Just a heads up: For some good loading data for the .375 H&H and 350gr bullets, see my post under the .375 H&H 350gr data topic in the Reloading forum.

-Bob F.

Bob, somehow I missed this thread. Too bad the thread got polluted. Thanks for re-posting the info.

So did I. And I also thank-you. I'm eventually going to have to load some up (unless I can score on some Rhino's ) 'cause my son refuses to consider anything bigger than a .375 . . . and there's no reason why he should!

Oldsarge:

Of course, I like your son's attitude about the 375. I used one on my one and only trip to Africa and dropped an SCI record book buff with it. (I used 3 shots but he was dead on his feet with the first shot) Still, if I ever could go back again and look at a buff at 35 yards who is giving me that "look" I would feel happier with a 416 (whether Rigby or Remington. I'm not looking for an argument about which. I'm thinking about those extra footpounds of energy. (Translation - a harder punch. I'm a simple guy. It seems to me that a 250 lb guy who socks me is going to make me feel a lot worse than a 175 lb guy) I realize that it's what you're comfortable with that matters most but I did discover (AFTER I came back from Africa and shooting a 416 Rigby that the 416 was not bad at all. I shot my PH's 470 NE and found it to be like the 375, a "push" rather than a "kick" but I guess the 470 is not so hot to use as a regular field shooting gun. My PH praised the penetration and accuracy qualities of the 375. I asked him then why did he carry a 470? He replied: " Gerry, the 375 is a killing gun. The 470 is a stopping gun". I came to understand what he meant after I saw a matriarch elephant at 75 feet or so who wanted us to depart the premises!

I'm not sure I'm up to accepting the accepted on this subject..A killing gun, a stopping gun, and I have given it a lot of thought over the years...

A stopping gun is a properly placed shot more than it is a question of caliber..Not even a 600 Nitro in the heart is a sure thing at 10 feet on a charging bovine or Wooley Mamoth, a brain or spine shot is, but thats true even with a 375 and its great penitration...sooooo

I think most of this talk is opinnion without basis..I think a 600 N.E. or whatever gives one a false since of security more than anything else...and I am almost as guilty as the next guy on this..I like my 40 calibers and 470, but I don't kid myself as to what really stops a charge..

Ray, I understand what you are saying about stopping a charge at 10 feet.

But, there is another aspect to this. One particular PH told me that a buffalo shot in the guts first shot with a .375 will run 2 miles before stopping, or only 1 mile if hit in the guts first shot with a .416. But with a .600, the buffalo will only run 100 yards or so before stopping. His view was that the big heavy bullets tend to take the spunk out of buffalo very quickly, while the smaller bullets leave the buffalo feeling spry for a lot longer.

...

OK, now it's time for someone to lecture me on marksmanship.

500 grs.

I wonder if he measured those distances..that is like the table I read by a gun scribe that said 2000 lbs. of engery would kill deer, 3000 lbs. of engery would kill elk, and that X FPS would kill deer, but it took X FPS to kill elk How in the world could someone arrrive at such figures.

I suspect a 600 in the gut would perhaps kill a buff quicker than a .375 in the gut, and may or may not take some spunk out of him but in either case he would live long enough to take the spunk out of the shooter if he decided on that route...

I know two old bulls that got shot bad on the first shot then the adrenaline flowed, and one took 9 and the other took 13 hits from a .470 and a 500 before they expired..I know of bulls taking a dozen 375 before expiring...

All that and other instances have lead me to believe that one should not gut shoot buffalo and I cannot for the life of me see how that can happen, but it does...

With a proper first shot most of the big bores are good enough and are about equal, with one exception...A soft point from a 375 or 9.3 from a frontal shot is a good way to walk a long and perhaps dangerous blood trail, so for this shot and a going away shot ALWAYS use a solid in the .375 and thats not a bad idea with a 600 N.E. either..

Only an opinnion on my part for what its worth, and that may be a cup of coffee if you have a dollar to go with it..

Ray, the PH was selling something, so I tend to discount his words, but in general I will agree with him that a bigger bullet in a particular location probably kills faster than a smaller bullet in the same location. However, I was reading a book by Wally Taber in which he said that he thought the 300 Weatherby was fine for cape buffalo because he shot one with it. He also said that Roy Weatherby shot an elephant with the 300 Wby too. What some guys get away with....