Found a 12 year old post on this cartridge looking around here about it. A guy I know is funding his trip to New Zeland next year and sold me his still unfired 2008 Ruger M77 Hawkeye in 375 Ruger. He included 3 boxes (60rounds) of Hornady 300gr factory ammo and a Leupold VX-R 3-9x40 in Leupold 30mm rings for Ruger rifles. I've been a 375 whatever fan for a long time with different rifles in 375 H&H, 375 Win, 376 Steyr and now a 375 Ruger. In fact, picked up the 375/350 wildcat that NTO had listed in the classifieds as well. Info I'm finding online is pretty favorable to the Ruger cartridge, hoping to read personal experiences here about it. The rifle is not the Alaskan or African model. And while I have no plans for Africa, an Alaskan trip is on my bucket list. I also moose hunt up in Saskatchewan and don't think I'd mind toting this around there either. Hoping for a good read here, thanks!
I have had the Rugers in 375 Ruger pretty much since they first hit the local shelves. I have one of the early 23" blued without barrel band sling stud. I replaced the wood stock with a Bell & Carlson.
I also have a stainless 20" that I had re-barreled, it was suppose to be 23" but is 23.5". I have two other 20" with a McMillan and one with an H-S Precision.
The 20" with the McMillan is carried the most. Has worked, as expected, very well on a couple of moose using 270 gr TSX. My son has a re-barrel to 22.5". He has used the 270 TSX for one moose, with excellent result. All the rifles have grouped the 270 TSX very well.
I loaded some of the 270 gr LRX bullets this past summer. Barnes book, max load of H380. These were averaged 2723 fps; a 5 shot string, if I recall correctly. This was out of a factory 20" barrel.
I am going to play with these a bit more.
I have 375 H&H's and 338 Winchesters. Between these, the Rugers receive the hunting time in my present hunting area. The moose hunting decision has gotten down to use the 375 Ruger or 416 Ruger.
The 416 Ruger has also become a favorite. I hesitated a couple of years to take the plunge. But, with the 350 gr TSX and 20" barrel it is pretty handy. Some of the 100 yd & meter groups have been very impressive from more than one rifle.
