A while back I noted that the 375 RUM was destroying backstops in my lab that easily stood up to the 416 Rem, 338 RUM and 458 Win Mags.

So, I went to larger, more flexible containers filled with clay granule kitty litter and everything was so strong we even poped it with 15 rounds of 458 Lott and it was fine. Out came the 375 RUM and on the first shot it split the stop from top to bottom front and back, putting 80 lbs of litter on the floor. We tried again on a brand new full container and got the same result.

These are 300 gr Sierras at 2935 fps, so they are not particularly strong. Load is right out of the new Sierra Manual.

Any guesses why this load is so destructive? Does this translate into stopping power in the field, or is it just a fluke?

"Does this translate into stopping power in the field, or is it just a fluke?"

No, it was probably a fluke and you should get a 378 Wby to stop it from being a fluke

Mike

It is the type of bullet.It is explosive when it does
the expansion phase.Put same bullet in a 378 WEA, or same caliber Lazzeroni, or whatever of same size, and it will do same thing.Ed.

Sounds like the ultimate kitty litter killer

I wonder what a 350 gr speer @ 2700 fps out of the 458 Lott would do?

I had a 350 gr Speer at 3300 plus fps in my 458HE, atomize
a large gelatin block, and the force broke the table in half, it was setting on.Broke the legs off the table.Ed.

It's the Roy Weatherby theory of the exploding bullet inside the animal acting like a bomb. Trouble is that often-times the bullets would blow before reaching the vitals. Roy has docuumented evidence of an 87gr bullet out of his 257 Weatherby killing zebras very effectively, but he freely admits that he wounded a lot of them too. That "bomb" theory works great on deer sized animals and below, but on elk and bigger one better stick with good penetration too! I'm sure that if you could drive your 416 Remington to 416 Weatherby velocities, you'd get the same effect. jorge

Sabot,

You should see what it does to scopes!! No I didn't mean to shoot it! Just putting a scope on one is enough to kill it.

Had to send mine back 2x.

Awesome calibre. Need more people like you & me to keep the 375 RUM movement going.

Regards
JohnT

Yup, this bullet at that velocity will pop the kitty litter every time. I think doing it with 100 grs of powder is the real trick. The surprise...and the hard thing to explain...is that this case is very efficient but BIG. It shoots 15 to 20% bigger than its capacity indicates, which is way cool because it remains "compact" enough to handle reduced loads extremely well.

Brass is cheap, and while it may sometimes be ugly it is the strongest stuff I have ever worked with. I have completely blown primers mistaking 760 for MagPro and the case slid right out with a gentle bolt lift.

If you treat it like a heavy rifle for heavy game and dress it up to 12 pounds with the New rem recoil pad its a pusher about like a 375 H&H sporter.

The expansion ratio is the same as the 260 Rem and 6.5X55, so you can go with a 22 inch bbl if you want....just move from 7828 toward H4350 and all will be well. This leaves more than enough room for a Vais Brake. These are not a bit louder for the shooter in this caliber than a stock rifle and cut recoil to below 338 Win levels...even witht he RUM in an 8.5 pound rifle. This also protects optics a lot.

I recently had my Win Mod70 re-chambered to 375RUM from 375
H&H. Accuracy with a 300 grain Swift A-Frames is amazing and
my initial loads are showing 2750FPS on the chronograph. I
killed 8 head of African game with the same rifle in H&H in
2000 including a large Eland and Kudu. By the end of the hunt
my tracker was calling my H&H Satan because it killed so
efficiently. I believe the RUM will have greater shock with
a flatter trajectory. The trade off is somewhat increased
recoil, but with no sacrifice in accuracy.

Muzzle brakes on big bore rifles are the scopes delima as the create recoil that goes in both directions and trashes scopes much the same as a air gun will....especialls when one gets to the 458 Lott, 500 and 505 levels...

My .375 RUM is still brand new in the safe...too busy since buying a house and moving.

Now you've got me thinking it's gonna eat my scope no matter what I put on top of it.
I, too, would like to know what the mystery of the "SHOCK & AWE" is re this cartridge.
Besides the bullet(s) described above, what other less frangible bullet could be used to test the shockwave this .375 RUM seems to impart?
All things being the same in the above test, only the bullet being different...

Sounds like I'd better screw everything together real tight before I unleash the first round!

I have put about 35 rounds through my rifle and the scope is still going good. The scope is a 3x9 leupold compact.

Sorry Ray...I am looking at a dozen traces of barrel movement with and without brakes and there is nary a one that moves forward at any point in the cycle.

All a brake can do is cut rearward thrust. Pulling it forward is not possible since the gas is long gone before the gun comes to rest. Yes, stopping faster can be harder on scopes, but it is not all that simple since peak acceleration often occurs when the gas thrust is applied to the barrel as the bullet exits. It is this peak acceleration that is trimmed by a good brake.

Now, IF the peak thrust is from the BULLET and not the gas....as it can be in the true big bores...the more rapid slowing of the rifle provided by the brake will put more stress on the scope than would occur if the round just drove the shooter backward.

The 375 RUM uses powder to bullet ratios in the range of .30 to .50 and is well short of the point where a brake will make things harder on a scope. If we are operating at 60,000 psi or so, this effect probably sets in at ratios of .20 or less. 400 grain loads in the 416 Rem are right on the line and the 458 Win and Lott are worse off with a brake..

BusMaster007,

I have 300 rounds through my 375RUM. My scope is a 21/2 to 8 Leupold with quick release Leupold Mounts. The Leupold has taken a licking and has kept on ticking. This is the same scope that has stood up to 500 rounds through a 375 H&H without any problems. The 375RUM kicks harder than a 375H&H, but it is still manageable. It does not kick as hard as my Mod70 458LOTT, and again the LOTT is still manageable. I believe that the ability to handle recoil is very much related to each individual and is not indicative of how much of macho man you are. For that matter the wife of a good friend of mine has fired more than one round through my 375RUM and she survived with a smile on her face!

Sabot,
All I know is you can trash scopes one after the other with from 20 to 250 rounds with a brake on a 458 Lott or 505, I have seen this many times, David Miller and G. Sitton will testify to this and have stated so in rifle magazine no.135 entitled the .458 Lott...I have trashed a number of scopes without a muzzle brake with the Lott and the only scope I have seen that can take the constant beating is the 2.5X leupold Compact with the adjustments in the center portion of the scope.....That has been my experience.

Ray -

That makes perfect sense. In a true big bore the thrust of the big bullet is brutal and the brake can't help that component of the recoil....in fact it can make it worse by stopping the rifle faster than one's shoulder.