I have a 375 Ruger that I am loading up with 250 TTSX bullets, before I decide what calibre to build it into, or whether to leave it as a 375Ruger. The rifle has a short 20" barrel
My fastest powder on hand is RL 17 and Fed 215 Gold Match primers. I am not adverse to picking up a can of faster powder if it would produce a faster load in the 20" barrel. Rl17 is fairly dense and compact so I am thinking that it might be able to extract full velocity out of a 250 grain bullet

Is there any advice on powders and loads for a 375 Ruger?
I prefer what are considered 'max' loads: reasonable, full usage of a cartridge's capacity, but nothing ridiculous. I am expecting around 2850-2950 fps in the 20" 375 Ruger with 250 TTSX.

Most peolpe I've seen are using r-15. I've been using h4350 with good results. Been loading the 270's and 300 grainers though. I read somewhere that a guy tested 17 and it worked well but came into some pressure issues before the velocity he wanted was achieved.

h335 -- 17 is too slow for short tube

Here's some extensive work I did with RL17 in the 375 Ruger. I worked with the 270 gr TSX and the 260 Accubond and with a 24" barrel but you may find something useful in it.

Eventually I got up to 3000 fps with a 260 gr Accubond but now shoot the 270 TSX at 2850 to 2900 fps because of better accuracy. No pressure signs.

I have worked with RL17 in 3 different calibers and still have not had any pressure signs in any of them even after getting significant velocity increases.

IMO RL17 is your best bet for max velocity under max pressure.

I've been extremely happy with Varget in my 375 Ruger Alaskan. I'm averaging 2520 fps with 300 gr TSX's, and doing less than 1/2" - 3 shot groups (one oval hole) at 100yds.

I was getting 2725fps with RL17 and 300gr Nosler Accubonds

No pressure signs, and I feel as if I could have gone higher, but I didn't have any data so I stopped.

H4350 has been the most accurate powder for me in the 375 RUger, and I use 84gr H4350 with the 250TTSX for excellent accuracy and about 2800fps, in an Alaskan with 20" barrel.

For Jeffeoso,

H335 is pretty fast stuff. what kind of velocities do you get or would you expect with such a powder?

The powder that give the highest velocity in a long barrel will also do so in a shorter one.

I tried a number of powders in the two I built..I settled on RL-15 as about ideal. It got me 375 H&H velocity plus a little more at full max. It was the most accurate in both rifles, and pressures were very mild..I saw no reason to go any further. I did not try RL-17.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatehouse:
. . .
and I use 84gr H4350 with the 250TTSX for excellent accuracy and about 2800fps, in an Alaskan with 20" barrel.

That would duplicate my 416Rigby load with 350 TTSX, sort of lock me in at 2800. 84 grains of R17 ought to fit and work, too. (naturally, working up checking for 'signs') Might even go a couple grains more. Barnes lists 84 for H380 with the 270 grain TSX.

quote:

Originally posted by 900 SS:
The powder that give the highest velocity in a long barrel will also do so in a shorter one.

I've wondered about that, and will give R17 a first try. A little flame is always fun. Should know within two weeks.

Well, I got some first data on the 375 Ruger with its little 20" barrel. It was my first opportunity to shoot one of these Hogue-stocked little Rugers and I was impressed. Very comfortable platform, with a decent, pleaing hunting trigger. Enough pull to be safe, yet crisp.

After some 'oil shots'/safety build-up I did four groups with Reloder-17, all with 250 grain TTSX Barnes:

84 grains 2797 average fps
85 grains-c 2832 average fps
86 grains-c 2854 average fps
87 grains-c 2898 average fps

Velocities are corrected from a 21 ft Pro-Chrono set up. The last three loads were 'compressed' charges (-c), but nothing extraordinary.

The down side was that all the groups were around 2" at 100 yards. Perhaps that was due to slapping a cheap Bushnell scope (with 5" eye relief) on the rifle. the sight-picture seemed blurred compared to a Nikon on a 338 I was shooting the same day. (the 338 was doing .7" and .8" inch groups, so bench set-up or wind was not the problem.) Maybe I just forgot to adjust the eyepiece on the Bushnell.

anyway, if I can't get tighter groups on the 375 Ruger it may be a blessing in disguise. I bought it to rebarrel into a .500 'standard-length' Rigby-base something or other. Since the 375 is legal in Tanzania for anything, I wouldn't want to dismantle it if it is a 'shooter'. But I don't need a 2-MOA rifle for potential shots over 250 yards, so it either gets tight or a new barrel.

RL17 has given me impressive velocity in the 375 ruger and the 300WSM, and the accuracy has been "okay" but other powders are more accurate, for me, anyway.

83grs H4350 is my load with 250gr TTSX, 2740 fps in my 20" Alaskan

quote:

Gatehouse
and the accuracy has been "okay" but other powders are more accurate, for me, anyway.

Do you have some figures to put some perspective on this? did the R-17 average an extra 1/4", 1/2", 1" or what?

what kind of accuracy did you get with your good powder(s)?


and

quote:

todbartell:
83grs H4350 is my load with 250gr TTSX, 2740 fps in my 20" Alaskan

Sounds good, and I've got some H4350 lying around. It's good powder, maybe a tad bulkier (less dense) than R-17.
Any more figures on this? What kind of accuracy was gained by dropping 50-100 fps? For me a +1/4" might be worth gaining 100 fps, because you get back some of the margin in a tighter trajectory at 300+yards. But an extra inch of play per 100 yards bothers me quite a bit. i figure that I add another inch/100 because of the hunting situation and faster shooting, and if everything is adding an inch/100, the animal might walk away.

Probably the biggest factor in these things is barrel harmonics, though these rifles may be quite similar in finding stable spots because of a shared manufacturer and 20-inch barrels providing the same length harmonics for the pressure wave in the metal.