Can't get my Ruger RSM to group, so before I bed it or send it back to the factory I'm going to try some different ammunition. I've been using Speer Nitrex 285 Gr Grand Slams. Instead of buying a box of one type, then a box of another, I 'm going to ask one of the custom reloading companies to load four diffrent loads of five each. I want them to duplicate currently available factory ammunition so I don't have to continue with custom loads, but don't know which to request. As Leopard and Kudu are the main quary, what four factory rounds do you guys reccommend? I know Remington Safari Grade with 300 Gr Swift A-Frames will be one.

SBT: I do not know about leopards, but for kudu I would select something softer than Swift A-Frames. I shoot a .378 and I have shot kudu with it using 300 grain S A-Fs and these bullets just punch through the animal, broadside, out to shooting ranges (200 yards+/-). Of course it kills the animal but not as fast or with the authority of rapidly expanding bullets. Kudu are thin skinned and tough bullets just blow through them. As it turned out I started to prefer 300 grain soft pointed round nosed Hornady bullets because they would break apart (with at least two dimes sized exist wounds) on animals like gemsbuck. I would like to see what the new generation of Nolser 260 grain solid base ballistic tip bullets would do. I bet they would be great on kudu.

I am not sure what bullets are available in 375 caliber in factory persuasion....As to bullet choice,I like North Forks and Woodleighs in the 375 for Leopard and Kudu or anything else that requires a soft point bullet. They expand but do not destroy the hide...My last choice in a Leopard bullet btw would be a Swift A-Frame...I have had good reports on the failsafe and Barnes X on Leopard but I have not used them on cats..

SBT,

I shot a very large leopard and the biggest bodied kudu I have ever taken last year in Tanzania. The Federal load with the 300 TBBC worked extemely well and it gives a little larger frontal area than the SAF. The kudu just rolled over backwards and the leopard actually died in the tree.

Regards,

Mark

Terry,

Neither of my .375 H&H rifles shot the 285 Speer as well as other factory loads, so I tried what you are proposing. I acquired a box for each rifle.

The Remington with the 300 grain Swift A-Frame can do one-half inch three-shot groups. The Federal ammunition with 300 grain Nosler Partition bullets is accurate too.

The Winchester FailSafe 300 grain loads did not group well from either of my rifles. The Federal with Trophy Bonded softs and solids did well.

I have shot kudu with the Federal factory ammo with the Nosler Partition, and it did fine. I shot a leopard with the 300 grain Swift, and it died quicklly too (but I hit it just right).

I recommend you give the Nosler Partition a try, the more I use them the more I like them. I can make you a deal on a box if for some strange reason you can't find them locally. I could also make you a deal on a mixed box.

jim dodd

rwj,

I understand and respect your opinion on the SWift A-Frames. The point that I raise is, that when following up wounded game, a hunter may have to shoot through some cover or brush and that is when a well structured bullet comes into it's own.
Yes Leopard and Kudu are both soft skinned animals, what we have to remember is that hunting is hunting, we all miss or wound at some point in time. When this happens and I do get a second chance I want a bullet that will get to the point that I am aiming at or at least have a chance.
Plan for the worst(wounding) and work towards the best result(clean kill). I am a big fan of BarnesX just not on Leopard or Lion. I would consider Swift A-frames, Trophy bonded Bear Claws and/or Noslers(not the ballistic tips)
Just my opinion.

SBT,

Sorry I don't mean to hog this post. One other point that I forgot to mention is, yes it is important and great to have a good or decent grouping. However in the hunting situation grouping is not the deciding factor it is your first shot that may be your only shot.

Vaughn,

I would agree. Nosler Partitions, and maybe Swift A-Frame's for the leopard, just in case it is a frontal shot.

Swift A-Frames are too tough for most antelope as rwj pointed out.

Grouping doesn't mean as much as usually hyped here, but gives a guy confidence at his shooting more than it being needed at the relatively short ranges in most of African hunting.

V: I absolutely agree with what you say. I always want my shots to go completely through the animal, any animal, at any angle. And I think that Swift A-Frames are good at doing that. I think most bullets that hold together will make complete penetration on most animals, and that is what I prefer. My point with kudu is that while the Swift A-Frame will kill the animal, a bullet with equal penetration ability that expands easier than the Swift A-Frame will have a greater impact on the body of the animal. I tend to shoot animals behind the shoulder in the lungs and that often results in them running farther after the shot than if I had shot them on the point of the shoulder and broken more bones while still doing damage to their lungs. There is something to be said for shooting animals on the shoulder or up the rear, but I do that only when I want or need to stop the animal from moving away from me. That is when a SAF is really valuable. So I think between shot placement, toughness of the animal, and bullet construction, there is a balance that can be reached that maximized the likelyhood of knocking the animals down fast and for good. And sometimes a softer bullet or a bullet that changes shape easier than others might be the preferred choice.

I rarely shoot through brush or into brush to shoot animal and so I do not rely on bullet construction (or rifle caliber) to compensate for that.

But I do agree with you that poking holes through the animals you are hunting is the best way to make them stop, and SAF are good at poking holes in animals...

rwj,

The point that I was making on shooting through brush was based on when you find yourself following wounded game and there is brush between you and the wounded animal.
I am not advocating shooting through brush on your first shot at all.

Will,

We all know that you are a die hard Nosler man....

Thanks Vaughan, since I am a devotee of the Barnes X. See you in Sept.

The one thing that I do know for sure is that their is seldom such a thing as bullet failure with 300 grs. of .375 caliber bullets on light game.....just degrees of a timely death....

Thanks for the info you guys. When I say I can't get the rifle to group, I'm not talking 2" or less, I mean it is shooting a 4" group at 100 yards. Add to this excitement and human error in a hunting situation and I do not believe this is acceptable accuracy when hunting a leopard.

Othe than PMC, are there any factory loads using Barnes X?

SBT,

The mixed box of ammo is on the way.

For others that might need some .375 H&H 300 grain factory ammo to try I can send a box with five each of Federal Nosler Partition, Winchester FailSafe, Remington Swift, and Federal Trophy Bonded.

Offer good while supplies last as they say.

jim

I don't know of any X bullets loaded by any factory other than PMC. My 375 shoots 1" groups with PMC 300 gr. ammo and I just bought 10 boxes at $25/box. Apparently the new Barnes bullet is replacing the old X bullet in this PMC loading and they are "closing" the X's out.

John at Safari Arms can load X bullets for you and actually tailor a load for your gun if you want. John is a very good guy.

One more opinion, everybody has one just like some other things. The Swift A-Frame in 270gr has been a great bullet for me on everything from small whitetails to nilgai and eland. For kudu I would pick a controlled expansion bullet, Nosler partition, A-Frame, TBBC, Northfork or maybe one of the new Accubonds, but try to hit bone on the way in. The modern CE bullets will penetrate well enough to give a couple of wounds and if you break bone it will make a getaway difficult or at least slow. Splintered bone will give you secondary projectiles all throughout the lungs, heart, and major plumbing. 270 gr bullets will give a bit more velocity and has all the weight you will need for kudu. Nothing wrong with 300's if your gun likes them. The Remington Safari grade with 300 SAF's are a fine choice for anything from duiker to buffalo. For the leopard I have no experience but from all I hear and read, the enemy of a cat is shock. Use a soft bullet that is very accurate in your rifle. Hornaday or most any conventional soft in lighter weight loaded to near the top whould be the order of the day. Even the 220 gr bullets meant for the 375 winchester should work nicely. I have used these on Whitetails loaded to about 2600 fps and they give shock to burn and have never failed to give me an exit wound on 1-200 pound critters. Your PH will likely have experience and an opinion (maybe a very strong one) on the subject of bullet selection. See what he has to say. For sure I would think a Failsafe is too hard a bullet for cats. Good luck and let us know how your testing/decision making goes. "D"

One more opinion, why not? Have you considered the A-Frame 250gr bullet? I used this bullet in a Ruger RSM as a light rifle in Tan. and had great results on everything from impala to zebra. Because you can drive them at a fairly high velocity (2750-2800fps) they open up well and because of the partition they retain weight and penatrate on the larger stuff like zebra "texas heart shots". In my rifle 72gr of IMR 4064 gives regular 0.5in groups at 100yds.

Brett

I am waiting on my .375 H&H to arrive (hopefully next week) so I have yet to shoot one. A friend gave me a box of Federal 300 gr. Nosler Partitions, but I'll probably save them for big stuff. Has anyone tried the new Federal 260 gr. Nosler Accubonds? I was thinking they might be great on plains game / big cats (though I personally may never get a chance on cats) and perhaps elk, caribou, moose over on this side of the pond.

V: I think we agree on all the important stuff...and I persobnally like Swift A-Frames. And if I were chasing a wounded bear in the bush, I would want a bullet that would travel through a medium sized black spruce tree to hit and stop the beast!!

that PMC ammo can be dangerous, this year I had 6 FTF with mine in 375, five were while hunting, PMC bought my two boxes, but I'll never advise anyone to carry PMC after that

Lt. Commander,

Thanks for the ammo, it arrived safely. I'll let you know what happens after this weekend.

Hi DP:

What is FTF mean? Do you mean 6 missfires?

Regards Jim P.

Hi Redlander:

I have a box of the 375 H&H Federal 260 grain Accubonds coming in today, I will let you know how they shoot.

I may get to the range on Sunday. I have a semi custom Winchester Mod 70 that USED to shoot sub 1/2 in. @ 100 yards before I put a custom stock on it, now it is a 2in to 3in. shooter

I have to apply some pressure on the barrel under the front of the forearm, there was over 12lbs of pressure on the stock barrel with the plastic stock. I wanted to try shooting it with the free floated barrel first, no such luck.

I think the new 260 grain Accubonds should be great for Leopard. My Swifts shoot arount 2700 fps with the 270 grain bullet.

Stay tuned...

Regards Jim P.

Never have hade a problem with the PMC. Can you describe the problem in more detail?

Thanks

My uncle had the same problems with PMC ammo. Failure to fire - when the trigger goes click, the round does not go boom. We were shooting some of these factory loads a couple weeks ago, and did not have a problem with ignition, but he has had problems while in the field. Also, these particular loads (300 gr X bullets) were very inaccurate in the rifle. About 4" groups at 100 yds. He was not happy with their accuracy or reliabliity, so we were burning them up at the range.

On the other hand, I have shot PMC ammo in .308 Win that did very well. Maybe this .375 stuff was a bad batch?? I've got the box of empties here with the lot #, etc on it. maxman

Sort of interesting--Probably have shot about 150-200 rounds of the 375 H&H PMC 300 grain ammunition without problems and it groups about one inch or less in my Winchester Mod. 70. Wonder if there is some sort of batch variability or rifle likes/dislikes?

Okay, my Ruger is being sent back. I have cleaned it well, shot it with three types of factory ammo, had the trigger worked on, took the scope off and shot with irons, put the scope back on and shot again, had two different people who are fine shots shoot it, and the best I can get is a 4" group.

PAHunter,

Looking forward to your report. For a test on upward forarm pressure, I've been told to cut a little piece of tire innertubing and place under the barrel then if that works use a little glass bedding compound. You have to shim up the receiver then remove the shims after the front has cured. I've still got the little rubber strip in a POS, heavy, flexible Hogue Overmolded stock that is on a Model 700 .308 and it seems to work. However, I'm saving for a decent piece of wood.

Redlander