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

I think Muledeer has a point about the number of large cal rifles that existed until a few years ago. I am 45 and have been visiting gun shops for about 30 years pretty darn regular. In that time the number of used rifles on the racks in calibers 375 and up are pretty darn few. A lot of the big ones on the new racks stayed there for long periods of time. Among my friends, realitives and aquaintances I probably there are maybe 100-150 rifles. in 30 years times that group has owned two rifles 375 or up. one a Winchester in 375 by a friend and the other was a Ruger in 416 Rigby owned by me.

Now I admit there arn't many animals in NY that needs 375, but I will bet that if you surveyed owners of the 375+ rifles about 95% will never go to africa or hunt a big bear in alaska.

When I compared that to the number of alaskans and africans sold by Ruger I hear tossed about Its obvious that Ruger is selling lots of these to folks who weren't buy H&H's a while ago. Why? well some combo of two factors I think. One is cost, lots of gun nutz would love to have a big rifle just to play with or help them dream of africa or alaska but the traditional cost of CRF H&H was a little too much, The cost for the rugers is low enough to allow the "impulse" buy. Secondly a number of the older H&Hs were in fairly heavy rifles. (my fiends Winchester felt like 9+ pounds to me, CZ's seem heavy to me as well). Both the alaskan and the African are rifles you might want take hunting deer or elk. Between cost and size Ruger seems to be selling a bunch. I wouldn't be suprised that the ruger 375's out sell all the H&H's combined these days.

Safe bets:

.22 LR
.223
7.62x39
.30-06
30-30
9mm
45
40 S&W

Just to name a few.

Not fearful of them, just fail to see the niche that they fill.

Again, the .45 GAP cartridge. Perfect example of a cartridge that answered a question no one was asking and that has already peaked and dropped off in my lifetime.

Same with the .357 Sig.

I'm just saying this from the perspective of having worked in a gun store, and seeing how, after the initial boom of a year, two, three, or so, that a cartridge will drop off in sales and become a dog.

...................Well here again, your above post is just a personal opinion or observation which is based on emotion.

You keep right on pondering the future success or failure 375 Ruger. In the meantime, we 375 Ruger owners will continue a shootin our 375 Ruger rifles, and will do so for many years to come.

And in the meantime, if you happen to see anything in your crystal ball, which contradicts all the marketing evidence and success of the 375 Ruger, please let us know.

Then I`ll run out and buy more.

Hey burner. Add the 270 Winchester to your Safe List

7.62x39 has been popular in the USA for maybe 20 years, mostly because the rifles firing it are so cheap that everyone has one. .40 S&W has been around maybe 25 years, and is largely practical for law enforcement et al. The rest of the cartridges are old enough to fit the "always available" category, but I still don't get what you mean by "safe bets", given how simple it is to make ammo for cartridges most people haven't even seen. When you're talking about something like the .375 Ruger, which is widely available even on an island in Alaska, like where I live -- it's fairly hard to figure out what the issue is about. Certainly can't be whether or not they're available, because they are.

But hey -- use what you want. Just don't be fearful about acquiring ammo in the US...it's more available now than maybe ever. Certainly more available than 40 years ago.

Dennis

I'm glad that you're so optimistic, but confused as to why you take my dissenting opinion as a personal attack here.

I just said, it wasn't for me, and I Don't think it will be around.

You've made it as though I've come out swinging against it.

I thought the purpose of this thread "Will the 375 Ruger Stay" WAS to ponder the future success or failure of the 375 Ruger.

I like Ruger, BTW, just don't see a reason to buy a 375 Ruger.

I'm just saying, it would be very easy to drop the .375 Ruger and have it become a nothing cartridge. Could someone make it? Sure. For the 10,000 rifles that have sold in that caliber? Sure. Will the price go through the roof? Absolutely.

Did I pay $200 for a box of .416 Rigby ammo once, which was available, but not everywhere I shop, and was very expensive? Yes. That could easily be the case with the 375 Ruger.

I'm just saying, in a nuclear holocaust/end of the world scenario, or even a gun ban or other less strange event, I'd rather have something chambered in, say, 40 S&W than 7.62x25, because I'll be much more likely to run across cartridges for it.

Look at the 300 Savage. That cartridge was the sh** for many years. Now, it's kind of nonexistent. They sold the heck out of .300 Savage rifles back in the day, though.

Burner.............I`m confused as to how you thought my comments were somehow a personal attack on you. I shoulda added a smiley face?

But if you do find ANY "factual" evidence or a whiff of the 375 Ruger`s demise, I`ll be happy to read what you post and from what source your info was obtained. And if in the future, there is any evidence that proves the 375 Ruger demise, then I`ll agree with you.

You personally may not have any use for the 375 Ruger or see any viability in the round,,,, and that is perfectly ok.

Well said by both. It's here to stay. Why? because it's not a "just because" cartridge. It's an improvement on the original in a smaller, trimmer action with no feeding nightmare issues like the short-lived WSM/SAUM stuff. jorge

While it's true the WSSM(Super short) and Rem SAUM rounds are just about done in terms of sales, the WSMs rounds are still chambered in MANY makers rifles. Many more different guns in fact, than the various Ruger Short mag rounds- including the .375 Ruger. So much for the "short lived" part.

The .270.7mm And .300 WSM all come in one action length shorter as does the .375 Ruger to the .375 H&H.

Anyone who has studied the feeding problems of the WSM can see it is not really due to cartridge design as much as it is problems with the rifle makers building them early on.

Kimber and Winchester ,New Haven were the two plants that jumped on the WSM early . BOTH factories had QC problems could barely make guns that fed well in established calibers, let alone the new WSMs.

A lot of narrow minded,anti- progress types were eager to schit all over the WSM rounds for any reason, real or imagined. When the cartridge feeding problems cropped up- they claimed it was due to inferior cartridge design rather than the desgin/workmanship of the rifles.There is a learning curve in building anything new, and the makers of the first WSM rifles had to work through that.

As evidence of this, by about 2004-2005 even the cheapest WSM rifles Winchester built- the "Black Shadows" with the CRPF design -fed JUST FINE.

As a matter of fact,the two Winchester m70 WSM CRPF rifles I have owned fed just as reliably and smoother than a few Serb made M98 Remington 798 rifles I owned in 30-06 and .375 H&H.

You will find that most all Post 2005 Kimber WSM rifles feed as well as any other caliber Kimber does. Also, the Ruger, Howa, Browning, Sako, Tikka and other WSM chambered rifles all seem to feed well.

If WSM rounds fed that badly, there is NO WAY that the Browning and Benelli Semi- Autos could have been made to work for those rounds. And yet they do.

There really is no reason why when put in a properly designed/ built mag box that the WSM rounds should not feed well. And in a good rifle, they do.

Very nice post indeed. The two calibers you mention, especially the 270 WSM is a good one, the 300 just doesn't offer any real improvement over any of the other 300s, except maybe a half ounce of weight savings. All the other ones and especially the WSSMs and the SAUMs are fading into obscurity. I'll take your word the feeding issues are resolved, but here's one counter for you; D'Arcy Echols, arguably the finest gunmaker in the country, won't touch a WSM. But back to my original rationale, the 375 and 416 Rugers like the 270 WSM, do offer improvement over the original calibers, but the facts are there, they are fast becoming very popular in Africa and with good reason. jorge

No I don�t think so. Other good options are already hunted with all around the world. 375 H&H is my choice.

Jorge.

Jorge,

Thank for that reasoned response.

I've talked with Darcy over the phone a lot about variations on his Legend series rifles.

Darcy Echol's won't touch MANY perfectly sound caliber and action variations of his Legend Platforms mostly due to tooling costs and time vs sales. He is doing fine with the platform he has now and WSM rounds would require new Mag box desgins as well as new stock patterns/molds for short actions.

I also do not see the .375 Ruger listed in his list of standard Legend rifle chamberings. I wonder why??

The bottom line is, despite the esteem we all have for Mr Echol's opinion, even if he does not "like" the WSM rounds, it still does not preclude them working very well in MANY,MANY rifles including semi autos.

BTW, I am no great lover of magnums in general for most game. I still like the .270 and '06 myself and in a short action, 243.260 and 7mm -08s are my preference for deer sized game.
But if one wants Magnum performance in a Short action, the .270 and 7mm WSMs are fine with me.

I do like the idea of the .375 Ruger in terms of the lack of availability, cost and weight of most .375 length rifles these days. As an average sized guy, I also like the shorter bolt throw of the '06 length .375 Ruger. It's a damn practical round and one that Winchester themselves SHOULD have come up with about 5 years before Ruger did.

That's a very good question and one I need to ask now that you've brought it up in that light, but when I spoke with him, he did mention the feeding issues with the WSMs, but again we digress. THe WSMs (with the exception of the two mentioned) just did not do well at all, in fact most are moribund whereas the 375 Ruger is an improvement over the H&H in just about every regard. I suspect the Rugers aren't catalogued with other makers maybe because Ruger like some gunmakers are apt to do, have not released the caliber to the public domain?

And the whole proprietary aspect, ALA the Jamison lawsuit is what really scared the Ruger short mags out of the bushes to begin with. Ruger and Hornady figured they could take the $$ they would save in royalties to Jamison and develop their own line of short mag rounds. They took some of the best aspects the best of what Winchester did and moved forward with it. Dave Emary's group at Hornday did a fine job on them.

In term of Echols making short mags, I get the impression talking with Darcy,that he is very conservative in his approach to new wrinkles in his rifle line. He strives for perfection and knows the true cost of getting all the kinks worked out to get there.

He is set up for H&H magnum based platform now and that is his comfort zone and what he can stand behind in terms of a 100% flawless function. I do not fault him for that given his clientele and the cost of his rifles.

I feel confident that if he was committed to building a WSM magazine box and feed ramp design it would work very well.

To illustrate his standards, the other day we were taking about having a short action inlet cut into one of his Legend McMillain stocks which were designed for 06 and Magnum length m70s..

He counseled against it, saying it would work but not as well as if the pattern were designed for a .308 length action action. He told me to wait as he may build a dedicated short action pattern later this year.(maybe)

When the 390 Hornady mag comes out ,it will be bottoms up for the 375 Ruger.

The .416 Ruger is already out..

And the .375Ruger is still with us.

Great insights Jim, thanks!

Speaking of insights...does anyone know WHY Ruger does not currently Chamber the "African" in the .416 Ruger?

Looking at their website,they only offer the "Alaskan" in that round.