Forgive me, fellow AR posters, if this redundant.
I want to get as much HUNTING experience with my rifle as I can before I go to Africa. In Texas that means whitetail and hogs. So, my question is this. How do you guys feel about the use of the .375 H&H on whitetail? Next, what bullet type and weight would be best to minimize damage? Softs or solids?
I just figure with all the small African antelope being shot with the .375, why not the whitetail?

Thanks

Using a 375 H&H on a whitetail is not what I would do but If I had to I would choose solids and hand load down a bit. I expect you won't be doing a lot of tracking I have shot a few Texas whitetails and even a .270 Weatherby down loaded with 160 gr Nosler partitions is a bit of overkill on the small bodied Texas whitetail.

Why not, just go to a harder bullet like the Grand Slam or any of the 300gr softs, Sierra would do well on smaller big game.

I used my 375H&H on a small mule deer and it worked great.

I was using Federal Classic 300 grain softpoint and they just sailed through.

currently my 375h&h is the only rifle in my safe, besides the 22lr, that is zeroed and I am using it for everything.

GPT

Works fine. Just use a bullet that is tough enough so that you won't worry about the bullets detonating at close range. Don't recommend the Speer 235 or the Nosler 260 Ballistic Tip, but most standard weight bullets will actually do less damage than a 7 Rem Mag or a 300 Win Mag.

Good to get into the field to debug things.

The .375H&H is needlessly powerful for any deer or hog in Texas, but so what?



Practice with the rifle as much as possible; shoot deer, hogs, armadillos, coyotes, bobcats, porcupines, etc.



Use whatever soft-points you intend to use in Africa; this will help you learn their trajectory, and expose any weaknesses in the bullets' performance, as well as any flaws in the rifle, scope, or mounts.



Just be sure of your backstop.



George

Ive used a 375H&H on mule deer and elk for the most part since 1984 and it works great--absolutely no complaints. I shot my one and only whitetail in 2002 with a 416 Taylor and it performed great. With no more tissue damange, and usually less, than more conventionial deer cartridges. Same with the 375 in my experience and penetration is complete at every angle. Best wishes.



Dittos on using the same bullet you intend to use in Africa or where ever you intend to hunt. Ive use the 270 Barnes X mostly but have also used the 285 Speer GS too.

Wise1,

GeorgeS gave you the best advise. Use whatever bullet you plan on using in Africa on deer, hogs etc. I have never shot a deer with a 375 but I have shot a load of deer size and smaller animals with it. On the smaller stuff it will just punch a good size hole straight through with very little meat damage. Don't screw around with reduced loads and light for caliber bullets. These just make the 375 what it is not and they don't help you get used to your rifle for Africa. One more thing save the solids for elephant, follow up on buff if your PH insists and the tiny stuff like dik-dik steinnbuck etc. You don't need them for anything else.

Good Hunting,

Mark

You might want to check, but I don't think solids are legal for deer in Texas. I've used 270 Horndays at about 2500 pfs and 220 flat points at 2200. Both work just fine. I've used the flat point in thick cover where I'm not gonna reach out. It shoots to same point of impact (or just an inch lower) than the bigger stuff. Saves a bunch reloading using a load of AA 5744 and cheap Hornady flat points. Bob

I use my 375 H&H for nearly everything, from duikers to elands. In fact I took 3 whitetails this season with it. 270 Barnes X works perfect.

Mike

I have used my Sako of course the "Safari" model on whitetails and found it to be enough gun. Specifically I used the trophy bonded bullet in 240 grains. I also would recomend from an accuracy point of view the Speer 235, and mention that the Swift 250 never shot well for me. However Lee Reed was kind enough to start me on the right track with loads using IMR 4064 that were beyond the book! I found that when in a big game block that not knowing what the next animal to be sighted was more than enough reason to use the 375 everyday. I was glad that I had fired many many rounds before that first trip. Use the gun.

Go for it!

I have killed several mule deer with mine, and it works well. Doesn't destroy as much meat as my 270 winchester.

It doesn't matter at all what bullet You use, as long as it isn't the Nosler balistic tip. I've killed deer with 235 Speer, 270 Hornady R,N., 300 Hornady soft, 300 Hornady solids, 300 gr Sierra. All work fine. Deer just ain't that tough.
In fact. I recomend the gun on rabbits and chucks too. How else will you learn to shoot it well, unless you shoot it!! ??

For the same reason I used mine on two blacktail last fall. Talk about overkill!!!! I loaded Speer 235s to 2750 fps and it worked fine. 1 buck was 250yds, the other was less than 50. Didn't spoil much meet and it was enough gun.
Have a great hunt!

Wise1
I have killed a few deer with my 375 H&H, with the following loads.
Hornady 220 Flat Point 60gr of IMR 3031.
And
235 Speer 64gr. of IMR 3031.
Both loads have performed very well.
These are "reduced" loads, if you consider a 235gr bullet at @2500 to 2600 fps "reduced".
The main thing about these loads is that the bullets are more suitable to deer sized game.

I say if you have a .375 H&H that you want to hunt whitetails with, then by all means go ahead, and with the same softpoint ammo you'd use in Africa for general hunting. No, it's not "too big"! I've taken a fair number of whitetails and mule deer with the .338 Win. Mag., too, and never have I felt that it was "too big" for the job.

I've shot quite a few African plainsgame animals with the .375 H&H (many of them whitetail-size) and in no case did these animals exhibit undue trauma, nor were they blown to kingdom come. If it works well in Africa, it'll work just as well here.

If anything, big medium bores kill smallish big game better than smaller cartridges do, and in many cases tissue destruction is less.

AD

Wise1,

I walked this same trail about 20 years ago to gain field experience with my "heavy" in Texas before taking "the big trip". By all means, do it...you'll learn a lot.

I have to echo GeorgeS...I'd recommend using exactly what you'll use later on. I ran full house 300 grain Partitions back then, and haven't seen a credible reason to change.

I'll also confirm Buchsenscmeid's experience with tissue damage. When I dressed out my first ".375 buck", my partner eyeballed the wound channel and commented that "I mess 'em up worse than this with my .270"...and I'd deliberately centered both shoulders to see whether it would make a mess or not. The big, tough slugs arrive on target "pre-expanded" and at moderate velocity, a time proven combination. Hell, I've even taken wild turkey with that combination without a big mess...but shot placement becomes even more critical!

Hogs? Now you're talking! You'll come closer to stopping a .375 slug with a big, tough boar...but I don't expect you'll recover any 300 grain soft (OK, maybe the Sierra). Shoot 'em the long way and see how the wound channel behaves.

I envy you...have fun (both in Texas and "over there")!

Mark

I have shot many deer with the grand old 375 H&H. I have used the 235 Speer semi spitzer, Hornady 220 flat points, and Barnes 235 "X". All the bullets killed quickly and did not damage great ammounts of flesh. The loads were within the range of normal operating pressures, not downloaded rounds. It is my very favorite whitetail rifle. Good luck and good shooting. I have loads here if you need them.

Joe

I've shot six or seven whitetails with my .375 H&H using 260 gr partitions at 2750 fps. To be honest, it does the least amount of meat damage of any rifle I've ever used, you could eat right up to the hole on all of them. Those big, tough bullets just roll right on through without expanding too much. You don't need to worry about excess meat damage with a .375, it does a lot less damage than your more typical deer calibers. All of the ones I shot dropped in their tracks. I even made the longest big game shot of my life (325 yds) with my .375.

You might get a few weird looks from your hunting buddies when you show up with a .375 for deer (I did), but you're in no way handicapped by using one. It works great for deer, just load up whatever bullet you're going to use for africa and go hunting.

By all means, if you have the opportunity to hunt with your .375 in advance, do so! I used my .376 Steyr with 300-grain Woodleigh SPs on antelope-sized bushbuck, deer-sized nyala, elk-sized waterbuck, and moose-sized eland. No excessive damage on any of them, and all fell to a single hit.

It's obviously getting rather redundant here. The theme is "why not?" Elmer Keith championed this idea years ago; that the big bores damage less meat than the high speed, explosive bullets do. We Americans have been programed to believe over the last 60 years that anything over a 30-06 is borderline excessive. Not so.

I used the 235 gr X on a little muley buck and it did not tear up near as much meat as I thought it would. I have torn up more meat using the Nosler BT in a .300 mag. I used the plain uncoated X bullet over a healthy dose of IMR 4350. It flat knocked him off his feet.