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If one were trying to make my h&h a 450 yard elk gun with minimal dialing of scopes what would you recommend for loads. Trying to avoid Barnes bullets due to personal issues.

260 accubond and a bunch of H4350 is where I’d start . Looking for over 2700 FPS

A Weatherby reamer, H-414 and 250 grain SGK's.

A Barnes 250 TTSX, pushed to the maximum with one of the newer powders giving (seemingly) higher velocities. And zero at around 250 or 300 yards. I have used a 300 yard zero for many years. You should be good from muzzle to 400 yards “ holding on hair” for big game. However, you “Must” be aware that your mid-range trajectory puts you around 5” high at around 170 to 190 yards.....easy to shoot over a small animal, if you do not compensate. At 400 yards...you’ll be around 10 to 11” low. Again....slight compensation! Beyond 400 yards....it’s time to start “twisting” turrets. If your hunting small stuff, this is not real practical...as it’s easy to miss a small target, with a miscalculation on the actual distance. For antelope/deer and larger game, out to 400 is pretty easy.... assuming you are fairly close on the distance and you don’t forget your hold-overs/unders!
Even though we now have Leupold CDX System....we still use the above system. When we had our dials built.....on the dial 0 yards is 300 yards. As long as we are against the zero-stop....we’re using the system we are accustomed to!

As mentioned above, a chamber reamer will also help....by adding a couple hundred fps muzzle velocity and flattening your trajectories a bit! I’m running 250 TTSX’s at 3130 from my AI. Just a personal preference.....I prefer the AI over the Weatherby! memtb

PS: I don’t know of your personal issues with the Barnes’s....but I’ve used them since the early ‘90’s.....with complete satisfaction! Accuracy and pressure issues of the early stuff have been fixed. Most of the “early” accuracy issues we’re from “not” thoroughly cleaning the bore after shooting a guilded metal bullet, or a rough bore. I had a friend’s rifle would not shoot the Barnes X (the original) at all 5” or so groups at 100. I convinced him to “polish” the bore....huge improvement. Still only getting 2” or so groups....but much better. He promptly went out and killed the “largest bodied” bull elk I’ve ever seen. A through and through, just behind the shoulder....from a 25-06 no less! About 100 yards later....he had his first elk! memtb

CEB - Cutting Edge Bullets ?
May be worth looking into.

https://cuttingedgebullets.com/

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/11900268/CE_Raptor_.375_H&H

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4711043/m/7871095602/xsl/print_topic

To-may-to...…...to-mah-to on the AI -vs- Weatherby deal. Kissin cousins with different shoulders.

You are surely stepping high at 3130 fps !! Is that with R17, by chance ?? At 3060 fps, I have room for several more grains of the H-414. But I'm getting nice groups where I'm at and nothing I'm shooting at will ever know the difference in velocity. Dead on at 300...…..about 11" low at 400 and a whisker under 30" low at 500. I've not monkeyed with R17. But I guess it's something to behold in the blown out .37's


If a fellow is opposed to the Barnes for whatever reason, the 250 SGK is a Sierra of a different color. They are built TOUGH and they penetrate like NUTZ !!!

I’ve had both 6.5 127 lrx from a 264 win just pencil through when hitting a whitetail at 200 or so. Also had multiple pencil through a with muzzleloader billets. All recovered deer

You could try Hornady's 375 H&H GMX mono bullet loading: 250 gr GMX at 2,900 fps has the trajectory of a 308 Win 168 gr load at 200 yd zero being 7.5" low at 300 yds w/2,800 ft-lbs delivered; 21 inches low at 400 yards w/2,400 ft-lbs delivered. Its not a Barnes, but it is a mono.

Yes sir... RL 17. In recent zero verification @300 yrds., shooting only 2 shots, and make a slight adjust.....2 2-shot groups ( if you can call 2 a group), I shot a 7/8” spread center to center, and backed it up with (after adjustment) a 1 1/4” center to center. Making me a very “happy camper”! memtb

I’ve had good results with the TTSX’s. Hit an antelopevery high in the shoulder (distance misjudged at dusk dark), I held a little high on a 300 yard shot (measured after the shot)....it “definitely” gave expansion. This was from my AI, with the 250 TTSX.

I “was” gonna show a picture....but can’t find! Suffice to say....the antelope was somewhat impressed with the impact! memtb

I’m going to try and shoot a whitetail with the 250 Barnes see how it does. Any idea what powder will give me max performance ?

I’ve not loaded for the H&H lately......but many are reporting very good performance with RL 15. I ran WW 760 in my old H&H, but I don’t think that you will get quite the performance with it as some of the newer powders.... such as RL 15. Wish you the best, and hope you will be happy with the TTSX. So far .....it’s been pretty impressive. I failed to mention....it was also, very effective on a coyote at around 280 yards! memtb

450 yards is not a big challenge for the 375H&H. Trajectory is about the same as a 30-06 with a 180.

One of my personal favorites was the 270 grain Winchester Power Point. I bought 5,000 of them in the 70s and I still have some. Very accurate and extremely deadly. Just a plain vanilla bullet, but it was always outstanding in how well it killed everything I ever used it on. My rifles shoots them well under MOA, and even though that's not required in a 375 especially when shooing elk, moose and buffalo, it is delightful. I used that rifles to hunt everything at one time or another killing all the above and a lot of deer and antelope too. I never recovered one so I can't speak to retained weight, but obviously it was enough to give exits.

Winchester has not sold them bulk for many years (may not even make them now for all I know) so today if I were to start over I'd go for the Nosler Partition in 260 grain.
I have used 4064 in my 375H&H for almost 40 years, so I see little reason to change now. I have used several others too, but nothing ever beat 4064. I would start with about 70 grains and see how it shot. If it was MOA or less, I'd just leave it right there.

So now that we have the load handled let me ask you guys this, I am changing the stocks on it, it is currently in a Boyd’s laminate and I am going to put it in a Cooper synthetic stock from stocks., However it currently wears a Leupold VX 3 1.75-6 with a heavy duplex. I would like a bit more scope what would you big bore guys recommend. ?

I’ve had excellent results with Win-760. 760 gave me the highest velocity and very good accuracy

I have a Leupold VX-3 2.5-8x36mm duplex reticle with Alaskan Arms LLC detach rings on my 375 Ruger. I have hunted open wheat fields for deer with it on 6x. Another scope I like is a Leupold VX-3 3.5-10x40mm which I have on my 300 H&H. I know RL17 powder works good in my 375 Ruger, but don't know if it would work in the 375 H&H. They say it is like IMR 4350 powder.

A 2.5-8 Leupold served us (wife and I) well for 20 or so years, we recently went to 3.5-10 Leupold CDS, for longer shots ( 400+ yards ). memtb

The 260 Accubond can stay above it's expansion velocity to at least 500-600y with a max load from an H&H or Ruger case.

I loaded up some Barnes 250ttsx with 76.0 grains of rl15 they shoot great now to prove them on game.

Used the same R15 combo with the TSX and it worked great but proved too hot for other bullets with out the ridges.