Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only .376 Steyr or .375 Ruger??

Have the chance to buy a like new Steyr Pro Hunter in .376. I've been longing for a .375 Ruger Alaskan but the Steyr is $350 less money. Trouble is I'm pretty sure feeding the .376 might be a problem. Anyone with .376 experience?

The ammo costs a lot of money but if you reload you can get the brass from Hornady. Differant but well built and smooth operating.

The paucity of components for the .376 would make me leary of it. Certainly not its performance.

Regardless of price, no deal is really a good deal unless you get what you really want! You are going to shoot the rifle and have to look at it too.

Im just a little biased towards the 375 Ruger Alaskan. I own one!

Get the Ruger, you won't regret it..You can absorb the difference in cost over time with the cost of brass etc.

As far as I'm concerned sales on the Steyr are so bad that the caliber is moribound the advent of the 375 Ruger will be the last nail in the steyrs coffin, a caliber that is here to stay and will give the old 375 H&H a run for the money...Not to mention the 375 Ruger is balistically superior in every way.

Spent the last two hours on the phone to 10 different gun shops. 0nly one had even heard of the .376 and the two boxes he had were listed at $125 CDN each (its awful rare you know)!

So I just got off the phone with the seller of the ProHunter and offered him $350 CDN based on the non-existent supply of ammo. Well that didn't go very well. Providing I still have a job by May its looking like another new Ruger will be coming home with me this summer.

Brass is the catch? Trim and neck 9.3x64 Brenneke brass. Hornady sells it and ammo as regular catalog items.

I'd pick up the Steyr because they're soon to be rare and they're cool as heck.

That isn't to slight the Ruger whatsoever; I agree with the comments above, so you'll have lots of time to buy one of those later on.

Sounds like you have a clear preference for the Steyr, - fair enough - although not sure if it's because of the 376 cartridge or in spite of it! Of course, the question as to the adequacy of the 375 Ruger vs the 376 Steyr is one of when is enough enough? IMO there's not much to choose between the 2 cartridges if the preference is for one of the rifles vs the other. I doubt anyone will be killed by an angry beast as the result of the practical difference in performance between the two cartridges - given bullets of equal capability and identical shot placement.

JonGalt, What is the limiting factor on these two chamberings? Is the 375H&H out?

Actually I just like off beat rifles and calibers. The .376 Steyr is one of those, as is the .370 Sako. I really have no love for the Pro Hunter its just rarely seen. I really like the Ruger Alaskan the stock fits me spot on, but since the Steyr was less expensive I considered it. But since brass and ammo is virtually non existent up here I'll go with the Ruger because I can at least find factory ammo. Remember US law prohibits the export of reloading components to individuals outside the US so ordering it direct is out of the question.

The .375H7H is a great round, I just prefer the Ruger rifle the .375 Ruger comes wrapped in.

[quote=JohnGalt]Spent the last two hours on the phone to 10 different gun shops. 0nly one had even heard of the .376 and the two boxes he had were listed at $125 CDN each (its awful rare you know)!

I owned a 376 and loved it. It was very accurate and powerful. A heck of alot like the 9.3x62 in power (not a bad place to be)

As far as rare, the ammo is a phone call away. For 40-45 bucks a box
http://www.grafs.com/product/231731

And brass is a catalog item

http://www.grafs.com/product/231842

As much as I like the 376 the ruger is a better bet in the long run.

Graf's looks great BUT since it appears to be in the US I cannot order from them as I am not a dealer and have no interest in jumping through the many hoops required to obtain the special paperwork from the US State Department to import reloading components or ammo. I suspect Graf's may not have the proper export permits in place to ship to Canada as well. As I understand it many if not most US firms simply do not deal with anyone north of the border anymore. Some small items under $100 US may be shipped without permits but more and more items are being restricted by the US government for export. In fact rumor has it up here that ALL ammo and components used in mil-spec ammo will be banned for export from the US. .308, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .223 etc.

i don't know about Canada, but the .376 is easy to feed here. brass is available from all the big reloading e-stores. i got six magazines from CDNN, and scope mounts for for the A-Bolt fit the SBS Steyrs. there is a guy somewhere in Arizona that will install a round bolt knob and the new bolt cam if your rifle has the old one. McMillan has a stock for the Steyr SBS rifles, but i don't know if it will accept the .376.

btw, i like mine. very accurate and powerful. mine does 1moa @ 500 meters with 270 TSX bullets with a 1.5-5 MK4 scope.

I like my Steyr. It is very accurate and the specs are authoritative. I got a great deal on it and then got a great deal on a lifetime supply of ammo. (At my age it doesn't take much to be a lifetime supply.)
I'm told Steyr really wanted a 9.3 but went with the 375 for the sake of legality in certain African jurisdictions. Would have made a great 9.3 also.
You pays your money and you takes your choice.
Thanks for the scope mount info. I have a Zeiss Conquest on it now but it will change to a Trigicon I think.

As others have replied finding ammo & brass in the US for the .376 Steyr is no problem. Obviously, Canada may well be a different situation. I use both factory ammo & handloads. I like the caliber for large plains game like eland. The .376 has a bit of a cult following, but appears to have been a commercial failure. There were just to many SM's, SSM's, UM's, etc. introduced about the same time. To the best of my knowledge the Scout Rifle is no longer available in .376. In remote areas like Africa one concern is that if the airlines looses my ammo you can forget finding a replacement. I have always had some similar readily available caliber with me since this has happened. The .375 Ruger is a comer, but again it will be some time before it could be found in remote locations.

I have owned both rifles, but sold my .376 Steyr because the factory pretty much abandoned it. Given your situation in Canada I would go with the Ruger. The .376 has adequate power, here I am with a 2,200 lb eland in Zim and a ProHunter .376.

I understand Ruger sold 8,000 .375 Ruger rifles in the first year, which is a tremendous feat for a .375.

jim

Get the Alaskan. You won't regret it. I love my LH version.

Brass and ammo are readly available............ though it does seem to sell out fast around here.

is there a difference in action sizes between the 375 ruger and 376 steyr?

3.1 vs 3.4. So basically you need the same size action.