I used to have a few good loads for my winchester classic 375 H&H, a 300gr partition load and the federal premium 260gr accubond load. I recently had some work done to it to lighten it up. It now weighs in at 6lbs 4oz naked and just over 7lbs with the 1.5-5x leupold vxIII. They took a bunch of weight off the barrel by recontouring it and cutting it back to 20". Apparently this changed the barrel harmonics because neither of these loads shoots nearly as well as they used to. THe 260 accubond will shoot 1.5" or so but my 300gr partition load is 2-3". On the other hand the 270gr federal classic shoots amazingly well.

My main question is about the integrity of the 270gr RN that federal uses in its classic load. Will it hold up to the heavy bones in moose and brown bears or should I keep looking for a load with a better bullet.

Bear
The 270 gr Federal would probably do ok on brown bears, however I am a Premium bullet kind of guy. I would try other premium bullet factory loads.
I am a big fan of @ a 20 inch 375 H&H.
Try the Federal 250 gr Trophy Bonded Bearclaw factory load.

Personally I would not use that federal load on moose.

When I first got my 375, I was shooting those for practice because they were cheap. When deer season came around, I thought that a 270 gr. bullet would hold together and make a nice deer round.

Boy was I wrong.

That 270 sp bullet acted more like a 270gr. ballistic tip that a soft point. These round were exploding on deer and making a huge mess. I ended up shooting 4 deer with that round that year and I was not happy with the damage on any of them.

The next year I swithed to that 250 gr bear claw and have been very happy with the preformance. Opens up on deer but stays together. Like it is suppose too. We have shot 6 deer with the bear claw and good preformance on all 6. Minimum damage.

Just my experience.

graylake

Bear
My Win M70 375 H&H in synthetic stainless classic shoots those Federal classics 270 grain factory loads just like yours does, little bitty, those groups are hard to ignore. I've been playing with 300 grain Barnes X (triple shock) and RE-15 powder and I'm getting lots of accuracy and velocity out of that (.5" group). I think the 270 grainers would be fine on Moose as I watched my brother take one last year with it and it was fine, on Bears however I would opt for the better bullet. Step up to the 300 grainers and just use them on everything!

I don't care what bullet you use but please, dear God, do not use that bullet on big bear. That is THE most explosive POS excuse for a bullet that I have ever seen. I used that ammo for one of my pressure reference loads. The bullet came apart like it had a small tactical nuclear warhead in it. Nothing left but long stringy strands of shrapnel. I have no idea just exactly what it is good for. As mentioned it would even be too explosive on deer. Leopard maybe. I'm sure it has been used before on bear but, I swear, if you use it long enough, the best thing that will happen is that you will eventually loose the bear; the worst, you will wind up Treadwell poop.

As anyone knows, I don't EVER talk about other companies products, but if I didn't say something here; I'd be like that little kid in the movie "I see dead people".

I'd take any bullet on earth shooting 3" groups, over that bullet shooting 1/8" groups. This is one example where bullet placement over bullet quality is total bullshit.

I seriously had my doubts as to the bullets integrity so I figured I would ask and see. I'll try a few more of the federal premium loadings and if all else fails will try to find some place to set up my reloading stuff. I used to load the 300gr partitions and have a couple of boxes of failsafe's that I picked up on clearance. The barnes 270 tsx were another one I was going to look into, as well as the kodaik and North forks, just no place to get the northforks locally.

The accuracy on the Accubond load seems more than adequate for moose or bear to me.

In such a light weight easy-packing rifle I would try a 250 or 270 grain true premium bullet like the North Forks.

http://www.northforkbullets.com/375-250.htm

You will be shooting the bears off hand more likely than not, so anyhting around 2-3 inches is fine. Few of us can do better than that from a prone or sitting field rest.

I have found North Forks to be very accurate.

They are not in stores, you order directly from manufacturer, and will get them emmediately.

http://www.northforkbullets.com/

If for some reason you do not use premium bullets or do not reload, the 270 grain Winchester Power Point had a thick brass jacket with coating of copper. It held up to 3000 fps in my 375 improved and had very good frontal area and retained weight.

There still may be some of this old WW yellow box ammo available in gunshops. Id still rather have a North Fork, TBBC, or Swift, but it was probably on par with a Woodlegih. No small acheivement in a conventional unbonded bullet.

Andy