than my 30-06s, and weighs 8.14 lbs. with rings and a Leupold VX3i 2.5-8x. I like that! My Dakota Safari 375 H&H with the same scope weighs 9.6 lbs., a 1/2 lb. more. Not a lot more but the Dakota is also bigger in the grip & fore end, which with my very small hands is noticeable. That Ruger African fits me like a glove. YMMV.

I will report on my safari here with the 375 Ruger when I return from the hunt. I’m sure it will be no different than using my H&H!

Within a year after Ruger 375’s began showing up in Alaska, hundreds of used 375 H&H rifles began showing up in the gun racks of dealers.

That’s very interesting Phil. I think most everyone appreciates smaller, lighter, handier rifles, no matter where one hunts. And, 375 Ruger ammo I’m sure is much easier to find in Alaska than Africa. Makes total sense, I’m glad I stocked up on a couple of cases of that Swift ammo in 300 gr. SAFs before they became ‘unobtainable’.

As stated before, I got on the 375 Ruger bandwagon shortly after it was introduced. I still maintain a seat on it.

I had and still have a few 338 Winchesters and 375 H&H's. The 375 Ruger combined the 375 H&H performance in a 338 Winchester sized platform. I think it accomplishes this very well.

Hopefully one day the big-ammo producers will load for it.

I've yet to see or find any .375 Ruger ammo or brass or dies for reloading at where I bought my .375 H&H nearly a year ago. Currently they have eight .375 H&H's for sale. No .375 Rugers. Over the past several years I've seen a total of 2 Rugers in .375 for sale there. But still no ammo, dies or brass. I purchased 3 bags of Rem brass in .375 H&H, plus dies and bullets at the time of purchasing the .375 H&H.

And I've not seen any other shop selling .375 Rugers either. I do a lot of research on the Net for anything within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) as well as locally. The emporium where I bought my stuff is one of the largest in Canada and have a lot of traffic nationally.

That's not to suggest I'm negative of the .375 Ruger because I only turned one down (at the same store) because of no support in ammo, dies or brass, and it appears that is continuing.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

Bob,
The lack of ammunition must be a regional issue or a placing an order / distribution issue. I was at a beans, beer, and bullets type store today and I saw several boxes of the Hornady 375 Ruger. I did not pay attention to the bullet type. I was there for the beans- actually a loaf of bread.

Yep, , it's always in stock where it's needed (Alaska). I'm not sure what Toronto-suburbia has to do with the availability of a common Alaskan cartridge.

I can understand your view, but it's not the view from Central to Northern Ontario. There are about 100,000 moose hunters in Ontario, and most of those also do general hunting for deer, bear, etc, so while a .375 magnum isn't the most common general purpose firearm for hunting purposes, yet the .375 H&H is relatively popular. Then EPPS is located in Central Ontario and sells to a huge clientele, including across Canada. Our Province has a population of over 14, 000, 000 and a land mass larger than the six US states that border it. So, any .375 magnum is fairly popular, but especially the H&H.

Toronto itself has a population of several million and is a major source of outdoor sports supply - why it was mentioned. But, I agree with the assumption that it is largely a matter of demand and supply. If there's little demand for a .375 Ruger vs the H&H that will be revealed (including dies and brass) in sporting goods stores. Then, to complicate matters, as in the USA, there's been a shortage of supply here as well since Covid. But, true enough, Alaska is the most natural place for a .375 Ruger.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

I have two .375HH rifles (1st gen Rem 700 AWR & 1965 Browning FN Safari) and a beautiful Turkish walnut stocked custom built 1909 Argentine Mauser 375 Ruger.

I like each of the rifles for what I hunt with them.

I've never had to scrounge any ammo for them during a hunt but am glad to hear factory ammo might be available.

Is that 9.14 lbs instead of 8.14 lbs to get 1/2 pound difference?