Planning a hunting trip to Kodiak Island, AK for Sitka Deer, taking my 375 H&H because I love it, I trust it, and potential bear encounters

Struggling between working up for deer load (235 Speer) or just pounding them with 270 TSX

What do they use for thin skinned animals in Africa?

Any experience or recommendations?

Just use the 270s that you know and trust. Worst case they don't open (which I doubt) and you have a .375 hole through and through. Should be about the same as hitting them with a 243 that expanded 50% and exited.

There are a few loads I like...for the speer 235gr, I'm really comfy with 68.5gr of Varget in Norma brass with Fed 215's. Safe loads start at 65 and max around 70 gr, good for 2850+/- from my 24" cut rifled barrel. I like the varget in the 375 for various reasons, likes temp changes and pretty clean top the list.

If it were me, I would still load 300gr A-Frames over 61gr of varget. In my rifle it gives a solid 2400fps with very low e.s. For you it's the 270 tsx, same theory.

I'll duck now as everyone will give 4350 and 4895 loads that are faster and hit harder or whatever, but I figure if you want 2700 or 2800 you'd have bought a 375RUM and not an H&H.

You've heard the old "beware the guy who owns one rifle" mentality-I tend to use that towards pet loads as well. I know the ballistics of my load on three continents without thinking, so I know my comfort zome and don't have to think (KISS).

If you want to use the 235 Speers my load of 75gns of RL-15 is very accurate out of my Ruger RSM. I shot it last weekend at my Uncles house and punched 2 holes .750 apart through 1/2 inch thick Mild plate steel at 195 yards. Thats w/ a 1.5-5 leupy. Good luck!!! Hopefully someday I will wander Kodiak Island w/ mine. My Granfather lived in Alaska for 40 years and whenever he comes down he always looks at that rifle and says "Boy wouldn't that have been nice if I would have seen A Brownie when I was Moose hunting" He had a friend who carried a .378 Weatherby for years and got tired of carrying it 'cause it was so heavy. The next year he got mauled by a brown bear! He shot it 2 times w/ a 30-06 but still got mauled. He survived but that .378 Weatherby went hunting w/ him till he couldn't hunt anymore. I am not trying to alarm you but just reassure your choice. He always tells me he felt undergunned carrying his 7mm Rem Mag. Grandpa had Bears tear his moose camp up once while they had to hide in the woods. The worst part was he was drying his boots by the fire when the bears came in and some how they got knocked in and burned up!!! He had to hunt the rest of the week in loafers w/ as many socks as he could fit in them. I bought a .458 Win and he laughs that that would have been a REAL good rifle for keeping the Brownies off!! Hope I helped Pat

quote:

Originally posted by idahoelk101:
Just use the 270s that you know and trust. Worst case they don't open (which I doubt) and you have a .375 hole through and through. Should be about the same as hitting them with a 243 that expanded 50% and exited.

That’s exactly what happened on my last 2 moose, since I was hunting for meat (cows) I went for heart/lungs shots; Swift A-Frame (hhmag) & TSX bullets went right thru and both cows traveled 150 yards, that may not sound like a lot but moose aren't like a deer, you don't want to haul them suckers any farther than you have to

Bonded bullets are good for busting bones but don’t always kill quickly

K2035 – your grandpa is wise and his stories ring true

I have a Winchester Safari Express in .375 that I have taken to Africa for thin skinned plains game. My load was the 300 grain Nosler Partition in front of RL-15 for around 2550 chronographed. It worked perfectly on zebra, blue wildebeest, eland, kudu and warthog. The blue wildebeest I shot (175 yds) quartering toward me and hit him on the shoulder. He went down immediately and as we approached him I put two more rounds in him (5 yds). I recovered all of the bullets and they were perfect mushrooms. One had lost the front core completely but otherwise was picture perfect. The Nosler will shoot 7/8 inch groups out of my rifle.

Used the 235 Speer on ONE whitetail. Deer dropped on the spot BUT the wound canal was wildly curved ... hit just behind the front shoulder on the left side and the bullet exited in the front of the right rear thigh. It left great hunks of itself in the track.

I have never used another on deer.

I understand that the Hornady 225 was designed for the .376 Steyr and is a tougher bullet.

Have found that my standard .375 H&H load works fine on deer and piggies. It is a 300 gr Barnes TSX at 2600 fps (driven by RL-15). Deer and piggies have all been DRTs. Never recovered a projectile.

Has been about as effective as the 9,3x62 w 286 gr Nosler partitions which also kills like the Hammer of Thor. Have never had one run with these either.

Anybody tried the Barnes 235 TSX or Woodleigh 235 RN?

I love the hornady 225 and the lighter barnes bullets in my .375s

I have to kill does on my lease in South Texas. Plan on using a .416 with 400 grain TB Bear Claws. Worked on everything from buffalo to zebra in Tanzania; I think it will kill a deer. (confess to using a solid on impala, it worked fine too).

quote:

Originally posted by Abob:
Anybody tried the Barnes 235 TSX or Woodleigh 235 RN?

I like the 235 tsx, but slow it down. At 2700fps, I was losing petals and creating huge wound channels on various medium game. Running them around 2500 made them work nice. Don't know if I'd want to go poking holes into brownies with them. Probably work just fine, but frontal on a big brownie can require 12-14" of penetration-add a shoulder or forehead into the mix... You lose 1/3 of the weight of the lighter tsx when you lose the petals, so now it's lighter than an '06...just a thought...I have freinds that hunt and fish in brownie land who rarely carry more than a 338wm or 444 Marlin guide gun. My buddy Fred carries a 4" barreled 454 casull and nothing else when fly fishing-says he'd lose a long gun wading.

Develop a 235 gr load.

If you shoot a bear you better have a damn good reason to do so.

Buliwyf, my co-worker had to shoot a sow last year while deer hunting on Kodiak, they were dressing it when the sow charged from 30 yards, not that uncommon up here

he had planned to take his 243 but couldn't get it to zero so took his 300 RUM instead

State of Alaska got the bear hide, he got to keep his, just had a deer hunter from Montana mauled last week on Kodiak

Seems the bears have learned to equate a rifle shot to diner bell

quote:

Originally posted by Abob:

"... bullets went right thru and both cows traveled 150 yards, that may not sound like a lot but moose aren't like a deer, you don't want to haul them suckers any farther than you have to

I always thought he was joking, but my grandpa always told me that deer run from the shot...if you go around them and hunt backwards, they'll run back to where you parked

You are comfortable with the 270 tsx? Use it. A pencil sized hole thru both lungs will take game just as fast as a big mushroom half way through. You are second guessing something that works for you and that you are comfortable with-no better way to lose confidence in a rifle than to change the "magic" formula that makes it work for YOU.

I've shot a pile of plains game with a .375H&h and 270 gr Barnes and TSX. They perform wonderfully on thin skinned game. They open they expand and they drive true I've yet to have one fail on game.

I highly recommend them.

For just deer the Remington green box 270 grain soft points are just fine.

260 grain Partition

quote:

Originally posted by Abob:
Anybody tried the Barnes 235 TSX or Woodleigh 235 RN?

I have used the old 235 gr Barnes X on deer & it was totally satisfactory. Forgot which & how much powder though.



This is what the exit hole looked like on a muley buck.

The 235 gr Speer can be very violent on a deer , Really tear things up and blood shock alot of meat ,, I have had the least amount blood shock from tough controlled expansion bullets ........ The X bullet , even the 300 gr .458 @ high velocity . is easier on the meat than almost all jacketed bullets ....If you hit your deer behind the ear , or behind the shoulder you will be in good shape meat wise , and it may not be too tough on the cape , if you are going for a wall mount ...

Stick with the 270 gr X or TSX ...

I use the 250 gr TSX in my 9.3,s ....

I can attest to the fact that the 235gr TSX kills blacktail. My load is with 75gr RL15. That being said, if hunting in bear country, the heavier bullets would get my vote and you are not giving up enough ballistically inside of 250yds to make a diff. Good hunting!

I am working with both the same bullets you are, thinking about deer also. I loaded some spear 235gr between 2700-2800 fps and then decided that if I wanted to shoot a 338 win mag, I wouldn't have traded it for the 375. So I am going to be hunting my deer this year with either a 270 TSX @ 2700 fps or the Hornady 300 gr RN @ 2500 fps. Because I had my first ever case get stuck in my die, I only got five 300 gr hornady's loaded, so I will be using the 270 TSX, because I still have to site in.
I would just use the 270 TSX and not wonder if you could have a possible problem with bear. I only shoot 270-300 gr bullets now. If you need the trajectory of a 300 magnum, then go with lighter bullets, but the 270 gives you the trajectory of a 30-06. The 270 TSX can be loaded to 2800 fps if you desire. If I get my deer this weekend, I'll post how my deer went down. I suspect that I won't be able to find a bullet though.

I was concerned about wether the TSX would open on deer. I've seen the videos showing the TSX opening right away in 1" gel, but I wondered if the .375 TSX might act differently because it is designed for heavy game. I contacted Barnes and was told that It should open on deer, but the rep hasn't seen the 270 TSX tested in 1" of gel like the .308 cal bullets. I looked at the nose cavity of a .338 225 gr TSX and the .375 270 gr TSX. There is a major difference. The .375 TSX cavity almost swallows the tip of the .338 gr TSX. I thnk it will work great on deer.
Go with the 270 gr+

gohip2000, wish I was there with you, I have relatives in the Deer River area and one of them will probably be in my tree stand

the exit wound should tell you if the bullet expanded

good luck, look forward to your report, send me a PM so I don't miss it

quote:

Originally posted by Abob:
gohip2000, wish I was there with you, I have relatives in the Deer River area and one of them will probably be in my tree stand

the exit wound should tell you if the bullet expanded

good luck, look forward to your report, send me a PM so I don't miss it

Cool. Deer River is about 80 miles exact north of where I will be hunting in Deerwood . If I get a deer this weekend, I'll definately give you a PM. Eventually, I'd love to hunt Alaska or Canada for some big bear. We have a good amount of bear in MN, but they are average size black bear. No contest for the 375, but still plenty different from deer.

Seeing any wolf tracks down in Deerwood? We are seeing more & more of them on our little hunting preserve (Grandpa’s old farm)

Used to be the beavers damming up the ditch bank was our big problem, a little dynamite from the County solved that

Now we need a wolf season to keep us legal

Well, I honestly haven't been to deerwood hardly at all, so you would definately be seeing more wolf tracks than I would. I haven't seen any wolf before, but I've seen some moose up towards twin valley/ada/crooksten area of MN. I've seen wolverine too, but no wolf yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
260 grain Partition

+1

I use 235 speer to cull feral goats,which would be about the same size as a Blacktail deer.

235 Speer kill very well from any angle,but are very messy,so if you want skin and/or meat i would try something else.

When I go to bear country I load for bear...any 375 with 300 gr pills will do the job on deer pretty well also. It's your bacon...fry it any way you like...me...I prefer ham.

I have hunted axis deer with my .375 H&H Mag. some years ago.
Used Hornady 220gn at 2650 fps and it was explosive. Efficient but too much meat spoiled.
The try PMP 300 gn RN thinking it would not expand. Wrong. 3" exit hole.
I preffer to use only one load for all. This is the advantage of the .375 H&H.
.
JMHO
;artin

How does the 235 gn Woodleigh Protected Point bullets compare to the Speer, Hornandy or Sierra 235/225 gn bullets as far as meat/hide damage?
When if not driven to top velocity?

I was thinking about a 235 gn Woodleigh PP at around 2500 fps for a short range, (200 yards or less) moderate recoil & report deer load.

The only reason I was for thinking about a 235 gn load for short range (200 yds or less) deer would be for a moderate recoil and report but only
if it didn't mess up a lot of meat.

Unless the Woodleigh 235 gn is a fair bit tougher one may as well stick to a 300 gn bullet for everything and call it good.


Allen

Haven't used them yet

Bought my eldest boy a 30/06 when he turned 12 for sambar hunting he loathed it (even though it was what he wanted)at 16 he traded it and got a remington in 375 h&h he uses it on everything rabbits foxes deer every thing.We tried loading light bullets but he didnt like them to messy he said now he uses 270 gn. factories or 270 grn hornadies over83 grns AR2209 (H4350) for every thing .Oh for his 18th he got his light rifle for hunting over the beagles a 35 whelen,wonder what he will get for a varmit gun ?

quote:

Originally posted by sambar02:
Bought my eldest boy a 30/06 when he turned 12 for sambar hunting he loathed it (even though it was what he wanted)at 16 he traded it and got a remington in 375 h&h he uses it on everything rabbits foxes deer every thing.We tried loading light bullets but he didnt like them to messy he said now he uses 270 gn. factories or 270 grn hornadies over83 grns AR2209 (H4350) for every thing .Oh for his 18th he got his light rifle for hunting over the beagles a 35 whelen,wonder what he will get for a varmit gun ?

.


Thts a good kid you got there ,

I like the 270 gr TSX in 375 .... It is a great weight .. I have had every X or TSX bullet I hit an animal with expand , regardless of the size . If you notice the cut out in the hair under the right ear , that was about an inch dia exit hole from a 350 gr. .416 TSX bullet with an impact velocity of 2450 - 2500 fps ...

I,ve shot deer thru the lungs with the original 416 X bullets and they showed signs they had expanded ...

I'd use Rem 270 grain round noses. Cheaper than reloading.

quote:

Originally posted by Mikelravy:
I'd use Rem 270 grain round noses. Cheaper than reloading.

How much to those cost?

I don't recall exactly I picked up a few boxes from a local shop not too long ago for $30/box. They were on sale at Midway USA not too long ago.

They may be cheaper but we need something to do during our long Alaskan winter nights

reload all winter, shoot a summer

I've loaded 200gr FP bullets in my 375 Ruger at reduced loads, for grouse

But if I was you, in your circumstances...I'd use the 270TSX on everything..

I've killed animals from steinbuck to giraffe with the .375 and 270 & 300 grain TSXs. It seems to work about as well on one as the other,which is awful appealing in a do everything rifle.

Well, I know the 270 TSX will expand from a 375 H&H in deer.
This one was about 150 lbs.
I hit him real low clipping the heart from a distance of 25 yards.
The entrance wound was about the size of a pencil, The exit wound was about the size of a 50 cent piece. That was through only about 5-6" of deer and not hitting any bone. Now I have a bullet for any kinf of hunting I want to do in north america