My .375 Ultra Mag is one of my favorite rifles, but it didn't start out that way. The first 8 shells through my "out of the box" .375 RUM was more recoil than I've ever experienced, and I've averaged 100 12 ga shells per week for the last 30 years.
Long story short, I re-stocked it with a laminated stock that fits me and is pillar and glass bedded, two cross bolts, a mechanical recoil reducer in the stock, and a Limbsaver pad. I also had a KDF brake installed on the muzzle. I topped it with a 2-7x Leupold, and with sling, the total package weighs right at 10 lbs, which is the same as several of my other hunting rifles.
I built this rifle for a Cape Buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe in 2005. My load for that hunt was 300 gr Barnes TSX bullets at 2830 muzzle velocity, and slightly less than 3 shot MOA at 200 yds. I shot a buffalo and 4 Plains Game animals including a beautiful Nyala bull at 210 yds across a canyon.
I took my .375 RUM back to the Eastern Cape region of South Africa in 2007 for another Plains Game hunt. On that hunt I loaded 270 gr TSX bullets at 3043 fps. I shot 13 animals on that hunt at ranges between 30 to 348 yds. Two of the animals were shot from prone positions, and recoil was not an issue.
Unfortunately, unless I ever go Brown Bear hunting, I don't think my .375 RUM will see any other North American use. There just isn't anything else here that requires that much power.
