I called SSK today to order my 375 jdj dies and none other than JD Jones himself answered the phone.I talked to him about 40 mins and traded hunting stories. He is a very nice down to earth guy.He said the 270 gr Hornady was to way to go.He has killed hundreds of heads of game with he 375 jdj.I am awaiting my dies and stock for my contender.I had made a dummy round just for fun with my 375 win with a 300 gr hornady FMJ it fit right in the chamber no problem of my big bore 94 winchester.I would love to load some for it.Dang JD Jones needs to write a book he is awesome to talk to.I guess I will order what the doctor ordered some 270 gr Hornady bullets for my 375 jdj carbine.I look forward to shooting this little rifle.

dgr416
When the cartridge is named the 375 J D JONES, and THE J D Jones says to use a certain bullet, it sounds like good advise to me.
Kinda like that E F Hutton thing.

DGR...you formed a 375JDJ dummy round out of a 375 Win case?? It's based of the 444Marlin case, but you probably already knew that...

I just made up a dummy round for my 375 win with 300 gr bullets .I loaded up some to shoot today.Yep I know 375 jdj comes from 444 marlin case.The 375 jdj in a pistol equals the 375 win in a rifle.I have gotten 2500 fps out of my big bore 94 375 win with 220 gr hornady bullets.That equals the 375 jdj in a carbine.I should have just had a 375 win contender barrel made but it wont take the pressure that the winchester big bore 94 will.I am thinking about a winchester model 94 in 375 jdj.That would be awesome.I am going to call SSK and see what they say.You could only shoot flat pount bullets except the first and last shot.

Since you got to talk to JD himself, I thought I would pass along some information I got last week. My father-in-law sent an email to SSK asking about a list of available calibers for the Contender. When he got a response, he was surprised to see that JD had personally responded to the email. I was forwarded a copy of both my father-in-law's message and JD's response and was a bit surprised by the response from JD. The response pretty much said that compiling a list would require a great deal of time and effort, and therefore no list is available. But he did say that if there were any questions about a specific caliber or a certain level of performance trying to be obtained, to call and someone could help answer the question. I was just a little surprised by the response. Especially coming from JD Jones himself. I am not sure if SSK just prefers to talk over the phone instead of email or what. I was just curious whether anyone else has ever had a response like this from SSK.

JD Jones prefers to talk with a customer on the phone. Years ago, I sent an older Marlin in to be converted to 475 JDJ and his wife answered the phone herself and patched me through. As big as his business has been growing, he still prefers the personal touch since you can get a feel for the guy while talking with him instead thru emails.

I am calling him this week to ask if he would make a 375 jdj lever action for me.I shot my 300 gr 375 win loads today and my gun is still in one piece.It was a light load but still a 300 gr fmj out of my winchester big bore 94 was pretty cool.I get my 375 jdj dies this week .I hope to be shooting the 375 jdj contender carbine this Sat.