Anyone tried the Hornady 200 gr Flat Point? I met someone in my range who had loaded it using 35 gr of IMR-4759 without any problems. Very accurate on 50 yd target.

I have some 200gr HP loads sitting and waiting for my rifle to arrive from the gunsmith. These bullets are Australian made and should perform well on the smaller deer I hunt locally.

Watch this space!!!

The Kiwi.

I'm glad, I'll be trying this load next weekend. Thanks

My rifle arrived finally, after an extended wait due to the non-service to the public of Australian Customs, we won't go there, it still makes me feel like going postal!! :grrrr:

My FN 98 Mauser now has an Australian made MAB barrel in .375 Ruger and is just beaut!!
After a quick clean the bore was bright, shiny and very smooth to look at, this just improved as it was run in over 20 or so rounds.

From the outside it is a very nice matte blue and looks a normal weight sporting tube, but due to the hole inside being a lot bigger than any I've owned before, it is actually quite thin. It wont over heat from rapid fire though, the reason becoming obvious soon.



I re-did the bedding under the barrel, but everything else was sorted as it was going back into the same stock. The stock is a Butler Creek that has seen a fair bit of work in the Southern Alps of NZ both by me and a couple of mates who borrowed it to save their flash wooden stocks from damage. The hollow butt has been filled with a 2 pot insulation foam that took all the noise of of it.


After months of waiting, I got home from work at about 8am Wednesday morning and had to wait some more, as the fog was that thick I couldn't see our back fence. 10.30am and I couldn't wait any longer, so off to the Majura range in the fog which lifted enough that the sun was nearly through by the time I got there.

I got my gear set up and, as usual, I forgot something, this time the spotting scope, but figured that 'Blind Pugh' would be able to see these holes at 100 metres. The 4x Kahles did show the holes in the paper, once I got them on the paper.

Bore sighted at 50m and then I'm into it!!! The first 3 Hornady 270gr factory rounds were a shock to the system!!
I hadn't set up the Oehler 35 chronograph at this stage, so I have no idea what they were doing out of my 24 inch barrel. I have recently been doing most of my shooting with my 8mm/06 and 198gr Norma HP's. No slug in the recoil Dept. by any means, but this was a whole new ballgame!
All 3 went over the top, so back to the bore sighting and a change to 200gr HP's from The Bullet Factory (TBF)driven by 88grs 2209 and Rem 9 1/2 primers. Success!!! on the A4 sized target. I made some adjustments to the scope and quickly was shooting an inch high at 100 metres, and within an inch and a quarter. I then switched to some test loads using the same 200gr HP's and 2208.

81grs of 2208 produced a 22mm group and the 82gr load came good with 3 shots very nearly touching at 12mm centres.

While I was depleting the world supply of smokeless powder at an alarming rate the scope was getting further and further away from my eye, the rifle was backing out from under it, so it was then that I found I had also forgotten an Allen key to tighten the rings, so I quit testing and fired a couple of spare rounds offhand at rocks on the 500yd butt, both occasions making me happy I was using a Kahles and not a Leupold or similar scope without the rubber cushion on the ocular ring. I would have looked a sight yesterday at work rescuing an infant locked in a car with a missing front tooth and two scope bites instead of the little red mark I have currently.

Velocity you are asking??

I use an Oehler 35 that I have found to extremely accurate over the years and have no reason to doubt it, but please send me your chrony if you want a second opinion.

I didn't check the factory rounds as I was still getting it to hit the target and have seen what wayward bullets do to photo-electric cells. All bullets tested are from The Bullet Factory.

TBF 200 gr HP's 88grs 2209 10 rounds averaged 3354 fps
TBF 225 gr HP's 84grs 2209 4 rounds averaged 3072 fps
TBF 200 gr HP's 81grs 2208 3 rounds averaged 3246 fps
TBF 200 gr HP's 82grs 2208 3 rounds averaged 3296 fps

Here is laod data from Pointblank;

Name: .375 Cal, TBF , 200 grn
Ballistic Coeff: 0.153
Bullet Weight: 200
Velocity: 3354
Target Distance: 200
Scope Height: 1.500
Temperature: 70
Altitude: 500

Ballistic Data
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Range Elevation Velocity Energy
0 yds -1.50 in 3354 fps 4995 fpe
25 yds -0.38 in 3191 fps 4521 fpe
50 yds 0.53 in 3034 fps 4087 fpe
75 yds 1.20 in 2883 fps 3690 fpe
100 yds 1.61 in 2736 fps 3325 fpe
125 yds 1.73 in 2595 fps 2990 fpe
150 yds 1.53 in 2457 fps 2682 fpe
175 yds 0.98 in 2324 fps 2399 fpe
200 yds 0.00 in 2195 fps 2140 fpe
225 yds -1.42 in 2071 fps 1904 fpe
250 yds -3.32 in 1949 fps 1688 fpe

RECOIL!!!!!!
No free lunch here, if you want to shoot big bullets fast, the cost is recoil!!

The Butler Creek stock I have is absolutely inappropriate for this rifle, being very light, it is just punishing to shoot when you are launching bullets at those velocities. I am no shrinking violet, being 5' 11" and 112Kgs if I breathe in real deep, and more if I don't!!!

A new stock is now the order of the day, I have the original laminated walnut Full-bore stock that was on the rifle when I bought it, so this is probably going to be slimmed down and put back on after many years of sitting the the safe. It pays not to throw anything away. or so I tell the wife who thinks my garage is full of JUNK!!

Next week, back to the range and then into the hills.... Watch this space!! nya:

The Kiwi.