I am just curious. Who uses a .375 H and H or .375 Ruger as their main rifle for deer hunting?

I generally use a 7X57 or a 30-06 but I guess either of the 375's would kill a deer.

I prefer a .375 Weatherby M70 Stainless Classic when hunting blacktail deer on Kodiak Island.
From a treestand in Kaintuck, a .375 RUM works OK on whitetail, either a CZ 550 Mag or a Remington M700.
I'd bet my life on either scenario.

300-grain Swift A-Frames or Nosler Partitions at 2740 to 2800 fps MV in any of them (24" to 26" barrels) will put a fist-sized hole out the offside.
The deer don't go far when hit. Allows shots from any angle offered, at any reasonable range.

.395 works better on deer ...

No exit hole with a 395? Must be lack of penetration !!!!

They killed Bambi!

Hello,

I also use the .375 H&H for deer. Well, Red Deer. It is a deer, anyway.

I use a 375 H&H, 416 Rigby, 450-400 Nitro Express DR or even my 500 Jeffery! They work great and are a lot of fun to take out into the woods. It's nice to see those 30-06 guys eyes bug out when they see those cigar sized rounds in their hands. I have yet to have anyone take me up on my offer to shoot my 500 or 416 in the woods. They usually say no thanks I'll pass...

Brad

I cannot say it is my Main deer rifle, but I have shot several deer with mine.
I have used either the 220gr Hornady with 60 gr of IMR 3031 or the 235 Speer with 60 or 64gr of IMR 3031. All worked great.

I have taken some pigs and some turkeys with full power 375 H&H ammo as well.

375 h&h in a weatherby mark5 sporter is my favorite deer rifle and a tossup between my 458 lott and 416 rigby for the second spot. Love the big boomers. By the way pill shooter, if you run into me in the woods make sure you have loooots of ammo, I'll shoot.

One of my favorite deer rifles is the 9,3x62. Shooting a 286 NPT, I makes two holes from any angle.

I've taken several blacktail with my H&H loaded with 235gr Speer or TSX. Whenever I run out of deer loads I will be switching to either the 250TTSX or the 270. They have a much better BC and so are not only flatter shooting than the 235's but they of course retain more energy downrange. Can't use too much gun, those blacktail are vicious little buggers.

I am glad to see that people can not simply answer a reasonable question.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I am glad to see that people can not simply answer a reasonable question.

Oh ... yes, back to the topic at hand. Yes, I have used a 375 HH (Ruger #1) on deer, feral dogs, beaver, trees, and rocks. Works well on all except the beaver is a small target while swimming at dusk. 235 grain speer soft was plenty.

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
.395 works better on deer ...

True. Just trying to stick to the thread title, .375, but will run with your highjack ...

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I am glad to see that people can not simply answer a reasonable question.

Thank you!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
No exit hole with a 395? Must be lack of penetration !!!!

She is lying on her exit hole. Ain't she pretty? Tasty too.
She was running through the woods after a coal train crashing its links in startup spooked a bunch of deer into a stampede.
I shot her on the fly, Saeed style, but she was inside of 100 yards and sprinting, and I was in a treestand.
The streak of red on her left flank is the entrance wound.
The bullet exited on the diagonal out the other side.
She dropped and rolled at the shot.
I was picking brass petals out of my teeth when I finally finised her off a few months ago.
Yummy.

quote:

Originally posted by Rothke:
They killed Bambi!

She was Bambi's mother.
I also shot Bambi's father with the same rifle and a GSC .395-cal/340-grain HV bullet at about 2750 fps MV. Less than fist-sized exit hole with that one:




The S&H .395/310-grain VeloHexploder was going about 2800 fps MV.
The S&H .395/330-grain Brass FN solids are best at about 2806 fps MV, and would do less damage to pelts and meat,
if only they were legal in Kentucky for deer hunting.
They would be great for shooting through trees when the deer hides its vitals behind a hickory nut tree.

I also killed Bambi that season, with a muzzleloader.
Culling deer in family units is the most humane way to do it.
Just like with elephants needing thinning out.

Well the 375 HH was supposed to be a plains game cart so why not a 400/375 Nitro Express Holland and Holland would be a cool deer 375 round. H and H's first belted cart.

Very close, my favorite deer or anything else caliber is the 9,3x74R.

If .375s are fine and dandy for impalas (and I've BTDT) then why not deer?????

I was disappointed to report that a 300gr. Partition driven at 2450fps did not expand on a rib-shot deer last December.



It did, on the other hand, put that deer down decidedly fast. As in, when I came out of recoil there was no deer to be found, at all. It went straight down into the 24" deep grass. For a couple seconds there I started thinking "I...MISSED???"

Rip better be careful his 375RUM doesn't eject him from his tree stand. I like a 7mm but maybe he has a better tree stand.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikelravy:
Rip better be careful his 375RUM doesn't eject him from his tree stand. I like a 7mm but maybe he has a better tree stand.

OR a bigger tree!

Three deer, a black bear, four wild hogs and an elk. All taken by my .375 Ruger Alaskan in the last couple of years. In this country with steep mtns and dark timber, a cartridge that puts 'em down right now from any angle is a necessity. I love my '06 but I have chased my last elk down into a deep hole after it was double lunged and ran a few hundred yards straight down hill.

With the .375 its bang and down!

The stand is actually one of those tall tripods that pokes up into the branches of a large oak tree. It has a swivel chair with back, and padded railing about 4 feet square all around me, at chest level when I am sitting.
The worst that could happen is that I would be spun around by the recoil, sitting in the chair, could not fall off that thing.
I have shot several bucks and does from that spot, with .395 Tatanka, .375 RUM, and a .223 Rem., a single-shot Cooper.
Bambi was killed with a .50-cal Lyman Breakaway Mustang muzzleloader, as I was sneaking to the stand a half hour before sunup, a month after his Momma died.
He was very tasty too.
His Pa got made into jerky and sausage.

I have taken several deer with my .375 h&h. It just eliminates those messy tracking jobs. I can't say it is my primary deer rifle as I hunt in several different firearms spec. zones.

Frankly my preferred bolt rifle for hunting under 300 yards is the 9,3x62 because of its handiness.

But I too have killed more than one whitetail and piggy with the .375 H&H using my standard load for Africa (300 gr Barnes TSX at 2600 fps). Works fine.

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I am just curious. Who uses a .375 H and H or .375 Ruger as their main rifle for deer hunting?

I’ve never considered it as a designated main deer rifle, but this is my experience. For over a decade through most of the '90s and into this decade, I managed kill permits for deer in a highly productive area. The permits usually called for killing at least 30 deer over an extended time frame between September and June each year. During that time, I hunted with everything from selfbows thru rifles.

Of everything I used, one rifle, in particular the cartridge, stood out as the most consistent DRT killer with the least amount of meat damage beyond all others. This being from a rifle that was not intended for deer that I originally took out on a few deer culls just to get trigger time prior to a hunt elsewhere for a big bear. I had built a 375H&H Mauser about as light as I could reasonably afford and it ended up about standard weight for a typical sporting rifle. My only intent was to get this thing out to see if anything broke and to get trigger time before my bear trip. Using full standard loads, this rifle compiled an impressive string of deer kills that spanned many years. I kept a journal with my farthest measured kill being just over 300 yards, my closest being point blank, and with numerous kills between. I've never experienced this level of performance with such minimal meat damage from any other cartridge used. I favor shooting over the heart of deer while saving the heart for table fare, as it is too large a good chunk of meat to destroy or discard. Some cartridges will turn most everything in the chest cavity into jelly while bruising a good deal of surrounding meat. On the other hand, some larger cartridges will go high lung over the heart and leave everything in great shape for the stove and table. The 375H&H at standard velocity sounds like a huge cartridge for deer, but it will put them down on the spot as good as any cartridge yet it will destroy very little surrounding meat. I’ve also owned two 375Rugers, and I don’t see that cartridge being any different if using standard loads.

Best

I have not used my 375 H&H for deer but have shot Impala and blesbok with it on several occasions. I used 300 grain TSX and it performed well and without excessive meat damage, just a nice clean big hole. I plan on using it for deer and where it may be an advantage is that the bullet will make a nice straight path from ANY angle to the vitals. Possibly an edge over a small caliber on that quick shot at a once in a lifetime buck.

My son owns a nice Browning .375 H & H. He's used it to kill several deer and I gotta admit, it kills em DEAD using 260 gr. soft points...

He was worried about overkill, but then said, "What the heck Dad, you use your .45/70 with 420 grain bullets, why can't I use the .375???"

quote:

Originally posted by 22WRF:
I am just curious. Who uses a .375 H and H or .375 Ruger as their main rifle for deer hunting?

Overkill but yes I have taken deer with a 375H&H several times, but only because I was in Texas.

Yes , I,ve killed alot of deer with the 375 H+H . And usually they go straight down . I believe I have killed 28 with the 458 Win . probably 15 with the 416 s , over 30 with the 338 Win.. I can,t remember how many with the 375 . in the 04_05 season 8 including the longest shot I,ve ever taken . prolly around 25 .
.
The 375 may be my favorite deer cartridge .

But my favorite meat load is a 510 gr 458 Win sp .Winchester factory load with the big blue nose . Or a 400 gr 416 @ 2200 fps . high lung under the spine

The 375 Ruger in left hand 20 inch barrel stainless barrel and action with a Leupold 3.5x14 VX-7 scope was the only rifle that I used to deer hunt this past year.
Used the old Green tip Nosler B Tip (pre AB) and VARGET.
And four white tail fell where they had stood.
No lesser gun has performed so well for me.
Sincerely,

No, I do not use a 375 H&H or Ruger as my main deer rifle.

I did shoot two deer with a 375 H&H one season. 270gr Hornady SP, killed both of them. Thought it might a little too much cartridge, or too soft a bullet. Ruined alot of good venison.

Sold it and replaced it with a pair of 9.3x64 Brenneke's. Have not shot a deer with either yet.

It's not my main deer rifle. But it's my main Impala rifle.

I shot my first deer with a .375 H&H on an island off of Kodiak. But that's only because I was hunting deer on an island with Kodiak bears.

I've toyed with the idea of turning it into the equivalent of a .38-55 by using paper patched bullets. Which is extremely doable.

I'm just afraid I'd screw myself up by using a paper patched lead bullet at less than 2000 fps sometimes, and other times a 300 grain metal patched bullet at 2600 fps out of the same rifle. Which may not make much sense as I shoot different rifles with different bullet weights at vastly different velocities.

But it helps my confidence to know that this rifle will shoot to a specific point of aim and not have to think about what load is in the chamber.