I thought about the same thing when I first heard about the 375 ruger. To be honest, I don't really see the point of the 375 ruger. The concept of designing a case solely for the purpose of equaling the 375 H&H while using a standard length action in order to make it cheaper is a bit lost on me. Folks that need something the size of the 375 H&H generally have a lot of money invested in a hunt anyways, so saving a few hundred bucks by buying the cheaper ruger isn't really going to factor into their decision making. I just don't see the market for the 375 ruger. However, I do see the potential of the case for wildcatters. My first thought went to a 7mm version on this case. I'm not sure it'll have quite the capacity of the 7mm stw, but it'll be close. It gets rid of the belt that so many people hate (I don't), and it'll fit in a standard size action. I've had both the 7mm stw and 7mm rem mag and the stw is good for about 250 fps over the rem mag. 140 gr bullets were no problem out of the stw at 3450-3500 fps. I'd imagine the 7mm-375 ruger should easily give you 3400 fps with 140 gr bullets, plenty for me. A huge advantage that I can see is that the reamer for a 7mm-375 should easily clean up a standard 7mm rem mag chamber and it shouldn't require any feeding modifications, so all it would really take to convert a 7mm rem mag to the new wildcat would be running a reamer into the chamber.
.......................The reason you don`t see the need for the 375 Ruger is that you haven`t thought outside the marketing box. Instead of just the cartridge itself, look at the 375 Ruger rifles too. Why are you at a loss in figuring out, that bringing a lesser expensive cartridge/rifle combo to the marketplace, might just allow those who want a 375, to better afford one? Whether one can afford $2k, $5K or only less than $1K, the 375 Ruger nevertheless, offers a lesser expensive alternative, which the cost differences in some cases, can be applied towards the expense of a hunt including a scope. You may not see the marketing need for the 375 Ruger, but to this date, Hornady, Ruger and the shooting public would disagree with your "no marketing need" assessment.
Here are a few points and reasons why the 375 Ruger has been so successful to the present, is currently successful, and will continue to be.
Rifle price!....Free marketing principles dictate most of the time, that when you have a good product that is always in demand, such as the 375 caliber always is, and then sell the product to the public at a very reasonable price, you`re going to sell a bunch of units. By the amount of 375 Ruger rifle sales to date, that has been proven and cannot be disputed.
Alternative case design!....Although there is no difference in game killing capability between the H&H and the 375 Ruger, the Ruger round nevertheless, has the greater powder capacity. This in turn allowed Ruger to develop rifles, chambering the Ruger round into rifles that are shorter, handier, easier to manuver, while duplicating from a 20" barrel, 24" to 25" 375 H&H ballistics. There`s no marketing value or need to do that??? Well! So far by the shooting public`s response, it would overwhelmingly seem that the shooting public has yet to reject the Hornady and Ruger vision!! If one can do the same things on the same game, and do so with the same ballistic performance from a shorter, in some cases a lighter rifle, as opposed to one that`s 44.5" to 46.5" long and heavier in some cases, then why not?
Hornady and Ruger saw the need and the factual results speak for themselves!
And because of the 375 Ruger`s success, we just may see a 7mm, 300, 338, 350/375 Ruger from Hornady and Ruger in the future as additional choices.
