Have never tried light bullets (less than 300 gr.) on game in my 375, but am thinking about using it this year for whitetail hunting. I know, a bit over-gunned, but I like the rifle a lot. Have taken eland, nilgai, hogs and a couple of coyotes with it, but never a deer and doubt that the 300 gr. bullets will perform very well on deer (not surprisingly, they didn't open on the coyotes).

Was working up loads for the 260 gr. Nosler Accubond and Partitions as well as the 270 gr. Hornady Interlocks when I discovered three boxes of Speer 235 gr. semi-spitzers.

I'm sure I can get 2700 fps out of the 260/270 gr. bullets and suspect the accubond or NP will open at those velocities. The books indicate the 235 loads will run 2900 fps or so, which would, in theory, duplicat a 30-06 trajectory.

Anyone have any experience along these lines that they care to share?

Regards,
hm

You'll have to throttle the 235gr bullets back, they are very fragile over 2500fps. The 260gr NAB will probably be your best bet @ 2800fps.

hm1996,

I used 250 gr. barnes for plains game in RSA a couple of yrs back, worked great, RL 15. It hammered everything I made a good shot at. Didnt do worth a damn on the stuff I missed, didnt work worth a damn on Eland when I didnt have the bolt on my gun closed........lol. Other than that they worked great.

I can verify that the 235 Speer at 2600 fps MV tends to break up on impact at short yardage (35 yds or so) on whitetails. Tends to do bazare things after impact and leaves chucks of itself in the wound canal.

For me the same was try of the NBT.

Both work great on paper but don't perform to my expectations in the field. Darned shame too ... my .375 really likes either of them.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
You'll have to throttle the 235gr bullets back, they are very fragile over 2500fps. The 260gr NAB will probably be your best bet @ 2800fps.

Fred:
Are the 235's intended for the 375 Win., also? I also had a couple of boxes of the Horn. 220's, but I know they are 375 Win. bullets and would be too fragile.

GC:
Yep, it does help to close the bolt! Have been a mod. 70 shooter for more years than I care to admit, but had accuracy problems with the last one in 300 WM; best I could get was 1 3/4" @ 100, so I switched to a 116 Savage in 375 h&h and a 111 in 223 for coyotes. No matter how hard I try to put it there, the darned safety is not on the back end of the bolt where it belongs! Have botched several quick shots @ coyotes hunting for the safety, so have taken to carrying w/open bolt instead. So far, haven't made that mistake, but I'm sure I will!

I tried the X in my 300 WM and it did not like them at all!!.....worst bullet I tried,and I tried them all. I didn't like the copper fouling, either. Are you using the X or the XLC?

Regards,
hm

quote:

Original post by mstarling:For me the same was try of the NBT.

Both work great on paper but don't perform to my expectations in the field. Darned shame too ... my .375 really likes either of them.

Mike: Have you tried the NAB? They seem to shoot in everything I have tried them in. I'd bet they will shoot as well as the NBT and they do tend to stay together pretty well.

I shot several deer last year with a 225 gr. NAB from my 338WM and they open up on entry into the rib cage, giving about a 2" hole inside the near rib cage. Holes in opposite rib cage are around 3/4" indicating the front end of bullet is pretty fragile but is shed in the vitals and rest of bullet gives the desired passthrough. Everything I shot was DRT and never recovered a bullet, so this is just supposition.

Regards,
hm

I've never tried the Hornady @ .375vel. but the Speer should be kept under 2500fps IMO, probably the same for the Hornady. I'll stick to my original thought & say the 260grNAB (although I haven't used it, rebarreled my #1 before they came out).

The 260grain Partition shoot great in my 375 and I have a fantastic load worked up for it but I haven't got to shoot anything with it except paper.
All of my previous experience with Partitions makes me confident shooting it at anything on North America.

Don't forget about the .375" 225 grain Hornady Spire Points. Lonnie Hummel at Hornady says the jacket thickness from the base to the tip is similar to the 270 grain and they use the Interlock. I load them with 70 grains of H4895 for a good deer, hog and black bear load. Loaded to about 2850 fps they shoot as flat as a 150 grain 308 Win.

I am leaning toward the NP and/or NAB, as I am very familiar with both, especially the NP. The only reason I was considering the lighter bullet is for a bit flatter trajectory out to 250 or so yards.

quote:

I'll stick to my original thought & say the 260grNAB

They work great in my 338 on whitetail; doubt they would be much different in the 375, except a bit slower, which probably wouldn't hurt a thing.

quote:

Don't forget about the .375" 225 grain Hornady Spire Points. Lonnie Hummel at Hornady says the jacket thickness from the base to the tip is similar to the 270 grain and they use the Interlock.

I did not know about the 225 Interlocks. I have shot some 270 RN interlocks but not done any type of tests other than accuracy. Might be worth a shot.

quote:

All of my previous experience with Partitions makes me confident shooting it at anything on North America

Me too!!

Regards,
hm

If you can get your hands on some 235gn Woodleigh's you wont have any problems with them breaking up on short range, very accurate in my Win 375 always in the 1" @ 100yds churning up 2850fps...

I've used the 260 gr nosler part. a bit on medium sized game with good success, but my son had some of the 215 gr barnes x bullets loaded up last time we went to zim. He sohot everything from eland to steenbok with them with outstanding success. (I don't thank anything needed a 2nd shot)

quote:

Originally posted by tracks:
If you can get your hands on some 235gn Woodleigh's you wont have any problems with them breaking up on short range, very accurate in my Win 375 always in the 1" @ 100yds churning up 2850fps...

I see Midway has this bullet in their catalog. I have loaded up a few Speer 235's even though I would not hunt with them based on others experience w/being too brittle over 2500 fps.
Kinda lose their trajectory advantage over the 225 NAB when you have to drop MV.

quote:

I've used the 260 gr nosler part. a bit on medium sized game with good success, but my son had some of the 215 gr barnes x bullets loaded up last time we went to zim.

I really like the NP's. In fact, the only animal I have shot with anything other than a NP in the last 35 years was the eland. Used a 300 gr. 375 Swift A-frame on that one and it performed very well. Complete passthrough @ 145 yards, totally destroyed top of heart and all "attachments". Not sure if the NAB would have retained enough weight to give passthrough or not, but I'm sure it would have had same end results.

Well, I'm off to the range to try various loads w/Speer 235's and 260 gr. NP & NAB. Should give me a better picture of what my rifle likes.

Thanks, guys, for the benefit of your combined experience. You know the old saying, "Two heads is better than mine."

Regards,
hm

You might try the Hronady .300gr. roundnose if you don't find something lighter that you like. I like to hunt Whitetail using the express sights which are set for .300 gr. bullets and the roundnose Hornadys work just fine.

I have tried both the speer 235 gr and the Hornady 300 gr RN in my cz .375 and I have found the Hornady 300 gr RN to be very soft and expand rapidly even on animals weighing under 120 odd pounds.

The 260 gr. Nosler part. I used on a couple deer at about 2800 fps. Did not drop deer as 270 Hornady RN or 300 Gr Sierra BT and 300 Hornady RN. I really like the 270 gr Hornady RN for deer. I have never used the Speer 235 gr. According to most it is quite fragile at higher velocities.

Two years ago, I was in the same quandry. The Speer 235s are definitely fragile. I tried Barnes 210 X bullets. Wow! They were accurate and took four elk (I had two cow elk licenses and recovered 2 more that people had wounded). All had 100% penetration (chest shots) and a lot of damage inside. Recoil is light, too, and the trajectory is flat.

Well, my rifle seems to like the 260 gr. Horn. RN IB, 260 gr. Nos. Part. and Accubonds and IMR 4350. No surprise on the AB as they seem to shoot in just about anything I've tried them in and perform quite well on deer sized animals, so leaning in that direction. All of the above grouped between 1" and 1.25" for five shot groups @ 100 and I still have not found a target exactly right for my old eyes and the 3x9 scope.

Have been bracketing corner of square target but rifle is set to hit POA and by third shot, aiming point distorted a bit. Guess I'm gonna have to offset sights for group shooting.

The 230 gr. Speer @ 2800 fps was pretty wild. Tried H450 with this bullet but even min. load is compressed and I was using 210 primers. Probably need mag. primers on this much ball powder. Haven't tried 4895 yet, but think I'll put this bullet on the back burner for now.

Will do a little more work on refining the 260AB and 270 HRN loads next.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Regards,
hm