What bullet for the big antelopes like oryx, kudu and eland in the .375 H&H?

01 November 2019, 01:16

Atkinson

Ive been using the 338 more than any NA round for sometime now, but yesterday I saw where Grafs had the Speer Grand Slame 285 gr. 375 bullets on sale for $17.50 per bos, and having used them some 15 or more years ago and knowing they were an awesome bullet, I bought half a dozen boxes, so my 338s are now closet Queens for an undetermined time, and the 375 is back in first place I guess for who knows how long..

You 375 shooters need to jump on this sale

23 November 2019, 03:27

Duckear

I was happy with Barnes 250 TTSX from wildebeest to eland

25 November 2019, 18:18

Perry Barth

quote:
Originally posted by Atkinson:
Ive been using the 338 more than any NA round for sometime now, but yesterday I saw where Grafs had the Speer Grand Slame 285 gr. 375 bullets on sale for $17.50 per bos, and having used them some 15 or more years ago and knowing they were an awesome bullet, I bought half a dozen boxes, so my 338s are now closet Queens for an undetermined time, and the 375 is back in first place I guess for who knows how long..

You 375 shooters need to jump on this sale

Ray, do you have any load data you would share for these for 375 Ruger? If not, what velocity do you like? Thanks, Perry

27 November 2019, 19:19

Pa.Frank

I took my Kudu and Wildebeest with a 375. I used the 300 gr Nosler partition.
the wildebeest was at 260 yards and the kudu was at about 150 yds.

12 December 2019, 04:54

Atkinson

NOt for the 375 Ruger, but the loading books are full of good information on the Ruger...Its a dandy and a tad better in velocity over the Holland and Holland...

I shoot the 375 Holland and Holland...The 285 speer Grand Slam is one tough bullet, they penetrate like a solid and expand well indeed, Speer got it right....but I think they discontinued it this year and that is why they are on sale at $17.50 a box, I ordered an additional 6 boxes to give me a dozen boxes, that should longer than I...I push these 375 285 gr. speers at a bit over 2600 FPS

12 December 2019, 15:55

416Tanzan

My wife's 375 Ruger has some 200 grain GSC's and some 250-gn TTSX's waiting for a hunt.

Gerard of GSC has even recommended the lightweight 200's as buffalo capable, so we may check that out one of these years.

15 December 2019, 05:17

hacksawtom

300 grain Swift A Frames.

25 December 2019, 01:38

Atkinson

well if Gerard suggested the 200 for buffalo I would suggest they work, he tests his bullets more than most..I have some loaded up 250s and some 225 338s...GSC are the best of bullets IMO..

16 September 2020, 04:55

JoePistol

Federal 250gr TBBC worked great on my blue wildebeest, kudu, eland, and zebra in South Africa. All were at ranges between 110-260 yards. I did my part with shot placement and nothing ran more than 20 yards. I also flattened a bull elk at 198 yards last year in NM. With the 250 gr TBBC you have a great blend of speed and the ability to take raking shots at distances up to 250-300 yards.

20 September 2020, 03:06

Atkinson

JOe,
Good to know that Federal has continued the quality of those good bullets, sometimes these buyout folks, tend to try an improve something thats not broke, so I sit and watch..Thanks for the update..

20 September 2020, 11:19

Karoo

A slightly different angle to this thread:
From my experience with clients and for myself, there is nothing like confidence in a rifle for the hunter to shoot well, and nothing builds confidence like an accurate load in your rifle.
Almost all 375 bullets are strong enough, so I would find the one that the rifle likes the most.

20 September 2020, 23:07

MacD37

quote:
Originally posted by Monastery-Forester:
For my trip to Namibia for the big antelopes I`ll take my .375H&H. But what bullet? I think for the two Nosler Partitions, the Swift A-Frame, the Woodleigh PP and the Norma Oryx ann ....

What would you use?

I have taken only one animal with a 300 gr solid from my 375 H&H and that was a head shot on a bull hippo. all others including cape buffalo and eland were shot with a 375 H&H with 300 gr Nosler partitions and all were one shot kills.
Of course this is by following the rule of placing those .375 300 gr bullets in the right place, no matter what one uses the 375 H&H rifle for!
.....................................

MacD37

21 September 2020, 04:58

Hogbreath

I had Great luck with the Sierra GK in 250 gr. It held up well on my Eland and Kudu.

03 October 2020, 06:32

JeffreyPhD

Most of you fellas have shot a lot more of these animals than I have. But, I did kill a big eland, kudu, oryx (reportedly a tough animal), zebra (also reputed to be tough), red hartebeest and 400+ pound red stag with a 300 H&H using Federal factory loaded the Barnes 180 TSX (when the still offered that). It chrono'd a rather modest 2880 fps in my Ruger No. 1. It worked very well on all of them. I can't imagine that any decent 375 bullet wouldn't do the same, if not more so. Maybe if the bullet was too tough to expand much, it would be less effective. But otherwise?

05 October 2020, 22:23

Roman BGH

Barnes 270 Gr. TSX is my favorite

06 October 2020, 17:46

drongo

quote:
Originally posted by hacksawtom:
300 grain Swift A Frames.

Perfect performance on Kudu and Eland.

07 October 2020, 00:33

416Tanzan

I've never been to Namibia but ranges can be long. That means that a person wants to know what their bullet may do from 250-400 yards, both in terms of drop and in terms of winddrift.

In general for big animals there is a sliding scale where larger caliber are more effective. 270's and 7mm will work, 30 cal would be a tad better, 338 even more so, then 375 and 416.

However, this must be balanced with long distance drop and winddrift, so that a 416 Rigby needs to be loaded hot, say a 350gnTTSX at 2825fps, producing only 12" drift at 400yard in a 10mph wind. Anything less and one would prefer a sleek 375 bullet. It's hard to get a 375 bullet that only drfits 12" at 400yards. To beat that it would be easier to use a 338WinMag 225gnTTSX at 2830fps and an 11inch drift at 400yards. You can see where this leads. A 300WinMag pushing a 200gn bullet at 2800-2850 would also do nicely. A 200gn LRX at 2850 would only drift 11.3" at 400 yards. So if limited to the 375H&H, I would look at the BC of bullets for choices in Namibia. And if a second rifle is OK, then I would consider a 338WM or 300mag for longrange oryx.

16 October 2020, 21:19

Atkinson

Bottom line is Im pretty sure you could shoot Marsh mellows in a 375 and kill Eland or Buffalo!

16 October 2020, 21:35

JeffreyPhD

quote:
Originally posted by Atkinson:
Bottom line is Im pretty sure you could shoot Marsh mellows in a 375 and kill Eland or Buffalo!

I don't know... S'mores maybe, but plain marshmallows? That's just wrong.

19 October 2020, 22:31

.458 Only

quote:
Originally posted by 416Tanzan:
I've never been to Namibia but ranges can be long. That means that a person wants to know what their bullet may do from 250-400 yards, both in terms of drop and in terms of winddrift.

In general for big animals there is a sliding scale where larger caliber are more effective. 270's and 7mm will work, 30 cal would be a tad better, 338 even more so, then 375 and 416.

However, this must be balanced with long distance drop and winddrift, so that a 416 Rigby needs to be loaded hot, say a 350gnTTSX at 2825fps, producing only 12" drift at 400yard in a 10mph wind. Anything less and one would prefer a sleek 375 bullet. It's hard to get a 375 bullet that only drfits 12" at 400yards. To beat that it would be easier to use a 338WinMag 225gnTTSX at 2830fps and an 11inch drift at 400yards. You can see where this leads. A 300WinMag pushing a 200gn bullet at 2800-2850 would also do nicely. A 200gn LRX at 2850 would only drift 11.3" at 400 yards. So if limited to the 375H&H, I would look at the BC of bullets for choices in Namibia. And if a second rifle is OK, then I would consider a 338WM or 300mag for longrange oryx.

My latest blog is entitled: "One Rifle, One load". Several examples are given with the .375 H&H as the last. I chose the 300gr AccuBond at 2650 fps (quite reasonable depending on barrel length and powder used) with a BC of .485.

The ambient conditions were for an African context (not sure how precise they might be in a given context): Altitude between 800 to 1200 ft, temp @ 110 F, RH @ 50%.

At 400 yards: about +2050 fps/+2800 ft-lbs, -18.5", drift in 10 mph crosswind = +/- 11".

Having some experience with the 250gr/9.3 on bear, I consider the larger bores as the 9.3, .375", etc to be as capable as their equivalent in the Partition. Therefore I suggested the 300gr AB as my choice as a "One Rife, One Load" in the .375 H&H for world-wide hunting of any soft-skinned game from small to large under any and all conditions to 500 yards where it would still be making +1900 fps/+2400 ft-lbs energy.

I really can't think of a better rifle/load for the .375 H&H than that combo for any hunting except where a solid is called for.

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

22 October 2020, 00:12

RIP

Bob,

You are usually pretty good at giving us load data,
but I don't recall if you said what powder and charge you used for that .375 H&H 2650 fps load with the Nosler 300-gr AB.
My first trip to Africa I used the old Barnes 300-gr X-Bullet in my .375 H&H.
72.0 grains RL-15.
I was getting right at 2528 fps 5-yard instrumental velocity from a 24" Douglas barrel.
That was an average of 9 shots at 96 degrees F.
St.dev. for the 9 shots was 9 fps.
All 3 of the 3 shot groups were 0.75 MOA or better at 115 yards.
Classic ballistics.

Classic one-shot kill on my first African critter too, a trophy blue wildebeest bull.

Also about your blog: The 8th ed. Nosler manual shows .308-caliber bullets offered by Nosler number THIRTY-ONE !
And I agree the 200-gr Nosler AB would be my pick for whatever .300 Magnum,
great for eland too, no doubt.

Good on you too for recommending the 400-gr .458-cal as best single bullet weight for the .458 WIN Mag.
I agree, a TSX type and a brass FN solid would cover it all, near and far,
from biggest and toughest to less big and tough.
Velocities 2200 fps to 2600 fps, your choice.

28 October 2020, 03:53

Atkinson

Im curious about those 400 and 600 pound Eland, somebody is shooting weanlings still sucking milk!

29 October 2020, 06:10

4sixteen

My experience with 300gr .375 AB: ~2350 fps impact on 600 to 700 kg Bull Moose. 2nd shot struck heavy bone dropped DRT. Bullet shattered front half done blowed off! Shallow penetration 70% weight retention low for bonded core. Done experimenting with these.

Loading 270gr TSX and 300gr CEB MTH from now on.

30 October 2020, 12:16

ldmay375

I am a fan of the 270 TSX in the 375 Ruger for moose. It is the bullet that I use. I have zero complaints with it.
In my opinion though that bullet does not look bad considering it is a lead core and smacking heavy bone.

I have the urge to try the 270 grain LRX. From pictures I have seen it looks like it performs well, from the few recovered from African game. The BC of the bullet is a definite plus on velocity retention. Not that is requirement for the distances that I shoot. The TSX certainly groups very accurately in my rifles.

30 October 2020, 18:06

4sixteen

As advertised. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gey1EgRGvGk

31 October 2020, 07:01

Fjold

I use what my gun likes. It shoots tighter groups with the 300 grain TSX than any other TSX or TTSX bullet so that's what I use.

I've used it on five trips to Africa taking Buffalo to Steenbok and a whole bunch of animals in between ... except for Eland, I've been skunked on those.

21 November 2020, 21:05

Atkinson

Id be hard pressed to refuse to hunt anything with my 30-06 and 200 gr. nosler partitions or accubonds short of elephant perhaps..The largest animal Ive shot with that load was a big Bison and/or a Charlias bull and it killed clean on both with shoulder shots..bullet performance was excellent in both instances with perfect mushrooms (accubonds)

That Charlais bull, dumped me and my horse once in the thick stuff, and chased me to hell and back on foot another time then took a fender off my neighbors pickup..Revenge is sweet, but that hunt didn't stop there, and the ending was a cartoon carnival.