Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Need to buy a 375 for buffalo

Agree.

I think it has something to do with the velocity of the recoil. A .300 Mag can jab, big guns seem to push.

I'd rather shoot a 500 Nitro Express than a light .300 Mag. Had a good bud headed for Africa. I helped him with his 500 NE Merkel double. That big gun pushed back, but recovery was quick. I put two rounds on a 25 yd target around 2" apart and did it quickly. I felt in control and confident I could do some damage with that big gun. It wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be.

I got a light weight 300 WM from an estate sale. A pharmacist had it. He had mercury recoil reducer in the stock, a big recoil pad. I could see why he did all that; it was a pain to shoot, literally. It didn't me take long to trade that thing, never looked back. I have a light Ed Brown Damara in .300 WM. It has a muzzle brake and although noisy, not a bad gun to shoot. Ed put brakes on all his light magnums, said the brake made them more accurate. I did shoot it without the brake, didn't take long to put it back on..

Stock fit also is a factor.

DF

I had a dear friend ( deceased now) who went to Zimbabwe a few years back with a stock Mod 70 Express in .375, but with 300 TSX handloads. He shot elephant, some antelope and a leopard with it, easy cheesy. I do think the Barnes 300 TSX is the way to go for buffalo in the .375. I used a standard Mod 700 BDL SS in .375 H&H ( 90's) for elk hunting in the mountains. It was just light enough to be fun to hunt with but just heavy enough to "push well". I used the Sierra 300 sbt in it. I gave it to a young man who went to SA with us in 2002. He used the factory 270 Failsafe ammo for zebra, black wildebeest, impala, wart hog, blesbuck, waterbuck and hartebeest. I liked the monos best of all in everything we shot.

George - got my first 375 about 10 years ago and was thoroughly impressed with how easy it was to shoot well.

Yes - I knew I'd fired a powerful rifle - but... as you described, it was like a big push instead of a harsh, snappy rap.

I've shot it quite a bit and have taken three black bear with it, but nothing more. It's fun to haul it out of the safe and go shoot a few rounds through it now and again. Love banging the 300 yard steel gong at the gun club with that Ruger!

I dunno if I'll ever hunt buffalo. It's been fun just owning, loading for, hunting with a 375 H&H. Such a nice cartridge!

Guy

Yeah, let’s not minimize the allure of a long, sleek, tapered, rounded-edge cartridge in the hand whose other sensory gift was that it actually “plunked” down into the gap-mouthed chamber of a double gun. That sound. There’s that elegant 9.3 x 74, a slightly more petite version, the younger sister one, of the H&H I had; almost feminine in appearance; but I watched it roll a 900 lb bison heifer running at 90* to my position at a hundred yards — just cool! When you are almost seventy, very few things qualify as “just cool” anymore so you notice the ones that are.

I Wish I hadn’t gotten rid of that double rifle in the 9.3. If there is a double rifle that is not completely out of its element, it’s a good double gun in 9.3 x 74 stalking the timber in NA.. The 375 H&H opens the door to a bunch of similar, big, old English and continental rounds that speak with dignity and authority.

Blackfly1,

I heartedly agree with your post. = As a "wrong handed guy" I have a Remington 760 in .300 SAV, one in .30-06, a JES reformatted Model 760 in 9.3x62mm & and am planning to have Jessie reformat my "100-buck garage sale .30-06" Model 760 into a .400 Brown-Whelen Improved within 45 days. - I own all of the calibers of 760 except .257 Roberts from 5.56NATO to the 9.3x62mm currently.
(The 9.3 & the .400 will make the trip to Africa in 2020.)

My shotguns are also Remington pump-guns.

MUSCLE MEMORY is important when hunting dangerous game, imo.

ADDENDA: In the event that you are unfamiliar with the .400B-WI, it is not only the most powerful cartridge that can be made from .30-06 cases but also is "the ballistic twin" of the "well-regarded in Africa" .404 Jeffrey. = It .400 uses the same size bullets as the .405WCF.

There are any number of perfectly suitable .270WCF to .35 Whelen used rifles that would make a fine DANGEROUS GAME RIFLE for likely less than 500.oo cash. = A friend in our local AF vet's club has a VERY NICE .375 Whelen caliber rifle that was converted from a .270WCF. = He told me over breakfast a few days ago that he paid 225.oo for the rifle with REDFIELD scope at the Dallas Gunshow & that he then paid JES just over 200.oo to reformat it.
(The retired CSM's comment was, "It's all the big-bore rifle that I'll ever need for hunting, Worldwide.)

yours, tex