I have a lot of, what.... "live", if you will, shooting experience and medium North American game, but am new to the African game ammunition and have purchased a .375 Ruger Magnum and looking for a .375H&H double. I recently opened an office in Cape Town and hope to start being able to make the time to hunt while there on business. I keep seeing these posts for God-Awful heavy [.455 and up] and Im sort of astounded by the weights. Im wondering is that really what it takes for Cape Buf and am I just setting myself up for problems with the .375...? Having a bit of close quarters experience and being a pretty solid shot, its just hard for me to imagine that a .375 is just not enough round for buffalo and big Kudu. Am I just missing the boat or should I be steppin up to .416 or better? I like the idea of the .375 being a versitile round.

The 375 is a versatile round, but so is the 416 Rigby! In a double, the 500/416. Some do not recommend a rimless round for a double. In 375 that would leave the 375 Flanged. Some also swear by the 9.3x74R.
Peter

What about practice? I can shoot a couple boxes of .375 and then old age catches up and I start to get all over the place and am sore the next day.... Ive never shot a .416, and it does not look that much larger, but is it prohibitive due to recoil....?

SESOLINC. the 375H&H is fine for HUNTING cape buffalo, the cats, and all plains game. The 375 H&H and the 9.3X74R, and 62 are mimimum chambering for Buffalo, and Elephant on most countries. It and the 9.3s are about perfect for even follow-up on lion, and Leopard, especially in a well made double rifle. However as Peter says the rimless cartridges are not usually reccomended for use in double rifles, that are to be used for dangerous game.

In a bolt rifle the 375H&H is one of my all time favorite cartridges, and I use it a lot. I tend to favor double rifles for Cape Buffalo,and my all time favorite chamberings for a double rifle for cape buffalo is the 450/400NE 3". The recoil is light enough so that it can be shot a lot on one session at the range, without developing a flinch. It is fine for buffalo, and is a flanged case cartridge.

If I were you my choice would be a Heym PH , or B. Searcy PH model chambered for the 450/400NE 3", and have them set it up for a quality quick detach scope and rings, regulated with the new Hornady factory ammo. This rifle will work for all plains game, and is fine for cape buffalo as well, and with a quality light gathering scope, with a illuminated reticle. With a hand load set up you have a very versitile double rifle for not only Africa, but for North America as well.

With this set-up the rifle can be carried with the iron sights most of the time, and the scope attached when the need arrises, for a very percise shot!

If you insist on the 375 H&H in a double rifle then that is your choice, and you may never have a problem with it, but one problem is sometimes all it takes! On either one of the 450/400NE 3" doubles I would ask it to be made in the nine to nine and one half pound range!

The advice given here is my opinion only, and it is worth exactly what the reader has paid for it!

Sir,
Thats fantastic information and I dont mean to argu with you. I procurred the .375 Ruger as an exercise and figuring it would end up a scope rifle, as its, essentially, a fat .308 out to 200 meters, and I can use it for plains game. I want to find a .375 double so I have a "close" gun, cause, I swear, if, based on what I see from deer, hogs and target material, you aint killing things with that, on decent shots, then you need to think about respecting that thing's privacy and leaving it alone....

A .416 (either Remington or Rigby) will do anything a .375 will do but will do it better and certainly gives you an edge on Buff, Hippo, Rhino and Ele.

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:
A .416 (either Remington or Rigby) will do anything a .375 will do but will do it better and certainly gives you an edge on Buff, Hippo, Rhino and Ele.

Ditto's

If you are planning on taking two rifles to South Africa, check on their gun laws. It is my understanding that you may NOT have two rifles that are chambered for the same round. Something to consider.

Keith

Hog Killer is correct. I saw a fella have a bit of drama in SA when he had 2 30/06 rifles, one for him, and one for his "under age to get a rifle into SA son"

They gave him a bit of trouble...

I actually talked to the "gun people" and helped smooth it over. They did allow him in with them....

If you have a 375 Bolt rifle, then a 450/400 makes a perfect choice for a double rifle.

They work pretty good on pigs as well.

quote:

Originally posted by SESOLINC:
Sir,
Thats fantastic information and I dont mean to argu with you. I procurred the .375 Ruger as an exercise and figuring it would end up a scope rifle, as its, essentially, a fat .308 out to 200 meters, and I can use it for plains game. I want to find a .375 double so I have a "close" gun, cause, I swear, if, based on what I see from deer, hogs and target material, you aint killing things with that, on decent shots, then you need to think about respecting that thing's privacy and leaving it alone....

I think you misunderstood my post! There is nothing wrong with the 375H&H cartridge for shooting Cape buffalo, but that cartridge is a belted rimless cartridge and they are not normally used in double rifles. The best for double rifles is a rimmed cartridge. The 375 comes in a flanged (rimmed) cartridge, but loaded ammo is tough to come by, and componants for handloading are hard to find as well.

The 450/400NE 3" is not only a flanged cartridge, but is one of the best Cape buffalo cartridges you can get, and the recoil is about the same as the 375H&H. Rimless cartridges in a double rifle can be problematic, but it's your money, and your choice. If your Ruger is the 375 RUGER cartridge, and your double rifle was a 375 H&H, then they are not the same cartridge, and the rule about two rifles in the same chambering doesn't apply, but if both are the H&H then RSA will not allow you to bring both in. You will not find a double rifle chambered for the 375 RUGER, but if you did it is a rimless cartridge as well, and not well suited to double rifles.

Blaser. Anybody got any good info on Blaser O/U or S/S? Pretty guns,but dont see them commented on much in this forum. Seem like good bang [sorry] for the buck

quote:

Originally posted by SESOLINC:
Blaser. Anybody got any good info on Blaser O/U or S/S? Pretty guns,but dont see them commented on much in this forum.

Look again; there's lots-o-comments on the Blaser here. Do a search.