I saw that Woodleigh offered 350 grain solids and softs in a .375 caliber. I am curious to see how they will shoot in my rifle.

Does anyone have any recommended loads using the 350 grain bullets in a .375 H&H magnum?

Does anyone have an opinion about the advantages of a 350 grain bullet for hunting buffalo/plainsgame when wanting to have a one gun safari?

Thanks.

Ray should be able to help you

Ron L.

I am presently shooting 56 grs. of RL-15 and get good accuracy...It is about max I believe..I will chronograph some loads when it gets warm enough to go to the range...July
Ray

Ron,
I believe the 350 gr. Woodleigh with its high sectional density and good velocity, ( about 2450 to 2500 ) will put the 375 in the 416 catagory..It is a tough bullet and should penitrate like the dickens with a large frontal area to boot....

Woodleigh toughened up the 375, 404 and 416 bullets last year so as to get a bit more penitration due to the faster velocities we have today..

Many of the old bullets were fine but designed for 2100 to 2200 FPS..they held together fine and were the size of silver dollars on the off side skin..They killed well, but todays hunters want two holes so they toughened them up...

If you don't get two holes, slow the bullet down, that stops expansion, thus more penitration and you get two holes...This applies only to conventional and solder core conventional bullets, not to Northfork, GS, Failsafe or Barnes X which are just the opposite...

Ron L.

I agree with what Ray says about the heavier bullet bringing the 375 closer to the performance of a 416 as the results speak for themselves.

Having not used the 350 Woodleighs myself I am unable to comment about it with any certainty.

However, I have used 380gr Rhino bullets which are manufactured here in RSA on buffalo and hippo. Both have gone down as if struck by lightening. My loads are by no means hot (chronied at 2170fps average.) On buffalo they exited but did not hit any major bones on the way through. On the hippo they did not exit but were lost by the local people that butchered the carcas in Zimbabwe. So I did not get to see the bullet or what condition it was in.

The heavier bullet in 375 is a winner in my book.

Rob,

What is the load your using for the 380 Rhino?

Roger QSL

How fast will the 380's go out of your 375?
DR S

[ 01-22-2003, 07:36: Message edited by: Socrates ]

Soc,
From what I have read they will run out at 2150 FPS..

Roger,

The load I use is with local powder S365. I use 67gr and I am achieving 2170fps average in my rifle. Some were 2176 and some as low as 2162fps.

Unfortunately I have yet to recover a bullet used on game. But believe me they really work well. The guys that played the major part in designing this bullet, Mauritz Coetzee and Kobus v/d/ Westhuizen both know what they are doing. Me, I only know how to shoot them not design them.

Rob,

I don't know that the powder you listed is available here in the states. I would like to get some sort of a starting load for a 400 grain slug as soon as I can find one. Not having much luck so far. Tried getting Randy Garrett involved, but he seemed not interested. Would very much like to use a slug much like his 540 Hammerhead. Hardcast at a moderate velocity. If his 540, 458 penetrates as well as has been described, a 400, 375 should do better.

Looks as Ann will be hunting with you on the Raffle Hunt. Her last number came up today. Glad to see her win, (if I couldn't) HI.

Show her a great hunt, and take good care of her.
It will really be grand to see a Buff done in with a 45/70, and by a woman to boot. She seems to have as much or more courage than a lot of fellows here.

Will know towards the end of this year weather I can swing a trip to your country, and If I do, I will look forward hunting with you for a Buff. Will probably use my 375 though.HI

While she's there, talk her into having another Raffle. Gun choice by winner, so as to keep the whiners quiet.

Thanks for the report on the 380 Rhino.

Roger QSL

I just don't get this one. 380 grain bullet only goes 2100 out of a case, that with a 500 grain bullet, will go 2300 fps? 375 blown to 458 Lott???
A 350 will go 2400, but a 380 will only go 2100?
Something is very fishy in this thread...

If that's all the velocity you want, and you want heavy bullets, the 458 win mag is the way to go.

You could get the same velocity, with a 400-500 grain bullet, and, a much larger metplat...

DR S

Socrates

Burning powder builds pressure which pushes the bullet down the bore. The larger 458 bullet gives the "pressure" more area to push against (more energy applied) than the smaller 375 bullet.

Think of the base of the bullet as a sail and the pressure as the wind. The 458 has a larger "sail" so it will reach a greater speed than the 375 with is smaller sail, all other things being equal including weight and pressure.

There are many reloading manuals which explain this much better than I can.

Jason

Good news about the Woodleigh 350 gr. I want to give these a try on waterbuff.

***

Socrates

Where was the 458 calibre mentioned in this thread?

I thought it was totally a discussion on the .375 up to your post.

It is pretty obvious that if you compare a smaller calibre with a larger one, the larger one will push the same weight faster for the same pressure. A little thing called friction.

Also all things otherwise equal a bullet of the same weight in a smaller calibre will out penetrate a larger bore.

Some pretty simple concepts.

[ 01-24-2003, 12:04: Message edited by: NitroX ]