I've just picked up a new toy and I'm thinking of taking it with me to shoot some plains game in RSA this year. I was planning on taking my 260Rem Custom which I do all my deer hunting with here now, but I just found out that part of the hunt may put some black wildebeest or Eland on the menu so a 140gr partition may be a bit light for them, especially at distance.

I will still be taking the 260 along for the range shootng part of the event but thought I would hunt with the 375 and 235gr TSX's.

I'll be using a Sako 85 with a Swaro 1-6x24 Z6i on top. According to the load data I should be getting about 2800fps at least out of these but I'm more interested in loading a sweet shooting round than a mega quick one.

Anyone got any expeience with these that they want to share?

FB

FB - I have a Sako 375 H & H and it's quite a shooter I might add. I just received some Barnes 235gr. TSX's from the factory last week. I have currently loaded up some trial loads to shoot at the range for the same reasoning you are speaking of. One problem I have is it's snowing again here today so will be awhile before the results are in. I'll gladly post results when available.

To me these pills sound like just the ticket to extend the ole .375's range a bit and make use of this rifle for things such as elk, mule deer, antelope, black bear and such on this side of the pond.



Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

FB,

You'd be better served with the 270 TSX. You can easily drive them at 2700 FPS+ making your 375 a 300 yard rifle. I've used the 270 TSX on bushbuck through eland. It works very well and shoots under an inch with a max load of R-15. The 270 TSX has been used by my clients on everything from duiker to buffalo with excellent results.

Mark

This does not exactly address your question; however, I have used my 375 out to about 180yds using a 300 grain bullet on plains game.

I too would recommend the 270 TSX vs the 235.

From the Barnes book;
235X +1.7 at 100, Zero at 200, low 7.62 at 300, low 22.3 at 400 yards

270X +1.92 at 100, Zero at 200, low 8" at 300, low 23.2 at 400 yards.

My favorite light load for the 375 is a 260gr Accubond. You can even get them in factory fodder if you want to avoid handloading for another round.

I used 235gr Hornadys as a Black Bear load for my 375 in British Columbia, and it does a great job on them, if you wish to use them instead.

The 260 grain Nosler Accubond shoots very well in my Winchester Model 70 Super Express. I second the idea of trying out the factory loads. If they work, it would be hard to find a flatter shooting .375 H&H load. I used the same bullet in hand loads for my hunt last July in Namibia. They worked on Mountain Zebra, Gemsbok and Springbok. The last at a lasered 230 meters; no hold over necessary.

I've shot the 300 grain TSX out to 300 yards on a zebra. Sighted in 2" high at 100 yards, I'm 10" low at 300 yards.

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Chick:
This does not exactly address your question; however, I have used my 375 out to about 180yds using a 300 grain bullet on plains game.

I've used mine to 300 with A Frames. You just gotta know your ballistics.

235's won't shoot in my Model 70. All over the place, but I've had much better luck with 270's.

If they will shoot in your Sako, the 235 would be a kickass PG bullet.

260 Accubonds shoot better in my .375 than 235 TSX / Woodleigh / whatever. The problem is powder not the bullets.

I tried them in mine. Was pushing tham at about 3150fps, 30" lilja and a stiff dose of Ramshot Hunter. Fast, but accuracy left a lot to be desired. Best shooting bullet I have found for it is the 300gr Hornady RN. Pushing them out at about 2700.

I have had the best results with the 270 gr TSX over RL-15. Results when I am shooting well are 3 shot clover leafs. This has also worked well on plains game out to 150 yards. Most shots in Africa have been less than this.

Another bullet you may want to try if you want to go light is the 250 grain Northfork. In my Model 70, I can get almost 3000 fps with 85 grains of H4350. If you use a drop tube, you can get it all in there!

I've only shot one animal with the load, a black bear at about 120 yards. He was quartering towards me; I put the slug in his shoulder and it exited out of his hip. He didn't even twitch after he got hit. The amount of damage was significant....

Pete

if I am not mistaken the 300 grain bullet will actually shoot flatter at longer distances than the 235 ones!

I've used the 300 TSX out to 300 yards and would again if needed. I'm sure the 270s would be excellent.

Brett

Thanks for all the comments.

I think I have some 270's comingtoo so it should be interesting to see how they behave in relation to each other.


I'm also going to see if I can find some cheap plinking bullets that I can run through the gun to get aquainted with it.

300 grain Hornady round nose are hard to beat for plinking at ~$20-25/box.

Brett

a year ago i shot a box of 270 grain fail- safe out of my brno 602 and i was realy amazed by the flat trajectory i shot with factory iron sight and i hit every time the target even at 300 meter with the sight blade sett for 300 meter!!! the target was around 10 inches in diameter and it was off hand not bad for a 30 years old rifle and more than twice of that old shooter
i have a few box left .
doese anyone have opinion about fail- safe bullets for big game like buff ?

I have shot the Barnes 235's extensively at about 3000fps. They work fine on blacktail deer IME but if you run the ballistics, the 270's shoot flatter and retain a lot more energy due to their superior ballistic coefficient. I would not use them on anything larger than kudu. Use the 270's.

You better watch out. It shoots so flat that it may circle the earth and you'll wind up shooting yourself in the ass.

I agree with the 270 crowd. I shoot 76 grains of RL15 with the 270 TSX and they shoot very nice. Barnes banded solids to almost same POI at 100 yards.

Will: I like that. Reminds me once we were pricing a job and the architect commented that the unit price should be lower since the quantity was so large: we replied, something to the effect, if they contuined to increase the quantiity should the unit price diminish to zero!