Originally Posted by Ray
Originally Posted by szihn
I'd go with a 375, either the Ruger or the H&H. I am on the 3rd barrel in my Mauser 375H&H and I know how well it preforms, so I have trouble going to something else.

The Ruger would be fine with me too because it's going to do what the H&H will do and so I have full faith in it, even though I have never used a 375 Ruger.

I have owned and used some 338 Winchesters and to be honest, I could not see the same level of effectiveness over a 20 year span of time as I saw with my 375, so I sold the 338s. Not a single thing wrong with them, but they just were not quite in the same league as the 375.

I have also owned two 416 Taylors I made myself. The same bullet (400 grain) at the same speed (2350 to 2400) as the original Rigby. Excellent guns and excellent cartridge, but I sold them too. For Africa they would have stayed in my possession, but I am not ever going back and so the 375 does as well on North American game as the 416 and reaches farther.

I still have a 404 Jeffery.
Why?
Just because it's very similar to one I used when I was young, and I just like it. But I don't hunt with it much.
I use the 375H&H, or just recently I have started using a 9.3X62 with perfect results also. I can't see much difference (yet) between the 375 and the 9.3 on game, but the 9.3 has a bit shorter barrel, holds 2 more rounds in the mag, weighs 1-1/2 pounds less and the recoil is about the same, which is to say not bad at all.

For Alaska hunting alone, I would pick the .375H&H over the .375 Ruger, simply because ammo for the latter is not as readily available as the former. That said, a .338-caliber rifle can't equal a .375H&H nor a .375 Ruger. All cartridges are different from one another.

But for hunting in the interior of Alaska, I would pick the .338WM over any .375H&H. Just like the .30-06 and .300WM, out of the box a .338 is lighter than a .375H&H, and will outdistance it, much like a .300WM with a 180-grain bullet will outdistance a .338WM with a 225-250-grain bullet. At the AK hunting grounds, there is a pretty good chance that you will see other hunters carrying the older cartridges such as the .30-06, .300 and .338, and the .375H&H.

And yes, there are all kinds of gun articles where supposedly new guns are the best, this and that, even new guns that still shoot the same-caliber bullets as the old guns (for example, .375H&H bullets shot out of a .375 Ruger). Advertisements go a long way relating to selling guns, and I read some of the gun writers' articles about supposedly new rifles where they go out there and kill a coyote or two, and then explain how good the new rifle is and how well it performed. No wonder gun magazines are getting thinner and thinner each day.


even in Skagway and Haines i ve seen 375 ruger factory ammo ...