Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Brief Look at the 375/06 Whelen

This is what I am working on.

My test bullets are 250 grain Accubonds and 230 grain ACP bullets

Although the .375 H&H was serving quite well with elk, I many years ago decided to try the shorter cartridge/lighter rifle approach. Took a nice Mauser action to Paul Marquardt and had it barreled as a .338/375. Obtained the effective heavier bullet performance at same cost as a 30:06 wildcat re-make, with fewer reloading issues. I think the E. Keith wrote about elk experience with a .378 setup as well. Didn't try that one.

I might just try this

I looked at building a 375 Scovill/Hawk on a Kimber action/Montana stock.

At the end of the day, the cost seemed exhoribtant.

I bought a Winchester 375 H&H SS. Half the cost or less of the 375 Scovill/Hawk build. A pound or two heavier though.

Super old thread.

375-06 only because you want one.
Tweaked 375 H&H or Ruger if you desire a 375 caliber.
9.3x62, and 35 Whelen will also suffice.

My choice is 338-06.

Put lighter loads in the case? That will equal the Scovill and lighten the rifle............and qualify loonyism.

On a similar vein........yet largely unspoken:
Everyone knows that the same bullet weight in neighboring calibers favors the lesser caliber for SD and BC so if we compare say a 168gn weight in 280A1 vs .30/06 @ 2800fps or 250gn weight in .338/06 vs .35 Whelan @2500fps and from the same brand with similar same design/construction, what perceived differences "could" be noted in the field, if results are averaged out?

Go:

Why would anyone bother with that when they have been able to buy 9.3x62 since 1905?

Isn't that the truth...

YEAH for the 9.3X62 yesterday. 285gr, Prvi---65 gr, big Game-----2550 fps average. What is not to like!

Not a wildcat, you can buy factory ammo and can make cases outa .30-06 brass.

Hip

GUN LOONEY! plain and simple.

Am always astounded at how elk have apparently become so much harder to kill than they were back in Elmer's heyday--despite the improvement in bullet construction.

Open up the bolt face and make a 375 Ruger.

Agreed MD!

I’ve killed a few elk with cartridges like the .300 Win Mag, 8mm Rem Mag and .338 Lapua Mag. None died any quicker or more dramatically than when shot with my .270, .308 or .30-06! Just saying.

Ya know MAC, I started this thread, 15 years ago....

even tho I knew about the 9.3 x 62 back then, I started the thread, as I was a fairly good friend of John Noveske, before he got famous with all of his AR work and rifles. He had built a 375/06, and I had gotten to fire it a couple of times when I ran into him at our local gun range here in Grants Pass. Less recoil than the 375 H & H, but was not far behind it, and also it was easier to just neck up 30/06 brass, then try to run down 375 H & H brass.

I didn't make one, but it did have me look at the 338/06, which I did make and still have on a Model 70.. reboring a 270 barrel. It was just as comparable as the 338 Win Mag vs the 338/06.

Noveske afterwards, made a 416/06. I got to shoot that one also over at the range. it was a heavy hitter within 250 yds., about as far as I fired it...

After he let that run its course, he ended up switching over to the WSM case. which he put on Rem 600 actions. I know he made and hunted with, those in 375 bore, 416 bore and 458 bore. Hornady made the dies for them, and even sold them in their line up. I've seen them several times.

Sadly John Noveske died in a car accident on the way home, back around that time. Took a curve too fast, rolled his Toyota Land Cruiser into a stone rock about the size of a VW Bug. Died at the scene, not wearing a seat belt. His company is still alive around here tho.

How would a 3006 with a 200 grain bullet compare?

Thanks

Probably quite well. I say that after having had a .338-06, a couple of .35 Whelens, a .35 Whelen Improved, a .375 Whelen Improved, and a .411 Hawk.

Angus1895,

I have used the 200-grain Nosler Partition in the .30-06 since 1977 for at least some of my elk hunting. At that time the 200 Partition was the original lathe-turned model, which Nosler variously called a round-nose, semi-spitzer and something else I've forgotten. At the time I was primarily hunting hunting in thicker timber, partly because at that time that's where the majority of Montana elk hung out during rifle season. A "long" shot was around 100 yards.

They could be at just about any angle, and my rifle was a "sporterized" 1903 Springfield, and the load I worked up turned out to get around 2550 fps at the muzzle. (Didn't find that out until 1979, when I bought my first chronograph.) It worked very well, and I've never recovered one--including after Nosler started impact-extruding their bullets around the same time I bought the chronograph--and the 200 became a spitzer. I had a tang-safety Ruger 77 by then, and heated up the load to around 2675 fps.

Have still killed more elk with the .30-06 that any other cartridge, and the list of rounds that Eileen and I have used includes the .257 Roberts, 6.5 PRC, .270 Winchester, 7x57, 7mm Remington and Weatherby Magnums, .308 Winchester, .300 WSM, .300 Winchester and .300 Weatherby Magnums, and .338 Winchester Magnum. Would still happily hunt elk with a .30-06 and the 200-grain Partition spitzer, because none of them ever went more than 45 yards before falling--and I still haven't recovered one of the bullets.

Because he wanted a lever action ,model 95 Winchester, he could shoot spire point bullets in. As a back up brown bear stopper . A very efficient cartridge and a very good stopper given
the right constructed bullet.
Alaskan master guide Rd Stevenson used one.

My post was in response to Mac question why would anyone want a 375/06.