This is not aimed at the person who has a 375 or bigger just to round at a battery or who has or will be buying a 375 or bigger so as to just shoot very big game.

This is for the shooter where 375 and bigger are the main guns and he only has small calibres because of some "need"

What is that you like about 375 bore and bigger.

Also, do you have any interest in the very powerful smaller bores like 300 Ultra, 30/378, 338/378, 308 Lazzeroni Warbird etc.

Mike

I like the 375 H&H because I believe it is one of the most versatile cartridges going. Shoots much like a 30/06 with substantially improved terminal ballistics. Contrary to popular belief, the big 'mediums' are very kind to meat, leave a better blood trail if tracking becomes necessary, and the cost of operation is quite reasonable.

For some time, my rifle battery went directly from the 22LR to the 375 H&H, nothing in between. I now have some small bore high performance rifles for long range varmint shooting and LR antelope hunting. As I always took my goats previously with the 375, the small bores are strictly recreational.

The 500 NE fills my desire for a big bore and is very efficient for taking heavier NA game, e.g., moose, elk, bear, etc. It will be my primary rifle for big game over the next couple of years while it gets 'blooded'. The 375 is fine for this also, but the 500 really shines in the short range game.

The big bore/moderate velocity vs. the small bore/hyper velocity debate was no more clearly defined than the old arguments between Jack & Keith. I opt for Keith's premise of big bore superiority. The big bore allows for a greater selection of shots given various prey animal presentations and bullet performance is less critical, all other factors being equal.

Recoil is different with the screamers vs. the big plodders. I find myself much more sensitive to the screamer recoil than that experienced with the big bores. This is, of course, discounting such cartridges as the Weatherby mags and such as they have the same crack 'n slam as their small bore counterparts.

Big bore barrels probably last much longer than small bore hypers. It also seems to me that various inconsistencies in ammunition, e.g., runout, distance to lands, bullet uniformity, bullet design, etc., are all more critical to the terminal performance of small bores.

Most people don't realise how accurate the big bores can be. Of course, many shooters do not realise the level of intrinsic accuracy available in their small bore cartridges. All shooters are not created equal!

Regards,

Some of the small bores with big cases kick more than a 458. Small bullets at high velocity sometimes do not penetrate.Heavy bullets 250-600grs.do.,at moderate velocity.Plus its fun!

My 'grab-it-and-go' hunting rifle is a .400 Jeffery double, an easy favourite because it 'shoots where I look' better than any other firearm in my collection (barring SxS shotguns). Also, buffalo are usually a distinct possibility in most of the places I hunt, and I would hate to be offered a bad-angle shot on the buffalo of my dreams with only a mid-weight sub-.30 in my hands. The stuff of nightmares!

Never owned a modern magnum, too much blast and recoil for a couple of inches less trajectory, quite unnecessary for the close hunting I enjoy most.

Mike,

I can't really explain why I like shooting big bores for most things. I think it's because they do the job effortlessly and anything like a half decent hit and the game is down for the count. Not so with some smaller guns where shot placement can be extremely critical. There effect on game they where not ment for is just devastating, and I suppose you could say more humane than the dickheads who ass shoot stuff with a 22/250 etc. I know if I hit a grassy in the hips with an over .375 bore he is not going any where at all.

.

I grew up reading Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, Jack Lott, Jeff Cooper and a slew of others. Even O'Connor liked the bigger bores for stopping dangerous stuff. Because of my brainwashing all those years, I am in the bigger bullet camp because of the power to go through most game. The recoil factor in mitigated by having a rifle that fits and has the proper weight for that particular caliber.

i dunno

500"jeffe"osso

jeffe

The 9.3x62 and 375 are my small bores and they work on everthing pretty well, but both are compromises being too much on one side and not enough on the other IMO....but they will get you by with a little care on your part.....

I like the 40 calibers, one reason being most of the charges I have seen were with .375s not killing quite well enough for various reasons and then not stopping quite well enough in the fight..just a little weak..

Now don't misinturpet the above, I will and do still use a .375 H&H from time to time, with a backup big bore handy, but I sure do feel a lot better with a 416 or 404 in my hands and my new .470 will be very comforting....Bigger calibers than the .470 do not sit well with me as I must concentrate to shoot them because of the excessive recoil, and they slow down the follow up shots to one degree or another I am told, maybe so......

But if you cut through the chafe, I will hunt anything with about any almost reasonalbe caliber if I have too....I'm not to caught up in calibers...

My favorite cartridges are the 12 GAFH, .600 OK and .50BMG as well as the .17 Rem and .17MKIV. What's that tell you? Basically if it goes boom I like it! The 375 is OK but there are much better choices. as an all around cartridge it's hard to beat. Kinda like a BMW R1100RS, there are bikes that do individual things much better, but then overall package is hard to beat!-Rob

Mike,

My primary hunting rifles are:

#1 - 500 AHR, with it I am never undergunned.

#2 - 416 Rigby it is my medium bore.

I hunt with them because I can. Besides that I think they kill the animals I hunt with them far quicker, more humanely, than the smaller bores. Elk are the smallest critters I hunt with centerfire rifles.

I have no particular use for any of the overbore capacity super duper magnums. The 300 Win mag is a nice varmit rifle and is the only "magnum" I own anymore. The 50 BMG made a heck of a ground hog gun too! Shooting at ground hogs at a friends farm, the ol' 50 BMG was our "bunker buster" as we used it to get them after they had hunkered down in their dens in a creek bank!

No I don't own the BMG anymore, sold it! Wish I still had it though, they are demanding stupid amounts of cash now!!

Scott

At one time in my life I shot nothing but super fast small bore cart. (257 weatherby, 7mm rem mag. 30/378,ect)Then we started to get larger game on our game ranch Oryx, eland. I also had the pleasure to hunt Nilgai 2 years ago and have been "hooked". I shot my first nilgai with my mcmillian talon in a 7mm rem mag the little SOB walked off. Last year I returned with a ruger #1 ss in a 375 H&H 1 285 grn. grand slam broke both sholders and down he went. I've been sold ever since.I now own a 375,458 win,416 taylor,376 styer,450 alaskan. Big bullets at "normal" Vol. kill game. I guess old Elmer new what he was talking about!!!!!!!!!!

Liled recent convert "to the big bore side"

MIKE -

Great question...I actually think about this a lot. If you want a 50% increase in energy...say from 3000 FPE to 4500 FPE...you can increase case capacity by 96% or increase bore 35%.

The efficient route to power is increasing bore size. You can take a .308 bore and 62 grains of case capacity in the '06 and jump to 121 grains of capacity OR put the same 62 grains of capacity behind a .416 bore and get your 4500 FPE.

The 121 gr .308 will drive a 165 gr bullet 3500 fps, and the 62 gr .416 will drive a 300 gr bullet 2600 fps. Both bullets have the same sectional density (.248) and will have the same BC potential.

For nearly all practical hunting conditions within 300 yards, the 2600 fps is flat enough, and 3500 fps causes all kinds of problems in the bullet construction department. In a 10 pound rifle, the .308 has 41.9 FP of recoil and the .416 has 36.6 FP. Oh...and the .308 burns up its barrel in 2000 rounds.

When you take all this and plot a bunch of curves relating energy, trajectory, bullet performance and recoil...things start to make sense right around .375 caliber....but we really knew this anyway...

I have both 416 rem mag and 338-378 weatherby.I use the 416 for brush guns in Alaska and my 338-378 weatherby Accumarks in the open .I read John Taylors African Rifles And Cartridges and the 416 Rem mag had just come out in the Winchester Express Rifle.I said dang I have everthing but a good elephant gun.I ended up buying 3 416s and 8,000 pcs of 416 rem mag brass.I have shot my 3 416s about 2,000 times they are very fun to shoot.I had read about the 338-378 Weatherby and I got the first one I saw.The best group out of that gun has been .25 " at 100 yards.I bought another one just so I if I wore this one out.I carry both of them in the truck just in case .I never know what kinda area I will be hunting.I have bought no other big rifles those filled in for everything I need in a big gun.

Dude, now that's overkill. 8000 pcs. of brass, and 3 416 Rem's. I guess you've got enough stuff to last a lifetime of shooting.

Remington quits making the 416 rem mag brass.It a big pain to make 416 rem mag brass.I bought up all I could find at .38 each.It got as high as $1.5 for a while when no one made one.I bought woodlieigh 410gr for about .30 each bought about 2000 of them.I got good deals on all my guns.I got the two 338-378s Weatherby Accumarks for $1000 each and all my 416 remn mags for $600 each.I jump on a good deal if I know its a good gun.I have 6 338 rugers paid about $300 each for them.I usually let friends who have 30-06 try them out and they buy one.

ScottS- a deranged motherfucker like you with a .50 BMG Bullshit! My wife attended a HCI meeting last week and told me a scumbag named Scott Sweet ( a member from Detroit) was bragging that he was sole handledly disrupting a major "gun lover" website.Was that you! you shithead? Answer me!

Oh yeah, just where was this HCI meeting? Location, and time please. Will be checking it out and posting the TRUTH.