Hello all, I am (was) considering adding a 375 H&H Mag to my collection, but have been noticing the 378 Weatherby Mag as well. This gun will be mainly used for Brown Bear as well as in Africa. I have reviewed the data on both calibers, but I'm curious to hear of other folks' experiences and or opinions - sell me on one or the other - I'm having a tough time deciding! Thanks for any input...

POP is the local .378 'expert', having owned one for many years. Perhaps he will chime in.

If you can deal with the .378's recoil and use bullets that will hold together at the .378's impact velocities, I think you will find it to be very effective.

No brown bear would be safe inside of 300yds.

That being said, the .375H&H is a proven killer with recoil that can be handled by any healthy man or woman. In addition, ammunition is widely available (the cases are less expensive than those of the .378 Wby.).

If you want a little more horsepower, look at the .375 Wby.

George

H&H comes in a more satisfactory assortment of rifles.

Personally I would stay with the 375 H and H , ammo would be pretty tuff to locate for the Weatherby I would think in Alaska and Africa.But just my opinion Bill

I used to own both, and the 378 has a VERY fast and stout recoil. Not for the faint of heart. But then again, I just bought a 460

I'd say stick with the 378 and add something in the 338-category if you were looking for true versatility.

not being a weatherby fan, but if what I was hunter was to big for a 375 H&H I'd be looking towards a 416, 458 or 470 type gun

My 375 H&H does what I want it to do. My 416 Rem

does what it can and so does my 458 Lott.

quote:

Originally posted by IanD:
I used to own both, and the 378 has a VERY fast and stout recoil. Not for the faint of heart. But then again, I just bought a 460

Having fired both myself (in the same afternoon)I agree the .378 is worse than the .460 in terms of recoil. A sharp jab is a good discription of the .378, while a fairly good shove describes the .460 Weatherby Mag.

I have owned both, why would anyone want more recoil and muzzle blast that will produce the same terminal results? As far as price and availability of components go, the 375 H&H is the winner.
If for any reason you need more killing power go up in caliber to the 416.

Dirk

quote:

produce the same terminal results

...huh...??

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
not being a weatherby fan, but if what I was hunter was to big for a 375 H&H I'd be looking towards a 416, 458 or 470 type gun

I agree 100% with butchloc's assessment.

RHK

I have owned both caliber...sold the H&H. However, you pay a steep price with recoil from the .378 however, you can over come it with lots of practice.

Hornaday 270 SP
H-4831 115 grains
Fed-215 primer
Weatherby brass
3 shot group @ 100 yards 5/8"

Steve

I have some Big Bore rifles, including, .460 Weatherby, .458 Lott, .416 Weatherby, .416 Rigby, .375 H&H, .375 Ruger etc. None of these rifles has as much felt recoil, as the .378 Weatherby I shot in Africa. The .416 Rigby comes in second. Go with the .375 H&H.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
not being a weatherby fan, but if what I was hunter was to big for a 375 H&H I'd be looking towards a 416, 458 or 470 type gun

I agree 100% with butchloc's assessment.

Me too.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
not being a weatherby fan, but if what I was hunter was to big for a 375 H&H I'd be looking towards a 416, 458 or 470 type gun

I agree 100% with butchloc's assessment.

Me too.

JPK

Me three.

quote:

Originally posted by Ehg5640:
I have some Big Bore rifles, including, .460 Weatherby, .458 Lott, .416 Weatherby, .416 Rigby, .375 H&H, .375 Ruger etc. None of these rifles has as much felt recoil, as the .378 Weatherby I shot in Africa. The .416 Rigby comes in second. Go with the .375 H&H.

Ehg5640,

Based on "felt" recoil, how does your 416 Wby compare to the 416 Rigby?

Gentlemen

I also own a 416 Rigby with 400 grain bullets @ 2500 fps. It doesn't even come close to the .378 for recoil with 300 bullets @ 3000 fps.

Practice practice and more practice you can get used to the recoil. I take mine out and practice shooting running jackrabbit coyotes and even prarie dogs.

Good Shooting everyone


Steve

Not to start a match at all, a sincere question for sure. I have read of the earlier, lighter Weatherbys in 378, 416 and 460 that have horrible recoil.

In a rifle that is of correct weight is the 378 Wby still be the beast with recoil over 416s and 460s? A light weight 378, 416 or 460 will get one's attention for sure!

Say you have three identical rifles chambered for the 378, 416 and 460. All have proper stocks that fit the shooter and weigh 10-10.5 lbs scoped and ready to go. Will the 378 really be "much worse" than the bigger bores?

Mind you I don't like pushing my 416 Rigby above 2500 w/ a 400gr as to me it puts the Rigby recoil into my 458 Lott 500gr full load range.
I know that my Rigby is a "softy" at lower velocity, and is very stout loaded hot. The extra velocity (powder charge) does indeed change the game.

I come from the perspective of having many 375 H&Hs, and am thinking of turning one into a 375 Wby or a 378. I shoot my 375s, 416s and Lott well, but I wouldn't want more "recoil" than these (the hot Rigby or full Lott) for a NA big game rifle. All responses appreciated!

John

Thanks for all the good food for thought!

The 378 is a round that I would very much like to have .....The 375 H&H , Naa .my 9.3x64 is funner .... Not that the H&H isn,t a great round , mayby the greatest ... But if you are an American you should have a 378 .... .............A 375 Whby is a great round , ....With a 270 gr X bullet the 378 will do @200 yrds what the H&H will do at the muzzle .....Both loaded with the same 270 gr X bullet .. ....... My problem tho is that the 416 Remington pushes a 300 gr bullet as fast as the 378 does , with only 86 grains of H 4895 or 91 gr of RL15 .. and it is probably a better close range bear stopper than the 378 ......

AZGUY: The .416 Weatherby seems to have less recoil than the .416 Rigby from the bench. Off-hand they seem to be about the same. Plan to go on a cape buffalo hunt next year and am trying to decide on a .458 Lott or the .416 Rigby both in a Ruger M77. Right now I am leaning towards the .458 Lott, simply due to felt recoil.

If it was me, I'd buy the H&H rifle then have the chamber cleaned up to 375 Weatherby. Best of both worlds. And if the airlines lose your ammo, you can still fire the H&H ammo in the Weatherby chamber. Just the same as any of the Ackley Improved chamberings. But then your H&H cases would be fireformed into 375 Weatherby shape. What's not to like?

quote:

why would anyone want more recoil and muzzle blast that will produce the same terminal results?

Yeah.. why dont use a 9,3 57 mauser much less muzzle blast.. it will produce the same terminal result as the .378wby

Having once owned an early Wby 378 with a Balvar 8 in B&L mounts... The recoil would turn the base screws into little s's before breaking them off. The gun was built on a Schultz and Larson action, really funky magazine that had to be loaded from the bottom. Nasty recoil. Shooting that gun from the prone position was never a consideration. With a brake the 378 becomes much more tolerable, but then you get into the issue of even more noise. Personally if I were going to do another 378 without a brake it would weight closet to 12 lbs than 10. With stiff bullets the 378 shoots holes through things more often than not.

The 378 Weatherby is an ultimate rifle cartridge. I have shot them and found the recoil severe. I don't currently use brakes. I would hesitate to mount a high power scope to take advantage of long range capabilities because of eye relief. The .375 Weatherby has been a good fit for me and stills allows use of .375 H&H ammo. With that said, I wouldn't hesitate to buy the bee if that was what I wanted.

Grenadier,

Sadly I wasn't and yes I live fairly close to that location

I need to get out to local shoots more, one of my goals this next year!

Thanks for the response.

John

If you take a 375 H&H in a CZ 550 and have it opened up to a 378 Whby the precieved recoil should be less than using a factory whby stocked Mark 5 .

If you need more than a 375 H&H, I would suggest going with a 416, etc. The only benefit of the 378 would be a longer point blank range and you pay for it with awesome recoil. What's more, most things hunted with a 375 H&H are shot at 100 yds or less; the H&H works fine out to 300 yards. If you want a 375, the perfect compromise is the 375 WBY; you get 200 fps more with little difference in recoil. Lou

quote:

Originally posted by RHK:
Thanks for all the good food for thought!

I've owned the 375 H&H, the 375 AI and the 378 Webby.
The best all around is the AI.
My advice is buy the 375H&H in a CZ, send it out for a rechambering to the 375 Webby.
The reasoning is you can get AI velocity and still shoot factory 375H&H ammo in a pinch.

Have all the big Weatherbys, 500 A-Square, 550 Magnum, 585 Nyati, etc.

For general African use and bears, would choose the standard 375 H&H.

For game where one might see a benefit in the 378 Wby over the 375 H&H, would rather go with a bigger bore and more bullet weight.

Having said that, there's nothing better than a 378 Weatherby for baboons.

.

Super information, thanks again for all the input!

quote:

Originally posted by Hammer:


Having said that, there's nothing better than a 378 Weatherby for baboons.

.

I hope and pray you used a TSX on the baboons to ensure adequate penetration.

quote:

I hope and pray you used a TSX on the baboons to ensure adequate penetration.

300 grain Nosler Partitions

.

I agree with Butchloc and Dirklawyer. If you have any doubt about the adequacy of the .375 H&H, go with a .416. I absolutely love my .416 Rem. Shot two whitetail does and a turkey with it last weekend. A bit of overkill, but it works great on cape buffalo too. Easy on recoil, super accurate. Never got into the hyper velocity game.

I shoot the 416 Wby regularly. I use 400 grs bullets at 2750 f/s and 300 grs bullets at 3200 f/s. I have shot all the big three WBY calibers and none of them bothers me in the bench in a well build rifle.
The 416 Wby will for sure give more velocity and more recoil with the 300 grs bullet compared to the 378 in similar rifles. Even more with 400 grs bullets. And MUCH more than the 416 Rigby. One above wrote that the Rigby recoils more than the Wby round - thats BS. It all depends on the construction and weight of the rifle used..

quote:

Originally posted by Hammer:

quote:

I hope and pray you used a TSX on the baboons to ensure adequate penetration.

300 grain Nosler Partitions

.

Would only work if you hit no heavy bones.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
I agree with Butchloc and Dirklawyer. If you have any doubt about the adequacy of the .375 H&H, go with a .416. I absolutely love my .416 Rem. Shot two whitetail does and a turkey with it last weekend. A bit of overkill, but it works great on cape buffalo too. Easy on recoil, super accurate. Never got into the hyper velocity game.

..

You shot a turkey with a 416 rem ..... And I thot I was over the top ... I hope it was a head shot ....