I'm wanting to get some hunting time in with my 375 before Africa in August. What's a decent lowered recoil load for deer?

I have always stuck with my 300 grain Barnes TSX load at about 2600 fast. It is a full load but has worked well on all the smaller stuff in Africa and on white tails here. No scope changes simplifies it and makes it easy all around. I know you may be looking for a light loading, so this may not help you but gives something to think about. I am interested in how others see this issue and will watch this post.

The 260 ACB gave me about 2750 FPS out of my 375 H&H. It will open easily on light skinned game but give more than adequate penetration and flatten out the trajectory. It would be my choice for a deer load in the 375 if it shot well in my rifle.

Mark

Great advice all I just shoot Remington Safari grade 300g A-Frame factory ammo at everything from elk to brown bear. Probably cause I'm lazy. It's worked on everything so far.

Light bullet and reduced speed will give you lower recoil. Any bullet coming out the barrel of the .375 H&H is more than enough for deer.

Speer 235gr SemiSpitzer with 80gr of H-4350 = ~2600fps

Or choose any of the "starting loads" in a reloading manual.

Can't remember the powder or the weight, but I have been using both 235 grain and 250 grain Barnes "X" bullets out of my .375 and have been well satisfied with the results.

The 235 grain load must have been the intended deer and deer sized game choice from the beginning. It was one of the original .375 H&H loads offered. The others were 270 grain and 300 grain.

It does a good job on deer, hogs and coyotes. The 250 grain "X" flat base was good also but they stopped making those.

That is one of the things that I don't like about Barnes. They stopped making the "X" Flat Base and I believe they have stopped making the .377, 255 grain originals that my .38-55 shoots so well.

I think that I'd run whatever I was going to use in Africa. It's nothing like practicing with, what your going to use. I'm kind of a one gun, one load ,one sight-in, type of guy though. Unless of course, your going to use solids in Africa! memtb

270-grain Remington green box would also work just fine.

When I was using one I used (and had great results with) the 235 Speers.

I would use this for deer and have used it in Africa for all plains game except big 5, 260 grain Nosler Partitions over 70 grains of IMR 4064, which yielded me 2710 fps out of a pre 64 Win 70 with factory 25 inch barrel. If specifically going after something very small, like a Duiker, use 260 grain Nosler Solid and 69 grains of IMR 4064.

That is a nice flat shooting load. It is a 375 H&H and it is going to kick a bit, but nothing to worry over.

I'm going to try the barnes 250 ttsx this year for deer and elk. High BC at 2800 fps, should work.

A serious contender for a deer bullet is the GSC 200grain hollow point. Try about 69-70 grains of the new IMR 4166 powder and aim for 2800-2900 fps. It will make a great load.

My wife is doing something similar for her African rifle (73.5 grains in a 375 Ruger). The bullets are reported to expand well so that they are great on smaller game. The bullets also penetrate so well that many have used this bullet successfully on buffalo, but we have some 250 TTSX loaded up if and when buffalo were to be on the menu.

I've had good luck with the 235 Speer and Barnes. However, you can drive them a little too fast and get some meat damage and the BC is nothing to write home about.
I've loaded up some 250TTSX but haven't killed anything with them yet.

I have had Excellent results using the 220gr Hornady FN over 60 and 64 gr of IMR 3031, and the 235 Speer over 64gr of IMR 3031, in the 375 H&H. Choose the load that shoots best in your rifle. I have killed several deer and pigs with these loads.

For stateside I load the 3oo gr. partition over 4350 or 414. For thin skin game in Africa I use Federal with 300 gr. partitions. I leave all unused rounds with the ph. For elephant and buffalo I used 300 gr. North Forks. I will not leave hand loaded ammo. Dave

I run the 260gr Accubond out of my 375 Bee for deer. At 2900fps, it shoots FLAT!
They perform very well at this velocity.

Have also used 270gr Woodleigh PP's, not as emphatic as the Accubond, but, works very well too.
My rifle prints all three to almost the same point, so, I can happily switch between the 3 if needed.

Cheers.

I have shot so much plainsgame and deer and elk with a 375 H&H that I am firmly convienced any bullet will work just fine and not waste much meat..Those big tough bullets designed for heavy animals kill deer cleanly and you get less bloodshot mess than say a .243...Good idea to keep your shot behind the shoulder and off the heavy bone..You can load them down if you wish but I never have other than my go to loads for everything are only moving out a 2500 FPS, as I get the best bullet performance on heavy stuff at that velocity, but it works great on Duiker, Springbok, Impala, Hartebeast and super on deer and elk, and your never under or over gunned...The .375 is an awesome caliber.

I've loaded up 300gr Sierra Gamekings with 66.0 grains of Hybrid 100V (2280 FPS) for the deer this year.... but, bought up a pile of 270gr hornady roundnose , so ill be tinkering up a reduced load with them too.

Just an aside here, and one that I have related on AR in the past concerning using my .375 on one white tail buck.

I was hunting a 180 acre place in northern Montague county here in north central Texas. This place sets about a half mile south of the south bank of the Red River.

I did not get up as early as I had planned to, to drive up to the place to hunt that morning. Consequently, I did not get into the stand until almost 9 A.M.

I was not real enthusiastic about my chances but figured I would go ahead and set for a couple of hours. Adding to the equation was the fact it had rained overnight and we did not have a good road into the place so I had to walk in from the camp, about 1/2 mile.

I get into the blind and open one of the front windows and start watching the squirrels eating the corn the feeder had put out that morning. I was talking to myself concerning the intelligence of making the drive up from home that late to hunt.

I catch movement thru the gap between the window and the end of the stand to my right, a window I had not opened. Next thing I know a small 8 point buck walks out toward the right of way going to the feeder. It stayed in the edge of the brush walking away from me. I already had the rifle sticking out of the window, ready to shoot if a deer showed up at the feeder.

At about 40 yards or so, the buck stepped out on the edge of the clearing, turned broadside looking down toward the feeder. I put the crosshair just behind the centerline of the shoulder and cut loose. Thru the scope, I could see bits of tissue fly up onto the cedar the buck was standing in front of. I also saw that little bastard clamp his tail to his ass and head downhill.

I knew he was not going to make it far, or at least thought he wouldn't! I get out of the stand and head down the direction he was running. It was not hard because he was leaving a good blood trail. Little sucker made it about 60 yards from where I hit him and bailed off of a 20 foot plus high creek bank and lay dead with his nose not quite touching the water but dripping blood into it.

After making a few comments to the world in general about my intelligence in general and the bucks ancestry, I began gutting him for the drag back to the truck.

When I opened his chest cavity, I found the heart in its sack of membrane, not attached to anything else. The bullet had taken off about the top 1/3rd., including the valves/arteries etc., what I had seen thru the scope when I shot, were those pieces along with some chunks of lung.

After getting the deer up out of the creek and the drag back to the pickup, I decided that would be the last time I went deer hunting by myself, especially after a rain.

Anyway, I was using my .375 with 250 grain Barnes "X" Flat Base bullets, and this was simply a case that can and/or does happen if one shoots enough game, where the shooter/the gun and the bullet did their jobs, but the critter had not read the script.

I used 71 gr of RL-15 under a 270gr Hornady Interlock on an African PG hunt in July. It did great and I plan on trying it on deer in a few weeks just for the heck of it.
The Interlocks are cheap and the load is fairly mild in the recoil department and MOA or better in my rifle.

Hello Rsm458Lott,

I've used my 375 H&H on whitetail deer here in Wisconsin.

I load a 250g Sierra Spitzer Boat tail bullet w/ 80g IMR4350 w/ a Federal 215 primer.

Velocity is 2800 fps - I zero the rifle at 300 yards which gives a trajectory of +5 inches at 150 yards, and -5 inches at 350 yards. No need for fancy range estimation - just aim "center lung" and let the law of physics work for you.

Last time I used it I shot 2 deer, one at 315 yards and one a 17 yards - same aiming point for both. Both dropped in their tracks with minimal meat damage. That same year my Dad got one with his 308 Winchester, and had twice as much meat damage than my 375.

For deer and pigs in Texas I use a Speer 235gr SemiSpitzer also, but download to a velocity of around 1900. My old Lyman reloading manual has the load and powder.
It's a pleasure to shoot.

Its not unusual for a deer or Antelope type animal to run up to a 100 yards shot with any rifle, it happens from time to time, and particularly with stoutly constructed bullets designed for big tough mean animals..or for that matter a heavy contstructed 30-06 bullet..but you get a big time blood trail 99.9% of the time.

Never had a .375 that didn't shoot 260 partitions very well. H&H, Ruger, 376, Weatherby.

quote:

Its not unusual for a deer or Antelope type animal to run up to a 100 yards shot with any rifle, it happens from time to time, and particularly with stoutly constructed bullets designed for big tough mean animals..or for that matter a heavy contstructed 30-06 bullet..but you get a big time blood trail 99.9% of the time.

Over time, I have only found two hits on any animal that produce a "Bang - Flop, on the spot", Brain or Spine. Brain they are dead at impact, spine, depending on where, the animal will be paralyzed and unable to get up, but often have to have a finisher because the heart/lung system is still functional.

I wind the 235 ESP Raptor to about 3000. Recoil and trajectory are very similar to a .300 Win, close enough that it will shoot to the B&C reticle out to 500 yards. It adds an extra measure of versatility to an already versatile cartridge. I was going to use it for coastal grizzly as well, but got tired of watching the rifle rust. Killed deer and black bears about as dead as they are likely to get.