Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 375 H&H

How do you like that bullet? I am quite pleased so far.

444: Back in the 80's I had a light contour Atkinson barrel put on a pre 64 N70 H&H action,and bedded in a Brown Precision stock;the rifle with a 4X Leupold weighs right on 8 pounds,which makes it lighter than many factory 338's.The rifle is on its' second barrel,a 410 stainless Krieger.

I don't remember when the Sierra 250 came out but I originally used 4064 to move that bullet,and the 250 gr Bitterroot, at over 2900 fps;today I use RL15 for the same velocity.If we look real hard, this is kinda like a 340 Weatherby with a 250 gr bullet and more frontal area.Sighted the "old way",ie 3" high at 100 yards,the load is only 4" low at 300 and 14" low at 400.This is as flat as a 270 with 150 gr bullets.

I have not used the combo on elk,but have used it on two Alaskan brown bear and it is very effective.I would not hesitate to take it elk hunting,or for anything else for that matter.

This rifle and load is the reason I have not owned a 338 Win Mag for years ,as it pretty much eliminates the reason for anything else in the 338/358 class.I have also used a blown out,full length H&H case necked to 35 caliber and came to prefer the 375H&H instead; if you have a 375H&H, you don't need a 35 cal IMHO.

Dober and others are right that many(most) factory 375's are too heavy and this is mostly barrel contour.It is no trick to make up a 375H&H that will come in at 8 pounds or so.

Good topic. My Talkeetna which is wearing a Trijicon/QR Talleys is 9 lbs.. Very nice to shoot and extremely accurate with 270gr TSX's and Varget. My Winchester Classic SS is a bit harsher due to the less than optimal stock. It weighs 9# 6 oz.. Like others I can attest that the 375 H&H is easier to shoot than many 338WM's I used to own. The Kimber version was the easiest and the Tikka was a neck snapper.
The Talkeetna will be taken to AK. for another go at a brownie.
After that, it be used on a cow elk for experimental purposes.

have shot a couple of elk with my 375 Bee and accubombs...

greal elk bullet IMO and like JJ Hack says it "numbs" them....

bigwhoop: You used to have to work really hard to get what a Talkeetna offers over the counter today....scramble for an action, custom barrel and stock.....things are much simpler now with the wide variety of factory offerings....there are light weight 375's out there....

Found out the load I was shooting was the Factory Federal 270 spire point. Flat enough shooting for 300 yds and a little further, tons of power and soft on the shoulder- what's not to like?

Oh and don't start talking about rifle 'needs', my wife might hear you! I could easily do all my hunting with my '06 half Ti, but how much fun would that be?

Those "One gun Battery" threads pop up a lot and I've seen the 375 mentioned a few times, now I think I know why.

I think it is one of the best around. The 30-06 of Africa, most people would not think twice about using it for Zebra or Eland but when used for Elk it seems to be considered differently.

Carried mine some and even put the cross hairs on a few Elk but never touched one off. Mine is a little heavy at 9.75 lbs but that is only ounces heavier than a 7RM that I've carried in some steep country. About 8 lbs seems ideal and when your winded and excited that weight helps settle down the cross hairs nicely.

Couldn't get better for heavy timber and just fine for as far as you would shoot with a 30-06. The 375 just gives a feeling of confidence in that you don't have to worry about terminal performance if you do your part.

I'll be in the market for a .375 H&H the next time I go Elephant and Cape Buff hunting. No seriously, I have shot one with full power 300 grain loads and I can handle it. I don't want to though and feel quite confident with my 30-06 on any animal in NA.

If you can squeeze a big 30 on the bench, you'll need not worry about the 375, 260 Partition and a case full of 4350.

When hunting elk in the thick, dark tangles and the yellow is all you will ever see, the 375 will work when others wont.

Wayne

WyoJoe-we liked the 250 Sierra and it did well for us. Today if I was working one out I'd most likely gravitate to the 260 Accu as it shoots well in my 375 Wby. And the 235 TSX shoots well and it'd be fun to light up a bunch of elk with as well.

My idea of a 375 elk rifle today would be to buy a 700 SPS, cut the tube to 23" and stick it in a Ti take off. Talley's and a 6x36 Leo with dotz.

Dober

I have had four different .375 H&H. The one elk I shot was with the 1965 Winchester model 70. I was on one hill and the five point was on the other. He was a big mean 5 point (two large points broken off from fighting) and screaming at an elk on my side (which I never saw but heard). The 270 grain silver tip took him between the shoulders as he walked up hill about 250 yards away. The hit held him down for 45 minutes until I could cross to his side and get above him. When he saw me he slowly put one hind leg onto the ground and stood. His front feet got under him and he started walking up hill! Had to put one in his neck to finish the job.
Post mortum showed a bullet that missed most anything vital except for a lot of meat. The perfect mushroom was in the off side hide of the shoulder. That is one bull that would have likely escaped with a lesser round. .375 for elk? you betcha!

Dang, Logcutter, you�re more of a man than I am � toting an extra couple pounds around on my shoulder all day isn�t an option I�d choose lightly. Lately I�ve been thinking about synthetic stocks to lighten the load. I�ve long wanted a Ruger Compact in 7mm-08 or .308 Win and I think the day is drawing near.

While I�m at it, let me recommend 300�s or 350�s in that .45-70, too � flatter shooting and plenty effective on elk. (North Fork 350g FP work really well, but there are others I would trust, too.)

CH

I am just not seeing how a pound or even two pounds is that big of a deal.When I packed a chain saw around the hills all day,weight did matter by the end of the day but you get used to it.

Getting in shape for hunting isn't just about cardio.I always seem to get cramps in my fingers when skinning game and I just haven't found the exercise for it yet.

Yeah on the 45-70 loads,You no I have 300 Nosler/350 North Fork and 350 Woodleighs ready for the tube but those dang big Meplated cast, definitely have my attention.

As for the 375 H&H,I just got my rifle and reloading stuff back where I can use it..I have some 260 and 300 grain Nosler Partitions along with a bunch of Accubombs and about a box of 270 grain Speers..I ought to find something that shoots well in my rifle if I try hard enough.Ohhh and my wife was throwing that 375 around the RV like it was a 22.

Jayco

I am sure this will change in another 20 years but right now at 28 and in good shape a 9lb rig scope and all is fine, especially if its ballanced right. Don't get me wrong I like to save effort when I can thus my Ti stocked 06 with a fixed 6x nice and trim. But for a heavy recoil gun like the 375 I think heavy has its benifits. Heck that 270gr bullet at 2700fps was more plesant to shoot than some 06's I've shot and about every 300 winmag.

I had an early M700 KS Mountain Rifle in the H&H and it was a darn fine rifle, very light (~7 3/4# scoped IIRC) and very accurate too. I hunted elk with it using the 260 gr Partition loaded to 2650 fps and took two nice bulls. I cut the barrel back to 21 1/2" which was just behind the porting that the gun came with when I bought it used. After a few seasons I pulled the stock for use on my 338-06 and put a standard ADL stock on it and traded it off. It was the ideal 375 to me.

I tried. Couple years ago I bought a 700 XCR in .375. On the scale at the gun shop it weighed 6-3/4 pounds w/o optics or base 'n' rings. That gun packed nice but didn't shoot for beans, chamber was messed up, oval instead of round, etc. I had a .338 blank on hand along with brass, dies, some bullets, so I had it rebarreled to .338 but I sorta wish I'd stayed with .375. I haven't weighed it. I know as a .338 it whops me. Shoots pretty good. So I don't have a lot of "excuse" to buy a .375 now.

Tom

Tony-that sounds like a really nice rig!

Dober

When I returned home from Viet Nam in 1970, I was re-assigned to Ft Sill, Oklahoma. I used to spend a lot of evenings at the base range. One evening, a couple of guys at the bench next to me were were sighting in a .375 H&H. One of them had drawn a Wichita Mountains Elk tag, and his buddies told him he needed a rifle that big to kill an elk.

Back then, I had only killed one elk (with a .30-40 Krag), so I wished him luck and didn't say that I thought he had too much gun.

At the end of that year, I got out of the Army and moved back to Colorado and then to Montana and killed a bull elk every year with my lowly .30-06 shooting Hornady and Sierra cup and core bullets. It wasn't until the late 70's when I had my .30-06 rechambered to .30 Gibbs (because I liked to looks of the case) that I started shooting Nosler 180 gr Partitions for elk and moose. With the increased velocity of the Gibbs, I found that the Partitions gave me more penetration than the Sierra's. For almost 30 years I thought I had the perfect Elk rifle.

Even one year when I was hunting Bighorn Sheep in one of Montana's Unlimited tag areas and a big, heavy, dark antlered, 6 pt bull elk walked out in front of me, I didn't give it a second thought that I was under gunned with my .257 Ackley, and the bull dropped in his tracks from a single 117 gr Sierra.

About 6 years ago, I built a .375 Ultra mag for a Zimbabwe Buffalo hunt. I took that rifle to Africa twice, and shooting 270 and 300 gr TSX bullets killed a variety of game varying in size from Steenbok to Eland and Buffalo.

I love my .375 Ultra mag, and am comfortable shooting it from any position and at ranges out to 400 yds, but when I go elk hunting I've never even thought of taking it. I've shot elk in all types of country: open sage brush, black timber, across valleys, mostly public land, and all DIY hunts, and never did I wish I had a bigger gun. Elk are the main reason that I have my 7 mm Rem mag and .300 Wby mag rifles.

Mine weighs a tad over 9 lbs. For walking in the mountains there is little dought that lighter is nice. BUT, a 375 can shoot a 270 TSX very flat out to 300+ yards and it hits very hard which is always nice. Too much for elk, deer, bear, javalina, coyote..........Naaaaahh! In fact it feels cool just to hunt with that rifle, Talk about worldwide history/legacy! YMMV

................................Had a 375 H&H for many years (sold) and used it successfully on three elk hunts. The 375 H&H is a very capable 400 yard elk round. However, using lower level loadings imo, that you happen to find more pleasant to shoot,,,which is ok,,, don`t fully offer this round`s potential as a longer ranged elk cartridge should that opportunity ever present itself to you.

If you wish to own a 375 and also wish to receive the full performance benefits of the round, then try some near max to max loadings to see if you can handle them ok before you get a 375. Why get a 375 if you cannot handle the near max and max loadings?!!! That`s kinda like buying a Corvette or other fast car without goosin it to see what shes got!!

You should also handle a few different 375 rifles to find best handling, weight and feel for you for the terrain you`ll be hunting in the majority of the time. The cartridge itself isn`t the only thing to consider when buying another rifle.