Have been doing some more work and some thinking on the Big Bore 94 tribe. I have two, a 375 Win in a top eject early generation and a 307 in a pre-safety classic stocked model.
The 375 is under 6.5 pounds and really handy while the 307 is up over 7 with the bases and with scope less handy. The extra weight is all in the barrel and the 307 is very accurate, capable of 1.25 MOA with factory leverevolution loads where the 375 struggles to hit 2MOA and only with the very best bullet and powder combinations. 2.5-3 Moa is more common and still needs good loads. 1680 and RL7 are my favourite powders.
Ballistic Potential (Sorry this chart doesn't appear as I had written it)
1)Caliber 2) Bullet 3) Velocity 4) Range to Expand Bullets (1700fps) 5)Range to 1000 FT Ibs (Deer and Caribou) 6) Range to 1500 Ft Ibs (Elk and Moose)
1/ -------- 2/ ------3/ -----4/ --------5/ --------6
(1)30-30 (2)160 FTX (3) 2250 (4) 225 Yards (5) 225 Yards (6) 75 Yards
(1)307 Win (2)160 FTX (3) 2550 (4) 350 yards (5)350 yards (6)190 Yards
(1)307 Win (2) 170 N Part (3)2500 (4)250 yards (5) 275 yards (6) 150 yards
(1)356 Win (2)200 FTX (3)2450 (4)275 Yards (5)350+ Yards (6) 225 Yards
(1)356 Win (2)220 Speer (3)2350 (4) 250 yards (5)350+ Yards (6) 240 Yards
(1)375 Win (2)255 Barnes (3)1900 (4)125 yards (5) 250 yards (6) 112 yards
(1)375 Win (2)200 Sierra (3)2300 (4)150 Yards (5)225 Yards (6)100 Yard
If you look at the above chart you can see the limitations of the 375 Win. I love mine but I don't expect the bullets to expand much past 150 yards This limits the speed of kills on deer and caribou sized game and becomes the limiting factor before energy limitation or trajectory. This does make it entirely useful with open sights and even if you could no need to scope this one. An accurate 307 could be a 350 yard caribou gun with ballistic dots on the scope and some practice. Cut the cases a bit shorter and use the 160FTX designed for the 308 Marlin express (bc=.395) and things could get even better. Still you run out of energy at 200 yards or so for moose. That's where the 356 comes into it's own being capable to 240 yards or so with the 220 Speer. Interesting tribe...very useful for NA game. Wish they hadn't failed.
What the 375 badly needs is a 220 or 230 grain FTX or other relatively high bc bullet that could start at 2150 ft/sec and expand out at 175 yards or a bit further. It would also hang on to energy enough for moose at the same range. Right now it just doesn't have the right easily available bullet to make it fully capable to what it could be. As is it isn't the long range deer or caribou cartridge that a 30-30 is, but it does have some advantage for moose and defensive use on bears. Even with the right bullets it would not have the versatility of the 307 or 356 but it is sure a handy little thing.
The 356 is the most versatile of the three and the 307 is a long range deer and caribou specialist while still giving a useful range for moose.
Great idea for covering 90% of hunting in NA.
Probably more clear here if you are interested.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVG6fqEAfMM
