Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers New to the 375win

I'm new to the 375win and I am looking for advice/bullets/loads to use on whitetails. What works best for you?

Thanks for your help.

The 220 grain Hornady FP has worked well for me. Sierra makes a 200 gr and Barnes makes one, not sure what weight. I have always used RL 7 powder. Lots of info over at www.marlinowners.com .

I also use the 220 grain Hornady FP over a charge of RL7. This combination shoots quite well in my Marlin 375. AA1680 is another excellent powder for the 375 Winchester.

If you are looking for factory loads, I am aware of only one, and that is the Winchester 200 gr. Super X. This load is more than adequate for any deer sized game.
If you need anything more, its a handloading only situation.
Suitable deer bullets include those mentioned above, and also offerings from Hawk bullets.
The 375 is pretty flexible in that a number of powders work well, but as always, it will probably take some experimenting to come up with the load your carbine likes best. One powder that delivers excellent accuracy and velocity is the old familiar 3031.
Current loading information can be gleaned from a number of sources, just beware of one thing, in the Hogdon Annual manual, do not exceed loads are extremely hot, and the Sierra actually generates above max pressure for either the 336 or the 94.

Bought one of the first big bore 94's that came out, put a 24in heavy barrel on it. With the 250 win power points it did spectaculer, took several moose, 1 brown bear and a multitude of deer with it, but when winchester dropped that bullet couldn't find anything that came close in performance. Switched to 356 win, found that the 250PP's wouldn't open up on deer, the 250 hawks were 359 instead of 358 (had to drop load 15gr's!) and expanded so much almost never exited which made for no blood trail. The 220 speer and 250 kodiaks worked perfect.

I picked up a pre angle eject Win 94 in .375 last summer. It came with 39 shells. I don't know if the previous owner fired one and said "[bleep] that!" or what. It came out of an estate, I've known where the gun was for probably 20 years, I wanted a '94 in .30-30 but couldn't pass this up.

Took a while to corral some brass, get a Williams receiver sight, etc. I loaded up 25 rounds (.38-55-ish, something to go boom) last fall, just started load development last week. I think I'm done already.

The hornady 220 grain flat point shoots real well. I can't get to Hornady's max load, even with a drop tube, I can't seat a bullet on that much powder without wrinkling the case. When that happened I got vertical stringing issues .. duh. By using a drop tube, 36 grains of RL7 fits, that's about 100 fps short of max, and y' know, for an iron sighted lever action, 2100-ish fps is fast enough I think.

Next up is a trigger job and a recoil pad. There's nothin' like an 8 pound trigger pull, and the little scum sucker comes back rather abruptly.

Tom

Tom,
Since .375 Win brass is harder to find, I trim 38-55 brass to the correct length. It works well. I've never needed a drop tube to get 38 gr of RL7 into the case but since newer reloading data shows 36 gr as max with the 220 gr bullet, I've reduced to that load.
Norm

Norm -

That's what I did to make my first box of brass. Took me a while, I use a file-trim die and wound up hacksawing off some of the extra first, then filing the rest.

By the time I got around to loading up ammo the brass I ordered which was on backorder via Midway arrived so those 50 cases are still unfired. Figure I'll save them, I might cast bullets some year and if I do, that'll make it easier to track what goes with what.

So far I haven't shot anything but paper. I used those bullets in a Marlin .38-55 cowboy gun 4-5 years ago and they seem to kill deer just fine. Lookin' forward to hunting season. (But I guess that's normal!)

Tom

Tom,
For cast bullets I fireform 30-30 brass. It is thinner, so works well for cast bullets that are a couple thousandths larger than jacketed bullets. Since my cast bullets are loaded to lower pressure than jacketed, the thinner brass is fine.
Norm

Makes sense! I haven't bought a mold for this rifle yet. Which bullet are you using?

I'm using the laser-cast 240 gr. I can use the .377 diameter cast bullet for mild loads (8 grains of red dot) but for hotter loads, I use the .379 diameter bullet. My bore is slightly larger from fire lapping but it doesn't lead and is very accurate. It is also accurate with the 220 grain Hornady jacketed bullet.

Have you tried 38-55 brass at it's regualr length? I haven't tried it in mine yet, but Paco Kelly has used it and it functioned well for him. Have heard the same from several others too,and you pick up a little case capacity.

I've heard that ... right after I got done trimming. (Figures, huh? Argh!) So no, I haven't.

I like 248, 264, and soon to be 300 grain lead in mine. I have one that is factory and one that I rebuilt with a 26 inch octagon barrel.
this caliber has been abused by the so called gun writers ever since it came out. Winchester didn't do it any favors with that short barrel and it heating up so fast with just 4 rounds.
Heck I have some 350 grain lead bullets that I am going to fool around with in mine when things slow down some here.