Has anyone actually used or witnesed both a 375 H&H and one of the hotter 375's{RUM, 375wby, 378wby, or 375/404} effect on DG.
Is there any diffrence in knock down power.
Pleas spare me from the "If your ammo is lost.." or "It's all you need..."
Thanks
Dr b

No difference that I've ever noticed...... The advantage of H&H is that the ammo is available everywhere in Africa.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr B:
Has anyone actually used or witnesed both a 375 H&H and one of the hotter 375's{RUM, 375wby, 378wby, or 375/404} effect on DG.
Is there any diffrence in knock down power.
Pleas spare me from the "If your ammo is lost.." or "It's all you need..."
Thanks
Dr b

Well, Dr B, There is no difference, I can detect,over the 375H&H, and ammo is available, if lost, and It's all you need!

Dr B,

John S. and RIP have that experience, as do others. I suggest that you ask this question in the big bore forum.

Cheers,
CL

I have shot some African game with a 378 Weatherby and I think there is a lot of difference.

The problem when I was there was poor bullets. A 300 grain Hornady SP would literally blow up on a frontal shot at Buffalo under 50 yards. Penitration was around 1-2" and usually a pie plate sized wound but no other damage.

A Barnes solid in either 300 or 350 grain could pass through, end to end under the right circumstances. On a side shot the 350 Barnes would always pass through, whether it broke bone or not. Not a rifle for shooting in a herd.

On one Kudu a 300 grain Hornady SP did so much internal damage the camp staff wouldn't eat it because the paunch was blown so far into the meat. The meat fell off the front haunch when hung for Leopard bait.

If there is such a thing as too much gun than it is the 378.

Well, I guess my eyes have deceived me over the years because I would have sworn that I noticed a difference between them.
You must use good bullets and place them properly too, but game I have seen shot and shot myself went down more decisively when hit with bullets fired from a 375Ackley/Wby than they did from same shots with a H&H. Was there a world of difference...no. But I think there is enough of one to make the 375Wby a worthwhile chambering, especially when it allows a much broader range of powders to be utilized effectively than the H&H.
Is a 375H&H all you need? Probably, but if we don't need more, why then do so many of us carry 416s, 458s and double rifles chambered to larger calibers?

Well, I have shot quite a few dangerous game with our own wildcat 375/404, and except for elephant, where solids of various kind have been used, the rest of the animals all fell to either the Barnes X 300 grain bullet, or our own lathe turned Walterhog bullets.

These are made of pure copper, and have a HP like the Barnes.

According to the PH I have hunted with, this combination of rifle/bullets have worked very well.

The majority of the buffalo shot would have been one shot kills, if we let them expire on their own. Generally, we run up to the buffalo on the ground, and give him an insurance shot.

I don't think we've had a single buffalo run over about 80 yards when heart shot with the above combination. Generall they run much less.

I have asked the PH I hunted with if they had noticed that larger calibers kill buffalo any quicker. And none of them said they have noticed that at all.

I somtimes laugh at what is written in some of the hunting books.

Where a write will say something like:

A bull shot with a 500 or larger caliber will run 50 yards
A bull shot with a 458 will run 100 yards.
A bull shot with a 416 will run 150 yards
A bull shot with a 375 will run 200 yards.

Or something to that effect.

May be the buffalo that read these books do. And the ones I have shot have all been illiterate

But, if you asked a whole bunch of PH's if they have ever seen hunters shoot poorly because they can't handle the recoil, they will become quite talkative, waxing endlessly on the needlessly powerful rifles brought on safari by a huge amount of hunters. In fact, Doctari in the Perfect Shot recommends downloading the .375 H&H Magnum to 2300 or 2400 fps to make it "comfortable" because his experience shows that it is enough to get the job done.

quote:

Originally posted by Wink:
But, if you asked a whole bunch of PH's if they have ever seen hunters shoot poorly because they can't handle the recoil, they will become quite talkative, waxing endlessly on the needlessly powerful rifles brought on safari by a huge amount of hunters. In fact, Doctari in the Perfect Shot recommends downloading the .375 H&H Magnum to 2300 or 2400 fps to make it "comfortable" because his experience shows that it is enough to get the job done.

Wink, well I fell for the bait, how did you know I will take it. But I think it is quite true. A lot of hunters are not comfortable with their rifles or they use it in the wrong situation.

I had a hunter with a 378 Wby that hunted in the bushveld where you shoot maximum at a 100 m. As far as I am concerned a 378 is made for longer shots. He shot a Blue Wildebeest and the bullet broke up. After almost 9 hours of tracking we killed it the next day. All riffles have a different aplication and one must know the limtations og each calibre.

Just MHO

if I need more than a plain old 375, then I'm needing a 416, or 458, or 470 etc. just my opinion

I have am reaquainting an old friendship. He spent 17 years as a game control officer. He shot 65 buf, 25 lion, numerous hippo, rino, giraffe, etc. He tried several calibers. He killed most all of them with a standard factory loaded .375H&H. His 80+ year old mentor, killed in the hundreds of DG over the years.
His caliber of choice? .375H&H.
I know this wasn't your question, but if it works, it works...don't fix it!

Saeed,
Its probably been asked before and I missed it, but what is the case capacity of your .375/.404?
How does it compare with the .375Wea, and .378Wea?

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:


Where a write will say something like:

A bull shot with a 500 or larger caliber will run 50 yards
A bull shot with a 458 will run 100 yards.
A bull shot with a 416 will run 150 yards
A bull shot with a 375 will run 200 yards.

Or something to that effect.

A PH who is well-known for his buffalo videos told me that a buffalo that is gut shot will go the following distances before stopping to rest:

.375 - 2 mile
.416/.458 - 1 mile
.500 - 1/2 mile
.577 - 1/4 mile
.600 - 100 yards

Or something like that. There may be a bit of truth to it, although I am certain there are too many variables to accurately quantify it.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
if I need more than a plain old 375, then I'm needing a 416, or 458, or 470 etc. just my opinion

There is great wisdom in this statement. The killing power of the .375 H&H is proven, the stopping power of the .458 win and 470 NE are also proven. Any deviation from these cartridges are for the sake of being different. With a good bullet the fancier 375's won't be a negative, they do have a termendous amount of energy.

John

IMO,

The bullet kills not the cartridge.

Consider the following illustrative scenario:

Two bullets of equal caliber and weight are launched at an animal at the same velocity. Both bullets have the same momentum and kinetic energy. Even so, one bullet penetrates 18in and the other breaks up and only penetrates 6in. In both cases the same momentum and energy has been expensed during the impact but obviously the bullet that penetrates deeper has performed more lethal damage.

In general the faster you push a bullet and the more penetration you want out of it, the more critical it's construction becomes.