Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Scope for 375 h&h

My most used 375, a 20” barrel 375 Ruger, has a 1.1-4x24 Kahles on it. It has been in place for many years.
I am tempted to put a 1.5-6x42 Kahles or Zeiss on it. But, I keep going back to “don’t fix what ain’t broke”.
I have a 375 Ruger, 23” barrel, with a Schmidt & Bender 1.5-8x42 Stratos with FD-4 reticle. After sending this scope back and replacing the illumination control to a rotary dial, is a favorite scope. The H&H actions, as mentioned prior I use straight tubes.

The illuminated Leica Magnus 1-6.3 straight tube, in my opinion is an outstanding scope. I have one on a 416 Ruger.

The Swarovski 1-6x24’s with #4 illuminated also seem very good. I have one of the no longer made EE versions on a 458 Lott.

The Schmidt & Bender 1.1-4x24 with the FD-7 is also a great scope in my opinion.

The Leupold 1-5x24 Vx5 HD with standard duplex optically seems pretty damn good. And that is comparing with all the above mentioned. I put this on a Marlin 45-70, not sighted in yet. But, for me it would be just as good on a 375 H&H.

I've got a 2-7x Bushnell on mine and it's allways on 7x. Very rarely it will touch my head if I shoot in from a sitting position ie sitting on the ground and supporting my elbows on my knees.

1 3/4 to 6 leupold on mine and the last elk had no idea what hit him. or the last 20 to 25 hogs. the heavy cross hairs work really good in low light or foggy weather. probably have 3 to 400 rounds out the old gun. be well, D O M I T !

For the price of one S&B scope that I own, I could buy a dozen Nikon P3 3-9x40mm BDC Shotgun scopes with 100-yard parallax.
They have 5" of eye relief.
They have replaced the old SlugHunter and InLine scopes from Nikon.
I shot over 400 rounds of .458 WinMag with one of those Nikon SlugHunter scopes, some 50-yard-3-shot bugholes with over 6000 ft-lbs muzzle energy on an 8-pound naked .458 WM loaded long-COL.
The slender O-ring in front of the objective lens started to extrude on the old SlugHunter, though it was still holding zero.
I sent it back to Nikon and pronto they sent back the new P3 shotgun replacement, the improved version, no charge.
Now has better adjustment turrets and covers of machined aluminum alloy instead of plastic.
I have continued to pound that Nikon P3.
No problems.
The cross-hair and 4-circle BDC reticle works nicely.
My only gripe about it is that it has short tube length for mounting so may require extension rings if not on a Picatinny base,
and it is a little bulkier and heavier than a Leupold 2.5-8x36mm, yet the latter allows longer ring spacing in mounting.

Illuminated reticles: OK for light recoil rifles but never seem to be covered by manufacturer warranty. Must be a reason for that.

All-time favorite scopes I would put on any rifle or have one of them as backup scope for any rifle, ring-matched and pre-zeroed:

Leupold: 2.5x20mm ... got 6 of them
Leupold: 1.5-5x20mm ... got 3 of them
Leupold: 2.5-8x36mm ... got 7 of them

Nikon: 1-4x20mm ... got 4 of them
Nikon: 1-4x24mm ... got 2 of them
Nikon: 1.1-4x24mm ... got 1 of them
Nikon: 3-9x40mm P3/Shotgun, SlugHunter, InLine ... got 4 of them

Leupold: 35 mounted (various)
Sightron: 15 mounted (all different models, no clear favorites, good scopes)
Nikon: 18 mounted (latest purchases)
Add a few Zeiss, NightForce, and S&B.

I knew Leupold first, then discovered Sightron, and lately Nikon has been coming on strong in the durability category.
Those are best for my money and kicks.

A 1.75-6x Leupold has done everything I needed on mine. I like the idea that if I accidentally leave it on 6x I can still make almost any shot. Keep in mind the 375 shoots about as flat as a 30-06 with 180 grain bullets so don't go too low on power although a 2.5 or 3x would not handicap you much if any on longer shots. Capstick stuck a 3-9x Bushnell on his and I thought that was nuts, but after seeing how versatile the 375 truly is it makes perfect sense.

My choice: 2.5x fixed. Nothing variable.

Unlike larger calibers, the 376 has some range capability. I'd use a 3-9 or something similar, unless only Cape Buffalo are on your menu.

Using 350gn projectiles, the 416Rigby makes a fine plains game cartridge too, although more so out of convenience.

I have a 50 years old Winchester 70 in 375 H&H that has its original scope, an equally old 2-7x28 Leupold Vari-X with a post and crosshair reticle. I'd put a newer Leupold 2-7x with a heavy duplex reticle on a new 375. I put a pair of them on a matched pair of Interarms Mark X mannlichers that I put together in 7x57 and 9.3x62, intending to take them of Africa in place of the 6.5x55 and 375 that I took the first time.