I recently bought a M70 Safari Express chambered for 375 H&H for my first African buff/plains game hunt. Had some feeding problems untill I stoned the sharp bottom edge of the bolt face which was dragging another shell from the mag. as the round caught by the bolt was being chambered. Since I don't reload, I'm planning on using Federal Premium ammo. Would I be better using the HE (high energy) load, or stay with the standard 300gr.TBBC considering expansion & penetration on buff? For solids I figured on the Trophy Bonded Sledgehammers. For plains game I believe i'll use 260gr. Nosler Accubonds. Thanks for any help or suggestions! Great forum!

Talk with your PH first. I would much prefer my clients to use a good .300grn soft for their first shot on buff. The Barnes X, Woodleigh, Rhino, Stuarts bonded cores all work much better on buff than any solid with adequate penetration to stop a charge and a reduced danger of a shoot through. Still Every PH has his own opinion and as it maes for a happy hunt to have the PH happy with what you are using... Consult him.

For the plainsgame I have always liked the .270grn load in the .375 but the newer Woodleigh weldcore 235grn bullets seem to hold togeather well enough for all game up to Kudu size (don't use them on Girrafe, eland, Wildebeest or sable).

I would shoot some Federal solids and the different 300 grain premium soft point loads. I would shoot the soft that hits closest to the solid load. I would sight in the 375 at 200 yards with the soft. then testing the solid load at 50,100,150, and 200 yards.

All the above advice is solid, but if you want to use the accubond for plains game, I'm all for it. I had great success with gemsbok, kudu, mountain zebra in Namibia. Most every shot gave exits, one stem to stern shot on a gemsbok gave about 4 feet of penetration with about 75% weight retention. It was very accurate in my 375 also. bob

One thing is pretty consistant about Africa. You will begin a day concentrating on one species and bump into another. For instance, you are following buffalo tracks. Your rifle has a full magazine of solids and an empty chamber as your PH thinks you're still a hour behind them. You plan to slip in a TBBC when told to.



But, at least for me, it never seemed to work out that way. A giant kudu or waterbuck or something would present itself and the considerations of noise, stuff happening very quickly and having to make sure the round is "controlled fed", etc. botch up the best laid plans... and about a quarter of the time, I just went ahead, quietly worked the bolt and used the solid... and everytime I can remember... they worked quite well on plains game...



So what's the point of what I say. It's just that having three type of bullets is a lot. It raises problems of multiple zeros, fumbling for a particular load in a harried situation, trying to remember what's in the magazine, etc. As for me, I'd just find a premium (and buffalo capable soft), match it to a zero for the solid and go hunting. The .375 at 2550 fps is plenty fast enough for 200+ yards. My semi-experienced opine.. Don't lay yourself liable to confusion. I love to fool with loads/bullets, etc. as much as anyone, but the K.I.S.S principal ain't a bad one. It sounds like .450 N.E. No.2 and I agree!



Of course, after you take your buffalo... and if you have that "third" load, you could re-zero the rifle with the purely plains game bullet and leave the heavier softs and solids in camp...



All this said, I discovered the best of both worlds in 2003 when I found a very accurate load for my .375 with Barnes-X's at 2700 fps in the 270 grain version. They printed right on top of 300 grain Speer tungsten solids (2550 fps) at 100 yards. I had excellent results with both, from buffalo to kongoni.

Renrag,

Glad to hear someone else used some stone work to fix the feeding on a new m70 safari, mine was a bit rough also. Lightly breaking the sharp edges made a world of differance. Advice on AR regarding replacing the magazine spring with a Wisner for 4 down and need for a spring steel extractor make sense before heading into the field, especially for DG. Hope your trigger is lighter than mine!! Still looking for some advice on polishing the sear (spring adjustment won't fix it).

Put on a Leupold 1x4 with leupold QR mounts (were available locally) but have some concerns with the rear base blocking the magazine for a quick reload. Maybe talleys are the way to go. Have seen so much praise for Woodleighs that is the bullet I am working loads up for but have been happy with Nosler Partitions in other rifles in the US.

Best of Luck.