Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats 375-06 anyone have one

I sent a Springfield off last week to JES Reboring to be rebored to the standard 375 Whelen. I have both the 35 and 400 Whelen and really enjoy both of them. I've gone a little crazy accumulating 375 bullets to test. Kind of bullet poor now.

I'm looking forward to running lots of test loads in it and my 400 this winter. Kind of limited on powder selections up here right now. I haven't found any H4895 in several months. I have rounded up some Accurate 2495 and some RL15 and have quite a bit of 4320 and BLC2. I will be glad when this ammo/powder/primer shortage is over.

I'll be reporting on my results this winter.

Mart

I bought a 375 H&H magnum and load it with IMR 4759 and a 200 grain Sierra FN. It is a sledge hammer on deer.
whelennut

Just talked to JES Reboring. My 375 Whelen is on its way.

Mart

mart,

Please keep us posted on your 375 Whelen development. I am interested in this one, too.

For a long time, I wanted to build a 376 Steyr, yet brass availability is very sporadic. With the Whelen, well, there are a lot of potential brass donors out there.

I am thinking about a 18 to 20 inch barrel version. Not looking for a magnum, I have 375 H&H and 375 Ruger for that.

I just got done expanding and resizing 200 rounds of unfired LC Match brass to 375 Whelen. I used my CH4D expander dies, taking them out to 416 (30-35 first then 35-416 in a second step) and then sizing back down in the 375 Whelen dies. I left the shoulder long enough for a snug fit when chambering for fire forming. My first load testing will be with 235 grain Speers and 270 Hornady spritzers with 5 powders, RL15, 4320, 3031, AA2495 and BL-C2. I have plenty of both bullets and that should give me a good idea which powders are going to produce the best combination of accuracy and velocity. After I've settled on a couple of powders I'll work up loads for all the bullets I have stocked up.

When I get home from this hitch on the slope I need to fix a small crack in the Sedgley stock before I start doing any load testing. I'll reinforce the recoil lug area with some acraglass to protect that classic old stock from the heftier recoil it's going to have.

I'll keep you posted n the results.

Mart

mart,

Did you ever get some loads worked up for this project?

Yes I did. I am still doing some load development as time permits but to date have found 4320, H4895 and RL15 to be the best powders in all bullet weights. None of that is surprising to me. I tried some AA 2495 when the powder shortage was at it's peak and i was out of H4895. It never developed the velocities I thought it would. I was hoping it would work as a replacement for H4895 but that was not to be. I have since found plenty of H4895 so am in good shape. I believe Varget would be a good choice but there was none available when I started testing.

Some of the best loads so far have been 58 grains of RL15 with either a Hornady RN or spire point 270 grain. The same load worked real well with Speer's 270 grain BTSP. Velocity ran right at 2400 fps with all three bullets. Stepping up to the 300 gain Hornady RN with RL15 and 56 grains I got 2300 fps. Unfortunately I've been unable to find any RL15 lately and am all out. I used 60 grains of it with the Speer 235 grain. It shot well but the velocity only ran 2425fps. I did much better with other powders and that bullet.

Speer's 235 grain did it's best with BL-C2 and 4320. With 62 grains of BL-C2 I got excellent accuracy and 2575 for velocity. The same bullet and 60 grains of 4320 gave 2640 and good groups. I was out of H4895 when I was tested the 235 grain bullets. I need to do some testing with that combination.

I tested H4895 with the 270 and 300 grain Hornady bullets. With 53 grains and a Hornady 300 grain RN I got good groups and 2293 fps. With the 270 grain Hornady and 55 grains it turned in 2450 fps and good accuracy.

I did find really good accuracy and 2595 fps with the Barnes 235 TSX and 60 grains of 4320.

This old Sedgley is a reliable 1.5" gun, rarely ever throwing flyers. It seems to always shoot consistent well shaped groups, some a bit smaller than others but consistent in pattern. It turns in the occasional sub one inch group but anything 1.5" or less is good in my book with this old gun. There were a few loads that went over 2" but it shoots pretty well with most bullets and powders.

With the exception of the short Speer 235 grain, this rifle likes to run at 3.330 for OAL. That's interesting because both my 35 and 400 Whelen seem to shoot best at that same OAL. The Speer 235's shoot well and feed fine at 3.150 OAL.

It has been an interesting project. It really doesn't offer much over the 35 Whelen or the popular 9.3x62. It is a good way to salvage a bad bore in a 30-06 or 35 Whelen, brass is very easily made from either case and bullets abound in 375, so it does offer that advantage. I can see it being a real up close thumper with the Hornady 270 grain RN or stretching it's legs with the 235 Barnes TSX.

Mart, check with 'Magshooter' down in the Big Bore lever rifles forum under the 235 Speer thread, he came up with a bunch of 375 cal. 285 gr bullets, they may be the old Speer Grand Slams, they would knock clear crap outta bears and moose up in your neck of the woods from a 375-06.

Mart, when I designed my wildcats based on the 375 Ruger, I excluded the 375 caliber, because of the 285 gr. Speer. In my magazines, I would have had to trim my case shorter than 2.5 inch's in length. I think this is why the 376 Steyr is the length it is.

All in all, a .375" would have given me better shoulders than my .416 did. But the interesting bullets, being made for it, are really long.

Splitting the difference between my .416 and my .323 wildcats gives me the 9.3 bore, and its 286 gr. bullets. But either the .375 or the .358 will be easier to find bullets for.

I've started working with the 1/2 inch shorter 300 RCM cases, but my necks are too short. I have a long delayed bushing die set on order which should let me make 1/4" longer cases out of trimmed back .375 Rugers. I may make up a 375 out of one of these. So please keep your results coming.

I think that you are on the right track, using very common brass for your wildcats. The small specialty runs at the brass mills are being pushed back down the road, until they can catch up on their larger orders.

gunner500,

I actually had a bunch of those I was going to test. My best friend has a 375 H&H and it loves that bullet. He managed to talk me out of them in a moment of weakness. I think you're right though, that bullet would be a great one in the 375 Whelen. I'm thinking the 260 Nosler Partition would rock a grizzly or moose's world. I have a bunch of those but haven't tested them yet.

Mart

Mart

I didn't see if you ran any Barnes... how does your rebore foul?

Mine fouls a LOT in 338-06 and Barnes 210ttsx. But they work so good...

I"ve lapped mine with diamond paste, JB, soaked bore, coated bore twice so far with bore coat. And will be doing that some more, the coating...

Just curious. I thought about 35 Whelen and 375-06 hard too... but for some reason just went with 338-06

I did run some 235 grain Barnes TSX. Mine doesn't seem to foul much. I didn't try that many Barnes so really didn't notice if they fouled any worse than regular jacketed bullets.

No flies on the 338-06. It's a great round, but alas, it does not bear the Whelen name.

338-06 Whelen... LOL

Wont be any fly's on that 260 Partition, they's 'bout as fail-safe as one can get in a hunting bullet!