Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Will the 375 Ruger stay

It seems everybody wanted a 375 Ruger when they first came out.It also seems about 6 mos. later there were a lot of 375 Rugers for sale.I am thinking while short and light seems like a good deal,they are not fun to shoot!!!

.................My Alaskan is fun to shoot. In fact, you`d get a real "kick" out of it!..........

not fun to shoot ? from the bench maybe but off hand nothing really hard and i d rather shoot my laminate one than a Tikka T3 300 win mag even with a limbsaver.

but offhand no bad at all at least for me.

I like to see innovation, but I'd rather see guns that sell.

I think with the WSSMs and other proprietary cartridges and their issues, people are getting weirded out by manufacturer specific cartridges.

Look at the Glock 45 GAP as a perfect example.

I doubt they'll stay around forever.

.............375 Ruger rifles (African/Alaskan) haven`t sold well?

The 375 Ruger is not a proprietary cartridge. Along with Ruger, Howa and CZ chamber it too. Others may follow.

Can`t see how or why anybody would get weirded out using a 375 Ruger.

Nothing that is man made lasts forever.

I'm not knocking it.

Just saying, check back in 100 years. .416 Rigby = 100 this year, 375 H&H Mag = 100 next year. Standing the test of time.

History books are written by the winners. That's why we remember the M-1 Garand and mostly forget the 1941 Johnson.

.............Yes, those two rounds have withstood the test of time. But there`s no reason why any other newly developed cartridge cannot do the same, assumimg it has great market appeal.

The 375 Ruger was only intro`d about 4 years ago, so it has only 4 years of history. There has been no other round in recent history, and even going back further, that has become so popular, so quickly, in such a short period of time.

And as such, it is more than quite obvious that the buying public of today doesn`t need decades of proof in order to determine, accept, or establish a cartridge`s capability in order to be very successful. The 375 Ruger is not only an excellent example of that, but is the best example of it.

bigsqueeze, I would have to say that the 300WSM got much more popular than the 375 Ruger in a shorter time period!

I don't understand how people say that the 375 Ruger fits in a shorter action. Yes it's shorter than the H&H but the H&H still fits in Remington and Winchester standard length action. Maybe Ruger made their standard action shorter than the rest but other than the Ruger and perhaps a few other obscure actions what does the 375 Ruger offer over an H&H in real world performance?

My take on it is that it's another "cartridge of the month" club rounds. It's mildly more popular than some of the other members of this club but 20 years from now it will be another memory of a dublicated idea.

.................As to which became more popular faster, whether it be the 300 WSM or the 375 Ruger, is a matter of intpretation. But no matter, as they both became extremely popular in such a short period of time. I just personally think the 375 Ruger did so a little faster.

The 375 Ruger`s AOL equals about the OAL the 30-06. So compared to the action length of the H&Hs, the Ruger actions are shorter chambered in the 375 Ruger.

In the real world of performance on game, there is no difference. However, what the 375 Ruger rifle and cartridge can offer that the H&H cannot, is provide one with a shorter OAL rifle pkg, which can equal and can slightly exceed the ballistic performance of the longer H&H rifle. The 375 Ruger casing holds more powder.

A 24" or 25" barreled 375 H&H rifle length, is between 44.5" to about 46" or so. A 20" barreled 375 Ruger Alaskan is only 40 3/4" in length, is much handier, easier to carry, somewhat lighter and more manuverable than fully sized 375 H&H rifles.

Its not so much the ballistic performance that gave rise to the 375 Ruger. Instead, many like myself feel, that if we can get the same or slightly better ballistic performance from a shorter rifle, then that has more appeal.

Cartridge of the month? Seems to me that the 375 Ruger won "Cartridge of the Year" not too long ago???

Yep, I think so!

Will the market appeal last though?

There are lots of guys who run out and buy new stuff. Where are the modern gun writers and African hunters championing this cartridge, though?

A lot of what made the Rigby and the H&H popular was the press on them from guys out there "doing it," not just taking a free test gun to the range.

bigsqueeze: I don't have a dog in this hunt. I want a 416 RM just because.

I seems to me the 375 Ruger has plenty of appeal and is being proven in sales.

That said, I never liked the Ruger action length for an 06 or 270. It limited heavy bullet experimentation in COL. However in 375 that may be less a hindrance.

Ruger's quality & price SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

JWALL
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VEGETARIAN......Indian Word For Poor Hunter

The 300 H&H is still around. But new rifles are rare. Custom rifles or Ruger #1's....

The 375 H&H will be here in one hundred years. But may be displaced in the new rifle sales.

Couldn't you just put the same powders that are used in the Ruger and load them in the H&H and then get basically the same ballistics out of a 20" H&H? I don't think the overall action length between a 375 Ruger and a H&H Winchester is enough to even talk about, I've not measured the difference but I would think it is less than 1/2", that's not enough for me to worry about.

To me it's like the 30T/C, they claimed it would do everything a 308 would in a smaller round. But the problem is that the T/C is still put in a 308 length action. If they would have just used the powders they use in the T/C in the 308 you would still have the same length gun with still more performance.

IMHO it's all a marketing thing. Seriously how many of the people who bought the 375 Ruger have any need for a 735 caliber round? Only a small % of those who bought the Ruger would have bought any 375 caliber rifle but since it's the "flavor of the week" Ruger will sell a bunch of them until the people realize that they don't need a 375 caliber rifle. Then the people who will be buying 375's will revert back to the tried and true H&H. Not that there's anything wrong with the 375 Ruger, it's just that it is redundant to the H&H.

Old blokes like old things. It makes them younger, but retains wisdom.
Younger blokes are lesser in volume in our industry. This means that both young and old have to adopt a cartridge before it is successful.

Rider: Some cartridges need a time for recognition. The .338 took a couple or 3 decades to shine. So did the .270. The .280 still hasn't reached the mark of success and may never. The .303 British did and went and is reasonably rare because there are better choices.

New cartridges are the victoms of whim. I remember the .416 Remington. I thought it was wonderful. Still do, but don't own one any more.

Back in about 1990, Mike378 told me he thought the .416 would fail in the long term against the .458 caliber. He was right, as the LOTT has gained a serious support as a stopping cartridge and the .458 is better every year better bullets and powders arrive. Both hit harder than the .416. Both shoot flat with pointed X bullets for open country.

As to the .375 Ruger, it is good, has to be, because it uses .375 bullets. But....Winchester and Remington are unlikely to promote the name "Ruger" unless they see huge income from rifle sales.

Remember the RUM Vs WSM fiasco. Remington did not chamber and promote the WSM's so Winchester dropped the .300 RUM chamering in the Model 70.

It is simply business, not what is better or best. It never was.

John

..........Market appeal can diminish tomorrow or it could last 100 years. The market and/or the rifle buying public will determine that.

Based on the short 4 year history of the 375 Ruger so far, there is no indication or evidence of any kind for any decreasing popularity, or any potential collapse of this round in the short term or in the long term.

Fair enough. I'm just saying that it's got a ways to go before I would consider it a totally safe bet.

A few years ago -- 30 or 40 years ago -- you could hardly find a rifle or bullet in .375 H&H. You utterly could not find any new cartridges or rifles in .416 Rigby. I think a lot of folks here don't realize how much cartridges like the .375 H&H, .416 Rigby and a host of others represent "new" appearances of old rifles and cartridges -- for a very long period of time they were essentially absent. I shot my Cape buffalo in 2006 with a new .404 Jeffery, which was a bit of a surprise for me when I went out to find a rifle. But I had to build all the ammo myself, because utterly none was available. Now, even ammo can be bought...though I will continue to make mine, thank you very much . But I think the recurrence of the .404 Jeffery is a very new situation, after an absence of about 75 years.

We are living in a grand era, compared to the era when i started buying rifles and ammunition, about 40 years ago.

Dennis

What would you consider a "safe bet" for buying bullets, brass, primers, or complete ammo? I ask this, because I shoot ammo like the 9.3x57 that has very little ammo made for it, anywhere, and ammo like 8x56 Mannlicher-Schoenaeur, 9x57 Mauser, and 6.5x54 Kurz -- for which there is not only no ammo available, there hasn't been any in the US since about WW II. I also have a .375 Ruger, and I'm real confident ammo for it will be more available than any of the just mentioned cartridges -- forever. Yet I have no trouble shooting and hunting with any of the old rifles.

I really don't understand why people are fearful of new, popular cartridges from major corporations. We will be shooting them a very long time.

Dennis

.....................Nope! Given any same identical powder, there is no way that you could get the same velocity ballistically out of a 20" barreled 375 H&H that you could from a 20" barreled 375 Ruger. The Ruger casing simply holds more powder than does the H&H casing. Aside from cartridge length, not really all much different than comparing a 308 to the 30-06, 300 Win to the 300 Wby, or the 300 Wby to the 300 RUM. The more powerful in each of those three comparisons, holds more powder.

The action length is a little less than a half inch as you say. However, it is the shorter overall "rifle length", that really make the difference and appeal. That concept obviously "did" and "still does" appeal to not only existing 375 owners but to new 375 buyers as well. Hornady and Ruger were obviously onto something by developing the 375 Ruger and new exactly what they were doing.

Like it or dislike it, needing or not needing the 375 Ruger. Rather than using personal emotion or personal opinion, you should really judge the 375 Ruger by its marketing appeal and its success of which cannot be denied.

Call it a marketing thing, marketing hype, flavor of the week, month, or whatever you wish. Hornady and Ruger teamed up, developed the 375 Ruger cartridge. They had a concept that they wanted to achieve, and obviously without a doubt, the shooting and hunting public spoke very clearly and accepted the 375 Ruger.

Whether anyone needed, needs, or wants a 375 Ruger or not, was and is, strictly a personal buying decision. As far as the 375 Ruger being redundant to the 375 H&H? Well, you may want to speak with the folks in Alaska, and to the PHs in Africa. I think they will tell you that the 375 Ruger is growing in popularity in those two places, not to mention in other areas world wide.

Remember too, that Hornady is in the middle of on-going process to supply provinces all over So Africa with not only 375 Ruger factory ammo, but also with the 416 Ruger ammo too. And don`t forget that you have two major and successful players behind the 375 Ruger; Hornady and Ruger.

I dont think that Howa and CZ decided to chamber the 375 Ruger just on a whim. As any company would, they waited awhile to see the sales and marketing trends. And as it turned out, they too read the successful tea leaves of the 375 Ruger.

I've read that the 270gr bullet in .375 Ruger or H&H have the same ballistics as the .30-06 in 180gr bullet. They said that if you can shoot a 30-06 well with the 180gr bullet, you can shoot the .375. This makes the .375 very popular in Alaska for big bears and moose, and in Africa for anything. The .375 will be around a long time and right now the Ruger has the edge in rifle weight, sales, and a cartridge without a magnum belt. Also, now that two other companies are making the rifles, even in a bad economy, that speeks volumes.