Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only What are your thoughts on the .376 Steyr?

Here's mine

I have been wanting a 9.3x62 for awhile now, but on seeing this thread it got me to thinking about the .376 too. Dimensionally, how does the case compare to the 9.3? Can a rifle hold as many .376's as 9.3? Looking at the Hodgden online loading section the .376 outperforms the 9.3 and bullets are more readily available. Only found Hornady brass though.

I'm a rifle slut and have reloaded for over 80 different chamberings if pistol cartridges are included.

The animals I shoot are 250 lbs and under being White-tail deer, Aoudad, and feral hogs.

I do not hunt Elk, Moose or other critters that weigh in over three hundred lbs.

So with the foregoing in mind.........

I'd say I've killed at least a dozen hoglets with either the 9.3 x 62 and 376 Steyr respectively out of more than 1K I've perforarted over the last 50+ years.

I had not thought about it until this thread, but I shoot the heavier 250 gr. Accubonds in the 9.3 x 62, and lighter 235 Gr. TSX in the larger diameter . 375 (376 Steyr).

I also load and shoot for 35 Whelen, 375 H&H and the 45-70.

Fortunately, to date, I don't, but if I had to choose based on practicality between the two, I do believe I'd go with the 9.3 x 62.



FWIW

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.376+Steyr.html

ya!

GWB

I'd have to agree with GWB, of the two, I'd snatch up one of my 9,3x62's if it came down to owning only one. But I think the .376 doesn't get the respect it has earned.

If I have to choose one caliber between .308 and 458 it'd be a 375 H&H in a Sako Alaskan.
But since I already have a Steyr and a few....what's the plural of 400.... anyway, hundreds of pieces of brass and refined data, I'll stick to it.
Notto diminish anything else, just my choice.

SCGuNNUT what is the details of your gun?

What rifle is your .376 in?

Mark X action, started out as .30-06
20 1/2" McGowen #5 contour barrel
NECG "Holland & Holland" style sights
Robar NP3 finish
B&C Medalist in Reaper Black "Skull-flage"
Warne QD mounts (NP3)
Leupold VXR 2-7x with #4

Very nice

Who did your stock camo?

Local outfit that has evidently closed up.

I like the combination of the cartridge and Steyr Dragoon and have the Steyr Dragoon matched with a Steyr true scout in .308.

I believe the combination is ideal for general purpose woods wandering and would be my first choice for killing animals of all sizes on my own or family property where I have watched an elk go down in the evening and come up in the morning for long enough that I might decide the time has come.

I could argue that the .376 would be ideal if I set out to kill a bear because the cartridge and rig would be great for an animal at least 75 yards away and not much more than 150 yards distant. Equally a good setup if I didn't set out to kill a bear but found a spur of the moment reason to take a bear. Hence the idea of taking a bear far enough away but not too far.

That said, while I do agree with Mr. Cooper and others that either cartridge in the Steyr setup as a Scout makes a great general purpose rifle for a specific purpose I might well make a different and more specific choice.

I bought a Steyr true scout (.308) at a distress sale figuring I could send it down the road and call it a rental but I would never know what the fuss was about if I didn't own one. I liked it very much and almost immediately bought a Dragoon from CDNN at an attractive price. The pair would be among the last to go along with a Steyr straight pull in rim fire as an understudy because they are indeed general purpose. For my money the straight pull in .17 HMR would be ideal if the black tail jack ever over run this country again (I don't expect it in my lifetime but the the last peak in the early 1980s was a sight.)

And to repeat myself for any specific purpose e.g. hunting first light or last light or into the rising or setting sun there is is likely something better with a better choice of sights.

My only meaningful .376 load is a 260 Accubond for everything though I have bought the lighter 225 grain cup and core bullets as seconds for folks who just want to shoot the .376 Steyr at paper. Similarly for the true Scout .308 I like compromise light monolithic bullets with a scattering of cheap cup and core seconds or military style for plinking.

Years ago I wanted to build a .376 when I read that the MRC short action had a magazine length of 3.125, more of an intermediate length than a short length. Since the .376 has a listed AOL of 3.10 I figured it would be perfect. Apparently several .376's were built on this action.

Never got around to it but down in my workshop I have the action, barrel, scope mounts and finished stock (same as a CZ) for this. Maybe it's time to find a smith to put it together.

Rifle slut! Ha!
I resemble that remark. The only thing I have ever hunted is whitetail in central Pa and I have 30 plus different rifle cartridges. I live 20 minutes from Euro Optic. Did your 376 come with the stainless barrel? Mine is a matte blue.

Belted Steyr 444B

I took a Steyr case and put a belt on it, now I have 444 That will work in bolt guns.

It is not chambered yet, but the barrel is profiled!

Love to know your load adata on the accubond.

Won't help you much. I took the published Hodgdon data for .376 Steyr, also as archived on Loaddata, and made the arbitrary but not baseless decision that the Acubond and the Partition bullet perform much the same but without the Partition the Accubond is probably safe with Partition loads for the same weight or close enough meaning soft enough for my purposes. So I maxed out the Varget loading and decided to go with it and stopped there. Accuracy is everything I could ask as is performance otherwise. I'd consider the BallC2 if I needed an alternative but I don't and I'm suspicious of BallC2 at different temperatures.

I do have a 35P but I've never chronographed the Steyr because although I can control the range for setup I've never actually fabricated sandbags to keep the rail from blowing over in the wind. I can't control the wind. One of these days I'll mount a 4x4 for the rail on Harbor Freight saw horses. I don't much need numbers for calculations by using observed drop; my home range is good to 300 yards and the next county goes to a full 1,000 but it pays to have a friend watch at the line when I go down range. Probably don't really want to know the as measured speed in the short barrel but as noted the Accubond is soft enough but not too soft to do well at whatever the actual speed might be.

My true Scout in .308 has a Leupold scout scope in lever detach mounts so I can swap a hunting scope for hunting as a specialized application. The Dragoon is a Jeff Cooper package with a Steyr marked Leupold scout scope in Steyr fixed rings. I don't think I could improve on the sights for woods walking where I plan to be home by dark anyway. As mentioned I used to enjoy seeing familiar elk going down at night and up in the morning - we had what was once a shack on the military crest and is now a suburban home, no longer a 4 person party line now it's metro calling area and so on. Coming home in the early dark on a bicycle it seemed to me the elk reacted to my smell about same time I reacted to theirs so a harvest would have been easy enough with the Scout scope.

My lifetime hunting bud has had a number of CZ 9.3x62 rifles with assorted stock designs and experimented with a range of Woodleigh and other exotic bullets along with fire forming .30-'06 brass with cream of wheat and with bullets and with factory brass because he really is a rifle loony and neither of us has ever been able to see much difference in the cartridges - especially 250 grain Accubond compared to 260 grain Accubond. Rumor says Steve Hornady feels some affection for the .376 and has told his people so.

Thanks for all of the input on this thread.

Since we've had the 9.3x62 for 115 years, and the .375H&H for 108 years, and ammo for either is widely available in Africa if you lose yours, I can't see why anyone would choose a .376 Steyer.

Got the picture thing working.

My belted 444B made on a Steyr case.

I plan on using a shorter version for a short action bolt gun.