Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 375 H&H w/ 350 grain Woodleighs

I'm at ~2320 which the barrel liked best. I can't remember if the Norma load is at nominal 2300 or 2350, but I'll find out in a week or so when they get here.

A bud just returned from Tanzania where he took 2 buf and a sable with his 350 Woodleigh handload running at ~2360.

Just went to Midway USA to check the prices.... $65.99 for 10 rounds... damn.... just, damn....

I hear ya...

Just a comment on one of the posts here:

No, the 350 Woodleigh will not be too long for the .375 Ruger, as Ruger designed their case to use the cannelures of existing .375 bullets. If the .350 WL will work in the .375 H&H, it will work in the Ruger--and no, it it won't take up "too much powder space." I have explained this before but this superstition is so deeply ingrained in handloaders that it is impossible to eradicate. If anybody wants to read another rant on the subject, I'll go ahead. But otherwise let's just leave it at that.

The Ruger case as the same size head as the .375 H&H, so will generate no more bolt thrust, even though the .375 H&H case is a little smaller in front of the belt. Even if it did generate a little more, it would be far from enough to be dangerous. Do you suppose that all the companies that have made rifles on even fatter cases over the years have not made sure their actions will hold 'em?

Odds are that the powder used in the .375 Ruger is something handloaders cannot buy. This is because the cast majority of powders used in factory ammo we cannot buy. This does not mean that it is "proprietary" or magic. It is easy to safely match the factory velocities of the .375 Ruger with conventional powders, and in fact exceed them.

JB

I agree with you for the most part, Mule Deer, there are way more than enough "old wives tales" that keep circulating around the net. Once mis-information or dis-information is published in any form it's there to say and impossible to eradicate. It doesn't matter how many times you try to correct and to educate someone always misses the point, the explanation, needs to "be one of the boys" or just doesn't understand or care. We male type humans must "strut our stuff" and fuel our egos.

One small bone to pick about "proprietary", though. By definition "Proprietary" relates to proprietor or "an owner" which then relates to "Of, pertaining to or characteristic of a proprietor. Exclusively owned, made and sold by one owning a trademark or patent". I think the powders used in several of Hornady's cartridges, and in other brands, that are unavailable to the general public fit into this definition, so are "proprietary" in this sense.

You "could" also say the powders are "magic" even though use of powders that ARE available to the reloading public can and do equal the MV of the different cartridges. Unless you are privy to the pressure/weight data from Hornady you have no idea what those numbers are. The flat statement that "It is easy to safely match factory velocities of the 375 Ruger with conventional powders and in fact exceed them" could get novice reloaders into trouble in many ways. It is, in fact, one of those mis-information/dis-information statements and is based on a false use of logic, namely using the negation of a logical statement to prove a positive. It is done constantly if you closely read many posts.

Just a small minor point and as you said there are many factory powders unavailable to the reloading public with a few exceptions.

In any event, I do think Woodleighs are excellent bullets and will try the .375 cal 350 gr Woodleighs as soon as I can get my hands on some in my "old" 375 H&H.

Enjoy

With the 350 Woodleigh/H4350/F215 combo in a 24" Sako I'm getting:

68 gr - 2240
70 gr - 2307

The second load printed 3 into .450 with a leup 1.5-5x.
And no, I'll never sell that AV!

Don't ya just luv barrels...

me and 2 buds are all shooting M70 classics.

Ya got my 69 grain H4350 load @ ~2320
1 is using a 70 grain H4350 load @ just shy 2350
and the other just back from Tanzania used 72 grain H4350 @ ~2360

yet a fourth guy using the same 72 grain H4350 says he's getting ~2380 (tho I haven't personally seen that tape)

NFG,

The pwoder used by Hornady is in no sense proprietary. It is just an unblended bulk powder, available to any company who wants to buy powder by the boxcar-load, instead of the blends we buy in canisters.

I should have clarified my statement about handloading the .375 Ruger. A couple of people at HANDLOADER magazine have loaded for it and has the pressures tested. The factory muzzle velocities can be easily met with standard canister powders, and can be exceeded by a little safely as proven by the pressure tests. H4350, for instance, is a fine choice. If you use it to start both 270 and 300-grain bullets at factory velocity, you will be on safe ground.

JB

In my 26 inch tube Mauser I tested these bullet in Africa on Buffalo for several years before they hit the market. Both the PP and the RN were tested..Geoff wanted the PP and I wanted the RN, so Geoff just produced both..After using them I have found both have a place, but the PP is probably the best all around bullet, all things considered..The RN is a real killer on broadside shots however..

I loaded up several loads that chronographed as flwgs:

WW cases
Fed. 215 Primers

65.5 grs. of IMR-4350 2405 FPS very accurate
66.5 grs. of Rl-15 2407 FPS very accurate
75.0 grs. of H-414 2415 FPS veru accurate

My rifle is a very accurate rifle and its hard to compare loads with it as such, but I got the imprssion without actually measuring them the RL-15 loads were the most consistant and the most accurate over all. That is the load I settled on, and have been using ever since..

A really great bullet, I have never had a Woodleigh fail on me in the last 40 or so years.

Just finished my bear season and carried a 375 Ruger with the 350 Woodleighs @2260fps. I would have thought that the 350's should have kicked harder than the factory 270 bullets but both my daughter and I thought the Woodleighs were more comfortable. Her little cut down "Alaskan" only weighs 7#4oz and the "African" I was carrying goes 7#8oz. Both were comfortable to shoot.
My last client borrowed a rifle so I let him use the "African" He put his first round directly behind the shoulder of a 10" 3" (28 1/16 B&C) boar which gave complete penetration and left a huge exit wound.
With a test sample of one I can't say it works any better than a stout 270 or 300 grain bullet but it works at least as well and possibly better. time will tell.

458 Win,
Have you been getting my emails?

No, I've been in camp since June but am back now.

Which bullet(s) do you think are better for cape buffalo:

300g North Fork SS and solid

or

350g Woodleigh PP and solid

I'm just starting to load for my 375 H&H and would kinda like to stick with one bullet weight for everything. My rifle should be here pretty soon.

Thanks,
Chuck

I'm using the 350 Woodleighs. Most likely the RN soft and the solid combo. The solid and PP shoot to same POI, but I haven't had a chance to shoot the RN soft yet. As soon as I get my rifle back from the smith, I'll be testing again. For the 350's, use the suggested loads at the front of this thread (Fed 215, working from 70-72 grs. H4350) as they seem to work great for everyone that's used them lately. There are several threads over on AR about this combo as well. Thornell over there just came back from the Selous with this combo and great results.

David

Thanks David, 350g Woodleighs it is. I also emailed Swift about making a limited run of 350g A-Frame Semi Spitzers. If they did that I'd probably use them instead of the Woodleigh PPs if they shot to the same POI as the Woodleigh solids. Now to order my reloading dies as well ...

Chuck

Well Swift got back to me very quickly and said not enough volume to justify a run (I think they're wrong) but I appreciate their quick response. So I just ordered 100 Woodleigh 350g PPs and 50 350g FMJ solids from Huntingtons...

This is the attitude that opened the door to a lucrative business for Geoff McDonald with his Woodleigh Bullets.

Geoff offered to open up the die to create a heavier bullet for me once as long as it was at the end of a planned production run with that caliber.

It obviously can be done but would require a certain quantity to be viable. It only takes a single pilot run and an advertisement to determine the marketing potential.

Marketing........yeah, it is a word in the dictonary. I'm sure I've seen it there.

AGW