Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa 7x57 or 375 holland and holland for plains game?

The one thing that the 375 H&H gives you is the peace of mind.

For any shot within your range limitations, you know that for any shot, at any angle the 375 H&H will do the job.

Good thread gents. Another thought on the 375 H&H. A buffalo at twenty five yards and a kudu at 350 plus.....

I have run 4 poles on cartridges this year

It's simple

Girl = 7x57

Man = 375 H&H

Just to stir schit.

.30-06 and 180 gr Nosler Partitions.

nah, 3006 is revered at least by many. If you want to stir up schit try 300 Weatherby and Partitions :

I took a Weatherby Mark V in .340 Wby and the PH wasn't to keen on me using it. Did miss a shot at an oryx with it.

Used the same rifle on my first elk though.

Fixed it for ya jorgeI ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I�ve used a bunch of rifles on plains game chambered for a variety of cartridges. The smallest round was a .22-250 belonging to one of my PH�s, used for some culling, the but the smallest I�ve brought was a 7x57 and the largest a .375 H&H. They both worked well when a bullet that penetrated sufficiently (and all did) was put in the right place, as did every cartridge in between.

As I recall, all those cartridges have worked on deer too!

Count me in with the girls according to Ted. I'd choose the 7x57, or in my case, 7mm-08. Find a load for the 120 TTSX and go put a pile of critters in the skinning shed.

It'll also be a deadly whitetail round, which you're likely to use more often anyway.

This also sounds like a good reason to get both.

Good luck!

That sounds almost exactly like my first safari. I took a .300 and a .375 on a plains game hunt. The .375 was mostly because I had dreamed of hunting Africa with a .375 and wanted to at least take one animal with it. We had a long truck ride to the hunting area to discuss the caliber choice and I could tell that he was steering me toward the smaller rifle and even mentioned how well his 7 x 57 worked a number of times. He also owned a .375.

After the normal sight check, we had a bit of time before dark to take a look for game. I asked which rifle and he was quick to suggest the .375. Putting them all in the same hole may have had something to do with it. :)After the first day there was no way in hell they wanted to even talk about switching to the small rifle. I played dumb and asked what happened to all the talk about smaller rifles, and was told that (and I quote) "We say that to everyone, because if you can't shoot the big one it makes it easier to talk you into the small one. The bigger the better, IF you can shoot it". There may be a bit of "if it aint broke, don't fix it" involved too.

Somehow I accidently became a .375 for everything guy for awhile, although it was never planned that way.

For smaller plains game I would say 275 Rigby would be better in style and designation though it is basically 7x57 Mauser. For large game on hoof 9.5x73 would be better though it's often referred to as .375 Rimless Nitro Express Holland.

The .375 is truly the one cartridge to pick if you only have one rifle and want to hunt the world. With 250-270 grain bullets, it will have the same trajectory as a 7X57, but still has the power to take anything on the planet.

If there's dangerous game (buff and Elephant especially) in the area, then the .375 is really a no-brainer. I get a shudder up my spine when I think about how many times I jumped off the truck in Matetsi with a .22 Hornet chasing small plains game. If we'd run into a pissed off buff or elephant, I would have been dependent on my PH to save my butt.

For duikers, klipspringers, etc. the .375 with solids will do much less damage than the 7X57. For deer sized game and up, the .375 will kill all of them with authority. As far as using your .375 for hunting deer in North America, you'll always have an entrance and exit would, and it destroys less meat than most mid-caliber cartridges.

The downside is that ammo is more expensive, and the recoil is more than some folks can handle.

Exactly, well said sir.

My previous answer was basically a joke. On serious note from pragmatic point of view neither should be considered for your intended use. The evalutation of PMP-Denel site reveals that .30-06 or .300 Winchester Magnum should be chosen instead. Buying a rifle in given caliber is exactly like buying printer or glucose monitor. Always check price and availability of "print cartridges" and "testing strips" first.
You live in Wisconsin USA. Walmart does not seem to carry wallpaper but I bet every one you visit will carry .30-06 and .300 WinMag ammo.

I will vote for the 7 X 57 as a great choice for PG. With TSX's, Partitions, or the equivalent, it will take care of business. It is pleasant to shoot and does not beat you up to practice with. More practice will make you more confident. Shooting 40 rounds of 7 x 57 at the range is no sweat. 40 rounds of .375 H & H is more taxing, to be kind.

I would have to look at my hunting notes to come up with an exact figure, but have no doubt that I've seen far more plains game wounded with .375's and similar cartridges than smaller rounds. This hasn't been due only to the shooter not being able to handle the recoil, but harder-recoiling cartridges breaking more scopes.

I will also note that a few shooters find rifle that didn't make them flinch back in the U.S. does cause a flinch when they shoot it almost every day on a plains game safari. Have seen the shooting ability of several hunters decline during a 10-day or 2-week safari as their magnum started wearing them down.

Of course, none of this could ever happen to any member of the Campfire.

I have had hunters use a 375 for 3-4 days and then start shooting horrible.

This is a huge problem when the remaining days are limited and there is too much time spent looking for wounded or lost game.

I have more then a few times offered up my 30/06 because their rifle is " off" the results were back to good shooting and a great finish to the trip.

On occasion ( and I should not give up my secrets here in public) I have asked the hunter to check zero at the range. I also take the rifle to shoot myself to verify it with my shooting first. The offer is to reduce the recoil pounding for them. This is always a welcomed offer!

When I'm done I hand the unloaded rifle to the hunter who believes it's ready to go. At the " click" of the trigger when the rifle jumps off the bags its obvious what the problem has become.

It's a really nasty thing to do by me, however there is no argument about going to the 30/06 after this. They shoot my rifle off the bags and we go kill stuff again.

Two thoughts here. There are a large majority of shooters who do not flinch or jump at all with the 375HH cartridge. There are much harder recoiling rifles then this.

There has been a large majority who have had flinching with the 300 mags. Based on the cross section of hunters I have had in my camps, the 300 mags are by a very wide margin the most flinch inducing cartridges I have ever seen my hunters use. Actually, It would be a comfortable bet for me to say that less then 50% shoot the 300 mags without any care or concern of recoil.

The difficult part of this is that the owner of the rifle either does not know this and blames the scope, ammo or rifle. He may also have an ego issue so he will not accept switching to a smaller rifle to make hunting so much more fun.

Of course none of the campfire members fall into this category as John suggests!

Yip, have to agree with this. Spot on.

I like your style, most people show pictures of antelope ,cats , and other graceful animals, not you, a baboon ,a bush pig and a honey badger, no grace in any of them.......KUDOS to you.

Well maybe I'm just odd then, cause I can admit, that a flinch can occur when shooting a lot. I don't usually shoot a hundred rounds, with my 375H&H , in one outing. But I do a lot when shooting a sporting clays course, with my clays shotgun. As I get older I find I start having discipline troubles concerning trigger & gun control late in the round. It's like the yips in golf while putting. I just have no control over the shot. Drives me nuts. I'll go as far as admitting I've almost fallen out of the shooting stand before. LOL

With that said, I don't seem to have the same troubles while shooting, with a 10#+ 375H&H, 40 to 50 rounds at the range. Some bench but most off sticks. If I had to shoot that much on a plains game hunt in Africa my wallet would not be able to cover the fun. So I doubt I would have to worry about it.

I'm in the school that bigger is better when it comes to throwing bullets at animals. So my choice is and has been since the mid-90's the 375H&H for everything that I hunt here in the states. Although that will soon change with an addition of a 300H&H to the rack. But it won't be a mountain weight rifle either. I think most flinch and scope breakage comes from rifles that are to light in mass weight for caliber. I once owned a 700 mountain rifle made by Remington in an '06 that made me flinch every time I pulled trigger. Damn thing kick like a mule. And it did brake a fixed 4x Leupold to boot. I sold it to a fella that decided he need a real light rifle to hunt elk with.