Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Med/big bore out of place?

I've long had a fascination with bigger rifles, but must confess to being just a deer, elk & bear hunter. Yeah - there's a slim possibility of a trip for moose someday, or maybe even Africa... But I'm realist enough to know those are slim possibilities. Hunting elk, black bear and deer here in the Pacific Northwest is a certainty!

So - how out of place and ridiculous is it to use something like a .375 H&H now and again?

Normally I use a .25-06 or a 7mm Rem mag or my old beater .30-06 rifle, and have to admit, they've never come up short. Is it completely silly to get a "big" rifle for this?

Is it silly? Nope! I live/hunt in WV and recently aquired a 9.3x62mm I'm gonna hunt with a bit. Why? Just because. Well,because I'm a rifle looney.

IMO it would be silly not to.
Life is short. Go for it.

I carried my 375 H&H last year deer hunting. I wanted to get some experiance with it and since they kill Dik Dik's with them in Africa on occasion I figured a deer hunt with one wouldn't be inappropriate.

Use what you want, as soon as you can manage it! Life is too short to worry about caliber.
Here in France where i live and hunt, some of us are using 375H&H, 375Ruger, 416REM, 458Winch for wild boars and stags. I have my original M71 converted in 50 Alaskan, it's near finished (blueing), will use it in driven hunt with 500 and 600grs lead slugs. Never mind what other think or say, enjoy till you can!

Dom

Life's too short to worry about what the guys at the gunstore will say; use what you like and let other people worry about it.

I'm a beginner hunter and use a 375. I used the 375 h&h to take my first deer and it was great. You will catch some crap from other hunter's but who cares. I was told that I'd probably blow the deer to pieces, but when I shot my deer it created a similar wound channel to a 35 remington and the deer ran about 50 yards with a heart shot. Once my hunting party saw how little meat damage there was, they stopped giving me crap. and once they fired my rifle and found out the recoil isn't so bad, they seemed more interested in the caliber. I've shot 30-06 that felt like they kicked worse than the 375.
Realistically I may never get to africa or hunt a grizzly, but I still love the caliber. I'd say go for it if you have a facination.
You will notice the recoil at first, but it soon becomes normal recoil after a few range sessions.
Plus you will be able to hunt anything with that caliber. I even thought about coyote hunting with mine.

This pretty much sums up my thoughts.

Plus it's a heck of a yote rig!

Dober

folks that put down the calibers like the 375 H&H for deer and elk, normally do so out of a lack of knowledge in that they usually make a stupid comment like "Good Gawd, yer gonna blow'em in half feller,thats why I use a 243"....Fact is the big bores don't do near the meat blood shot damage as those fast light bullets that bloodshoot a deer from stem to stern...The 375 and its kin, in fact, cut a big caliber to cookie size hole in them and let all the blood out in a hurry, stroke occurs, and you have a dead deer that you can eat right up to the bullet hole as Elmer used to say..I use the softer 300 gr. bullets on deer and elk for this very reason and also because I can take any shot offered and I know that 300 gr. bullet is going to go in one side and out the other on an elk or deer and it will put them down, and it will leave a nice blood trail if they run a ways, and they do sometimes with any caliber...All Africans that live on wild game know and practice this at times. I believe all the camp meat shot in our Tanzania camp is shot with big bores and in many cases with solids. that has been my job traditionally.

You just got a whole lot smarter, that's all, tell'em to kiss ole spot and your good to go, in fact better than ever!

This is not to say that the 30-06 and its ilk are not good usuable calibers, they definately are, it is just that there is more than one way to skin a cat and if you can take the recoil and shoot them accurately you got the best of the deal...

About 1950's? My old grandaddy got to thinking he needed more than just his old 1903 for long shots on mule deer in the Bloody Basin of Arizona. Went and bought himself a brand new M-70 in .300 H&H. One hunt with that rifle and it was retired and went to the attic where is grandson resurrected it in the 1966. Grandad told me it was the worst meat damaging rifle he ever hunted with. I don't know if that is the case, as all the years I've had that rifle I never used it for any game hunting.

It is most common for folks that hunt our islands here in Alaska to shoot Blacktail deer with big bores, I have yet to shoot a black tail with a .375H&H that has wasted any edible meat. It is the main go to rifle caliber, more than any other. Yep I like to carry small rifles around, small calibers are more fun. For piece of mind and confidence, the .375H&H is vary hard to beat.

There just is never a question when you give the .375H&H the proper line-up on the vitals of any member of the deer family, you have just made meat.

Shot my last four whitetails and two game birds with .375HH and I have no intention to use any other caliber, unless I use my handgun.

They all died right there, no bloodshot meat at all.

All four whitetails and two game birds at one time, amazing. It the same reason I carry a 9.3x62 for Michigan deer.

Load it down and think of it as a 38/55 on steriods. Having fun is the point.

In my experience the people who crow the most about "too much gun" or "overkill" are the people who have never used such cartidges!

There are so many wonderful cartridges out there, that life would be very boring if we limited ourselves to a .22 and 30-06, variety is the spice of life!

I find the medium-big bore rifles to be flat out fun to own and shoot, those big heavy bullets put animals down RIGHT NOW.

The only person whose opinion matters when purchasing a rifle is your own.

GuyM, if anyone says anything tell them that you know a guy that

hunts coyote with a .458 Lott with 350's @ 2300 fps. That would

be me, my Ruger 77 will shoot 1.5" 3 shot 100 yard groups from a

sitting position with 24" Harris bipod. I love that rifle, and

shoot it alot. The big bores are fun to shoot, very accurate

and believe it or not I have never lost a yote yet! Lifes too

short,get the 375 and don't look back, it will wind up being

one of your favorite rifles!

Guy,
I would say go for it, the 375 is a fun caliber.

If you feel like you are overgunned, don't worry, I used to shoot chucks and rabbits with mine(and with my 416 too, but that is another story)

The first two deer I ever saw shot were shot with a 270 Winchester with 130 powerpoints and a 338 Winchester magnum with a 225gr TBBC.

The 270 shot deer looked like blood pudding on the inside, classic behind the shoulder shot presentation. Kind of disgusting actually, the bullet disintegrated.

The 338 shot deer, taken right on the shoulder, had a perfect .40" hole drilled through and through. No bloodshot at all.

Neither deer went more than 20 yards after being shot.

Is the 338 better for deer? Absolutely not.

Do I use a 338 on deer? You bet

I'm just thinkin that 375 H&H is a little light ...




Chuck

As a boar/roe deer/fox/cat 375 HH hunter I would say, come and be ridiculous with the legendary calibers loonies

I've used my 375 a bit and quite a lot in Africa a year and a half ago. If I was limited to one rifle for all of NA I'd give serious consideration to a 375 H&H under 9 lbs. and if Africa was included it would be a no-brainer. With the right loads if is suitable for from deer to brown bear without being a poor choice on either end of the spectrum.