I have a 2 .338 Lapua's for longer range hunting. So want to get another rifle.
They can all be ran mild to wild and reloading items are easily available. Which one would you choose.

Of the 4 which have you shot an liked?

I have used the .338-06, the 9.3x62, and the .375 H&H (which supposedly is the same, performance wise, as the .375 Ruger). I liked them all, but now hunt elk pretty much exclusively with the 9.3x62 and 9.3x74R. Idiosyncratic, but that's how I roll.

I love my 9.3x62mm but still need to shoot this one:



(375 H&H).....I think I'll end up liking it too

Shot everyone except the .358 Norma, and own three of the six listed. The Ruger is pretty cool in a 20" barrel and makes a nice compact thumped of large game, but mine has a 24" barrel. The Whelen is cool and 225 grain bullets at 2700 is awesome, but I'd have to say I like my .338-06 the best. No real reason except for the bullet selection and my rifle shoots lights out.

I'll probably work on getting a .358 Norma or STA in the future, and wouldn't mind owning the other two as well.

They are all great round, I'm not a fan of the belts like that are on the .358 Norma but they been around for a while.

That is a really nice rifle.

Such a classy rifle! Great buy!

Yep, nice rifle. Now sell some the others and bring that one on up for a Alaskan brown bear.

Ruger makes a nice .35 Whelen an a nice 9.62x62 also like the Remington model 798 375H&H to. Just so many good choices, also thought of boring out a Ruger 06 to a 35 Whelen to.
I could just cut down one of the .338 Lapua's.

I have a 35 Whelen and a 375 H&H. I like the Whelen better. Nothing wrong with the 375 but it is heavier than my 35 so the Whelen gets carried more.

Mart

I've owned all in your list except the .358 Norma and .375 Ruger. I like them all but currently only have the 9.3x62 and 35 Whelen.

Are you going to primarily hunt it, shoot it or look at it?

9.3x62, unless a little more recoil doesn't present a problem......then a .375 Ruger would be the choice. Everyone should own a .375 at some point in time.

Absolutely can't go wrong with a 375 H&H/Ruger, but I ended getting rid of mine for a pair of 9.3x64 Brenneke's.

I would choose a 338-06(have three of them) over a 35 Whelen/Norma, or 9.3 x62.

I've owned, and hunted with, a 375 H&H, which I have since sold. I now own a Ruger Hawkeye African in 375 Ruger, which I really like. I recently used it on a Water Buff hunt in Argentina, where it performed perfectly.

I have had the trigger worked on to lighten it up a bit, and put it in a McMillan McWoody stock, magnum fill, with a Leupold VX3 2.5-8 scope. Recoil is very manageable, and I actually like shooting it! Accuracy is great, with Barnes TSX 270 gr. bullets at 2800+ velocities.

I love both my 338-06AI and 35WAI

I own a 35 Whelen and 375 Ruger so those would be my choices but a 9.3x62 is definitely worth considering.

Really like that stock I want to do one one day to look similar to the salt and pepper laminate that is showing signs of cracking in the tang on my 375 Ruger How heavy is it as pictured?

I've been pretty damn impressed with my 9.3x62:






I know I didn't have to shoot 5 shot groups but hey, I was having fun

Owned or own all (4) four. Nothing wrong with any of them. Couldn't part with a 338-06 for a good while but it is now gone and I don't see another in my future. Still have a 375H&H, but prefer the 416Rem by a fair margin for that size of rifle. I absolutely love the 30-06 and look at the 338-06, the Whelen, and the 9.3x62 as bigger bullets stuffed into an '06, which is never a bad thing. But I do currently favor my 9.3x62 over my previous Whelen and 338-06. It may be as much about the individual rifle as the chamberings, but I find the 9.3x62 a chambering that is very easy to like.

Best:)

375 H&H or 375 Ruger.

For me it all comes down to the rifle you want them in. My choices:

338-06 - Pre-64 Model 70
9.3x62 - Mauser of some type
35 Whelen - 1903 Springfield or 1917
375 H&H - Not interested, too much gun for what I hunt and the 9.3 appears to be almost as good for a lot less powder and recoil. But you shoot 338 Lapua so something tells me that is not an issue for you.

Which is better? The first three will not be much different to my eye.

For you, why not stick with the 338 bullets?

I've had the 375H&H,35 Whelen, 338's,375 Ruger,and shot a 340 pretty extensively.Also a 35 wildcat predecessor to the 358 STA( a 358 Norma on goat glands).

Modern lightweight 375 bullets allow a 375H&H to do 99% of the work of these,and the H&H case is well suited to reduced loads duplicating the performance of the smaller mediums if you want to run that way,yet with full power loads,recoil is not over the top.

So my pick would be the 375H&H.

No I have never owner any of them except the .338 Lapua. I was seeing what you folks had thought of the other cartridges before buying the next rifle. 338-06 has really caught on as the 35 Whelen an .375 Ruger is getting popular these days.

That is great shooting. You ever have any headspace troubles with the 9.3x62?

The .375 H&H have similar trajectory as the 30-o6. What not to like about that.

I'm mostly a fan of lighter-kicking rifles. My favorite hunting rifle is a .25-06, which pleases the heck out of me. However... A few years ago I ran across a great deal on a .375 H&H Ruger Number One. Wow... Love it. Accurate. Powerful. Surprisingly easy to shoot and very effective on the one bear I've shot with it. Not bad as a rockchuck rifle either I learned last summer...

Carried it into the Cascades with me, scouting for mule deer and hoping to bump into another bear:




My favorite load was borrowed from John Barsness, a 260 gr Nosler Accubond over 69 grains of RL-15 for a mild 2620 fps. I keep it sighted in at 200 yards, and had no trouble hitting the bear at a tad over 300 yards. As someone else pointed out, the trajectory is very similar to a .30-06 rifle.

Am sure the other cartridges on your list are good, but all my over .30 cal needs/wants are met by the good old .375 H&H.

Regards, Guy

I'm of the 338/06 crowd.... and any of the above actions would work fine...

mine happens to be on a Model 70 action...

After much thought I've decided to have a model 70 turned into a 9.3x62 to supplement my .375 H&H. This round seems to give most power in an '06 action with five in the magazine. Comparing it to my 9.5lb it's hard to argue with only .009 less diameter and 14 grains less bullet at the same 2500 fps or so. Hopefully the gun ends up around 7.5lbs.

No headspace trouble at all. My rifle is an older CZ550 American (factory irons, nice american style wood stock and no chitty set trigger)...It's an excellent rifle for the money and shoots great. These groups were shot during load development as the rifle is still pretty new to me.

Excellent choice. I was actually thinking of turning my model 70 classic sporter 30-06 into a 9.3x62mm. A member here (GSSP) has a pre 64 model 70 that was built into a beautiful speciman of a 9.3......

I have a 375Magnum here that I probably will never sell. I have waaaay too much $$ into it and it has been a "lucky" rifle for me, so I'm pretty much stuck with it.

If I was going to do it all again, I'd probaly go with a 35Whelen or 9.3x62. They'll do anything I need a 375 to do here in Canada and at the same time weigh less, handle better, hold another round in the mag, less recoil, & be cheaper to load for.

That makes too much sense there...Why the heck did I buy that 375 then???? ...They do have that cool factor going for them

Much of what we do makes no sense at all, otherwise we'd all own one 30/06 and that's it.

.

Amen brother!!

My exact argument with myself!

Mine's a Tikka and all-up with scope, sling and 3 in the clip, comes in at 7.6 lbs. That's in 9.3 X 62.

I've owned a couple of .35 Whelens, two .350 Rem Mags, three .375 H&H's and never a .338-06 -- which never made a lot of sense to me -- I've also owned a couple of .338 Win Mags and a .340 WBY.

The 9.3 X 62 that I have in a light, modern bolt action with syn stock is somewhat superior to the .35 Whelen and .350 Rem Mag; is about equal to the .375 H&H for practical purposes; a mite superior to the .338 Win Mag; at least equal to a .358 Norma and on the heels of a .340 Wby.

But the Wby had a 26" tube, weighed a pound more and burned 33% more powder!!

I think I like the 9.3 X 62 -- in a modern bolt rifle -- best of the bunch!

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

Hey thanks guys. I didn't realize any of you comented on my pre 64 model 70 375 H&H, but if I went to alaska for a brown bear hunt my CZ550 would feel left out. Will a 9.3x62mm kill a big bear :



286 gr. noslers.....We'll test them out on a cow elk first

I have used the 375 H&H on elk, the 35 Whelen on elk, moose, nilgai and black bear, the 338-06 on elk, nilgai, black and grizzly bear and the 9.3x62 on a bunch of African plains game up to eland. All but the 375 have seen deer and hogs too. Short of a need for a "buffalo rifle" (or African law) I can't see a need for the 375 and, of the rest, I have a particular fondness for my Whelen, likely due to the "build". When you exclude the 375 I believe it's really six of one, half dozen of another though.

WC2010, thanks for starting this thread.

To the rest of you all... you're not making it any easier for me to make up my mind either. I picked up, to help out a friend, a "donor" M700 in 30-06 that came without a bolt, with a crappy scope, and some hard use. This was planned to be my first project gun. I've been debating picking up a bolt, tidying up the stock, taking it to the smith to check headspace etc., and keeping it as a "loaner" '06. Or, having it rebored/rebarreled to a larger caliber as I already have another '06 and was thinking of a larger caliber. The 9.3 and .35 Whelen were at the top of the list, I hadn't really given much thought to the .338-'06 version. I was even thnking of starting a thread like this one so I could get some input from the esteemed members of the 'fire. Now, with all your wonderful input I'm no further along than when I started reading this thread.

Is there anything out there like a .375-'06? Maybe I can make me up one of those. That would settle it!

Yes, that is actually the 375 whelen (which you don't ever hear about). Although it had slight problems with headspace issues and later improved upon by changing the shoulder angle to AI specs......With it, you can run 200-300 gr. bullets. Velocities in the 2,400 (200gr. bullet) and 2,100 fps (300gr. bullet) range.....

Thanks for that info bsa. You be right about not ever hearing about it. At least in my case. Seems to me with the ballistics you mention I'd probably stick with the 9.3 or .35W, but it's something to think about. (Then I could say I've got a .375!)

I think you can do better speeds than that with a .375 Whelen and AI versions. I ran the .375 JDJ for awhile and was able to get 2400 fps with a 260 grain Nosler AB out of a 26" barrel on my Encore and wasn't going over published load data for 14" barrel Contenders. I'd think 2500-2600 fps would be acheivable with a 24" barrel.

Then there's the .375 Scovill; check Barnes #4. It's built on the '06 cartridge. Has been used in both Africa and Alaska on the big mean stuff!!

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

I just picked up a .35 Whelen from Buds for $257.00 shipped to play with. I'm gona tinker with this an have a rifle bored to the .358 Norma in the mean time. I have a gut feeling I may pick up a few of the ones I posted an see which ones I like an keep. You can always see them if ya don't like them right?