Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only Your Pick .375 Ruger, .375 H&H, .338 Win Mag, .416 Ruger For A Big Game Rifle?

An update on this 5 year old post:
My thoughts have not changed.
But, I did add a 416 Ruger Alaskan not long after this post. And it does work very well on moose also with a 350 grain TSX. It now has a McMillan classic stock. I like it lots.

I still use the 375 Ruger more often than anything else, in either a 20" barrel or a longer. It is definitely a favorite cartridge and I have 2 favored rifles in it, both Ruger stainless platforms.

Not in Alaska. In here the .30-06 is king, then the .300WM, and .338WM. Following those three, the 7mm Magnum, and then .375H&H. I don't think that the new cartridges are going to replace the old reliables above any time soon. Maybe in the lower-48 States that will happen. Just look at all the offerings named "-Alaskan," and none can still catch the real Alaskan introduced in 1958.

To me the .338WM is it for hunting in the US.

I'll take a CZ550 in 416 Rigby.

Coastal grizzlies are the only of the listed species that I'd want anything more than a stainless 30-06 or 300 mag for. For the big bad brown bears my comfort level would go up with a 375 H&H or 416 Rem mag. I would definitely pick a 30 or under for bou and most likely black bear.

I bought a .375 Ruger in preparation for a trip to Africa, I was glad that I did, I got to shoot several animals, that were tough to put down, and look through the scope at several more that my finances-not my firearm determined were not on the menu for the day.

The main reason why, at the time a new Ruger hawkeye african was about $400-500 less than any .375 H&H available. but it shot excellent right from the start too, quickly making me very happy about the decision.

the Ruger was very versatile with any bullet weights, and very accomodating to load for as well not finicky about bullets or powders. Brass and components were available, reasonably priced, and easy to get.

Gembok, Kudu, Blue wildebeast, Zebra, and Warthog all fell to a 260gr Partition, I also got to look over Eland, Cape Buffalo, and Giraffe while there- at least it was a possibility, even if I would be hawking everything I owned when I returned

It works darned well on Elk back here in the US of A as well, they don't run off when hit with it.

Desert shooter

I'd go with a 375, either the Ruger or the H&H. I am on the 2nd barrel in my Mauser 375H&H and I know how well it preforms, so I have trouble going to something else.

The Ruger would be fine with me too because it's going to do what the H&H will do and so I have full faith in it, even though I have never used a 375 Ruger.

I have owned and used some 338 Winchesters and to be honest, I could not see the same level of effectiveness over a 20 year span of time as I saw with my 375, so I sold the 338s. Not a single thing wrong with them, but they just were not quite in the same league as the 375.

I have also owned two 416 Taylors I made myself. The same bullet (400 grain) at the same speed (2350 to 2400) as the original Rigby. Excellent guns and excellent cartridge, but I sold them too. For Africa they would have stayed in my possession, but I am not ever going back and so the 375 does as well on North American game as the 416 and reaches farther.

I still have a 404 Jeffery.
Why?
Just because it's very similar to one I used when I was young, and I just like it. But I don't hunt with it much.
I use the 375H&H, or just recently I have started using a 9.3X62 with perfect results also. I can't see much difference (yet) between the 375 and the 9.3 on game, but the 9.3 has a bit shorter barrel, holds 2 more rounds in the mag, weighs 1-1/2 pounds less and the recoil is about the same, which is to say not bad at all.

For Alaska hunting alone, I would pick the .375H&H over the .375 Ruger, simply because ammo for the latter is not as readily available as the former. That said, a .338-caliber rifle can't equal a .375H&H nor a .375 Ruger. All cartridges are different from one another.

But for hunting in the interior of Alaska, I would pick the .338WM over any .375H&H. Just like the .30-06 and .300WM, out of the box a .338 is lighter than a .375H&H, and will outdistance it, much like a .300WM with a 180-grain bullet will outdistance a .338WM with a 225-250-grain bullet. At the AK hunting grounds, there is a pretty good chance that you will see other hunters carrying the older cartridges such as the .30-06, .300 and .338, and the .375H&H.

And yes, there are all kinds of gun articles where supposedly new guns are the best, this and that, even new guns that still shoot the same-caliber bullets as the old guns (for example, .375H&H bullets shot out of a .375 Ruger). Advertisements go a long way relating to selling guns, and I read some of the gun writers' articles about supposedly new rifles where they go out there and kill a coyote or two, and then explain how good the new rifle is and how well it performed. No wonder gun magazines are getting thinner and thinner each day.

338 Win would be more than sufficient for all those animals. My other choice would be a 375 H&H, but that would be a little more than needed. I think a 30-06 would do well with those choices.

even in Skagway and Haines i ve seen 375 ruger factory ammo ...

I have seen stacks of .375 Ruger in the tiny little store in Sleetmute.

Yes, you can find it in Alaska, but not as readily as ammo the .30-06, .300 and .338, and even 375H&H.

In most of the shops I am familiar with, which includes many, the 375 Ruger is at least as prevalent as the old H&H round .
And the availability of rifles chambered for the Ruger is many times greater, and cheaper, than those offered in the H&H round !

As I predicted when the 375 Ruger was introduced, it will eventually overshadow the ancient .375 H&H round for the same reasons that the 300 Win quickly overshadowed the 300 H&H
The Ruger round has no significant ballistic or performance advantage over the H&H but it has significant commercial advantages and minor, although at times potentially significant, operational advantages.

One of my PH buddies in South Africa, Rob Klemp, also owns a big sporting goods store in Kimberley. I did a magazine article a couple years ago about how the .375 H&H is doing in the 21st century, and as part of the research e-mailed him. He said that while African hunters still tend to prefer the H&H (both because they're traditionalists and because used rifles cost far less over there than new, imported rifles in .375 Ruger), he'd been stocking .375 Ruger ammo for a while because the demand was increasing.

I picked the 375 Ruger Hawkeye. The most important fact was it's a left hand bolt action. If I was right handed it would have been a 375 H&H. Lots of good factory loads with good bullets. Bob

I like the fact that my 338 Win and 375 Ruger are near identical rifle platforms. And the same could be said for my 416 Ruger, other than the barrel has less taper forward on the fore end.

I can see no reason not to like 375 H&H performance in smaller package as in the 375
The same can be said for the 416 Ruger vs the 416 Rem. The 416 Rem has a slight case capacity advantage. I do not see this as a much of a real advantage for intended purposes. It appears from African hunter reports, that both kill buffalo and elephant equally well with equal quality bullets. It appears the 416 Ruger works just fine with the non-traditional 20" barrel.

I have been enamored with the 416 Rem since it was first announced, and had a M70 in one shortly after they hit the streets. I personally think the 416 Rem matches the M70 size factory platform better than the 375 H&H. I have a stainless classic with a 22" barrel in 416 Rem, and I like it. But, for daily use I like my 416 Ruger with a 20" barrel more.

No plans to get rid of my 375 H&H's or 416 Rem's (at least the stainless ones). But, if starting now, I would only have the 375 & 416 Ruger cartridges in these calibers for hunting. Nostalgia purposes, well that is a different kettle of fish.

i do like my alaskan left handed 375 ruger. compact and easy to handle. i do reload so factory ammo is not that important for me.

Were I to hunt Alaska with big bears on the menu I'd take something already in my safe. 9.3x62 or a 375 H&H, 1 of the 9.3's is in a synthetic stock and a ceracoated bolt action. The 375 is a single shot. 9.3 wins and it shoots both the 250 Accubonds and the 250 tsx equally well. This armchair qb will head north in the next 2 years.

sidepass,

IF I was headed to AK for big bears, it would be my (reformatted by JES) Model 760 in 9.3x62mm with 286 grain Privi Partizan ammo that would "make the trip". = That load is A KILLER on most anything on any continent.

A school chum of mine, from long ago, recently took a very large Nilgai bull from 200M+ with a Husky BA in that caliber, using "the Texas heart shot". Into the rump & out the neck..= One shot, GYD.

yours, tex

I, as most on this forum; like different rifles and various cartridges. The ones listed in the title are some of my favorites.

For one rifle in Alaska, or anywhere else in North America with larger game and old school normal shooting distances; the 338 Winchester is my choice. It simply works very well, a bigger 30-06 in my opinion.
I use the 225 TSX in the 338 Win, but suspect the Tipped version makes this cartridge even more versatile regarding distance and wind. I have a Bunch of the non-tipped to load and shoot before I get to the tipped supply. I don't think there would any significant performance difference with 210 TTSX either.

I use the 270 grain TSX in the 375's, it works very well also. The 416's, I use the 350 grain TSX, but the TTSX version may be the better choice bullet.
The bigger bores do give me a somewhat easier feeling going through the alders, willows, and 5' tall grass. Purely psychological, but it's there.

Of the title choices, one rifle for all, then it is the 338 Winchester for me. If two rifles are in the budget, I would add a 375 or 416 in the same rifle platform. My rifles of choice are the Ruger stainless ones. Either way, a 338 Winchester would definitely be in mix.

I agree...