Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers FOUND ANOTHER MARLIN 375

Got an stainless JM Marlin 30-30 and an old Westernfield 1960's 30-30 by Marlin that needs rebored to 375win. Even got an old Winchester bullet mould for the 38-55 I can cast and size. Got tons of 30-30 cases to resize too.

I've owned 2 375s and 2 356 ERs but this is my favorite Marlin ever. 30TK re-bored by Jess to .375 win.

Damn nice rifle!

Bought one new also in the 80's and took a 350 lb black bear up in Canada. Got 8 boxes of win silvers with it also. Still have 7 left plus still have the 375 win. Less than 20 rounds through it. This year will be using it on dear with reloads.. anyone got any recommendations on powder & bullets.

What did she do to you? That is a little extreme..

I have one and love it but don't use it. I sighted it in with a Williams Fool Proof. Still have the box for it. I was thinking on doing a little deer tracking with it since we have snow. I need to use it!

That has been very well cared for, nice one. When I got mine it came with a rub finish, looks good so left it alone.
I have a steel weaver marksman but the front has a slight bell, very good to excellent condition. I bought it off here a few years ago and mounted on a 5mm but I'm going to change it. It is 3-9 fine cross hair. If interested $150 shipped.

I've had one or another version of 375 Winchesters for 30+ years. Winchesters, Marlins, Savages. Killed my largest black bear with one. Done good on deer too.

But last year I drilled a black bear in the front shoulder with a 200 grain Sierra at 50 yards. Wife went with me and we called him out of his bed up to us. When he came in from the right I stopped him with a squeak and drilled him in the front shoulder. He took off like a scalded cat and gave me one more shot as he went out of sight. My wife looked at me and said, How could you miss that? LOL I said I didn't!

He left a blood trail down through and alder thicket and swamp for several hundred yards, and laid down twice. Tracking him in chest high salal brush and alder so thick we had to force our way through was hair raising, to say the least. He could have had us at any time. After several hours of tense tracking down the creek bottom alders, the blood quit. When it got so thick we couldn't see more than a 3 feet I called it. We went back the next day and no luck.

Fast forward to this fall. I had a friend that wanted to get a bear. He'd had a run of bad luck for a couple years and needed to punch a tag. I took him up in there and we got him a bear about a mile from where I'd called in the swamp bear. I told Liam man that looks alot like the swamp bear! When his wife was dressing it out she found a perfect big bullet hole in the left shoulder blade. The bullet was lodged just behind it and never made it deep enough to reach the vitals. She still has the shoulder blade but sadly the bullet got thrown out.

Tough ol' bear. had a bullet lodged in his shoulder for a year and still had an infected puss pocket around it and yet he was out doing what bears do.

I don't fault the cartridge too much, it works if the shot is rib cage or spine. But, as anyone that hunts knows, the shot isn't always ideal. My takeaway is work harder on exact shot placement with the 375 on bears, or go to the 358 and use Barnes 180 ttsx. The 358 runs several hundred feet per second faster and of course the Barnes holds together well.

I think the 375 is an ideal deer cartridge with the 200 grain bullet. I don't know if a 250 grain bullet would have improved last years results or not, I've not tried them. Here's Liams swamp bear. He killed it with a 7mm magnum.

The shoulder must be tough to stop the stopping power of the 375 at 50yds. Glad he made it a year rather than rotten somewhere.

Great story, Fireball. I do use the Sierra for deer, but I've since switched to the 230gr Cutting Edge bullet, it's an absolute penetrating hammer even on the biggest boar hogs that probably have a tougher hide (and gristle plate) than Blacks.

cheers,

J

Do most of the 375 Marlins have the crossbolt safety?

None of them do they were only made for a short time in the 80s prior to the cross-bolt safety feature.

PennDog

Hammer half click back was Safety.

HS 58

That's interesting! I tested all the 375 bullets I could get my hands on and the 200 Sierra is very short, expands exceptionally well but at close range core separates every time and stops in 8" of newsprint. Very limited sectional density in caliber 375. 220 Hornady's and are much better, and seldom core separate. For close in bear baits I think I might go with the 235 Speer which I chuck in my lathe and flat point to 229 grains, (You could also do this with a file) and crimp with a lee factory crimp die. Loaded to 2100+fps they will expand out to 100 yards (but not much more) and penetrate like crazy. They are also very accurate.

Like you said though that 200 Sierra tucked behind a deer shoulder would make very fast kills.

I picked a Marlin 375 in my LGS about 10 years ago,$600.00 ,unfired,no box but a Marlin leather sling on it.One of my favorites.