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Hi i hope people will understand what i write here, because i am from finland:) i need help to decide good caliber for big game animals in africa and i hope to have some help from the people who has personal experience of the calibers on the field. i have hard time to choose what is god for my use 375 H&H or 416 Rigby or maybe 458 win. mag. so i hope that someone who has hunted whit these calibers would give me answer. thank you! :)
Hello Paul,
Welcome to the forum of AH.com. Go for the .375 H&H magnum , a caliber which is tried & tested for more than 100 years . You can bag right from a dik dik to a elephant . I believe you would never be under gunned. I call it the EMPEROR of all the calibers............
Happy Hunting !!
Monish
I love shooting the 375H&H and it works well on even long shots. Sometimes I will leave my 300Win Mag at home for the 375 on driven Kudu hunts in the Eastern Cape for it can happily shoot up too 300yards! But for the bush I love my 416Rigby. It is a custom rifle and fits like a glove. I have taken an oribi with it and with no cape damage. A buff came running past me and my dad and he took it straight through the heart (confirmed with cutting open the buff) but when the 416 hit it, it just crumble up and said Ooooo my GoDDDD. For me I think it is standing next to my mates and saying: Mine is bigger than yours!! LOL.
Hi Paul,
Welcome to the forum. You have come to the right place to get advise on hunting Africa.
Monish, how did I know you were going to choose the .375H&H. Haha. Fully agree with you.
Dont think you would need anything more than the emperor...
Paul, best of luck with your African safari !
All the best
Marius Goosen
I have had great results with the 9.3x62 but would recommend three others; 9.3x64B, 375H&H or 404J.
Marius,
This has been the favorite of the favorites & a classic caliber still holding the crown since 100 years with astounding ballistics & tremendous knock down power . The best of hunters all across the globe of yesteryears & present do have a 375 H&H in their gun rack . For me its the ultimate caliber .......
Monish
I thank you monish for the the answer that you wrote to me. it totally helped me to chose the right caliber. i have to tell you that the 375H&H was allways number one on my list. i just needed someone else to confirm that. EMPEROR of all the calibers.... heh i like that.
By "big game in Africa" I assume you mean the Big Five plus hippo. If so, Monish is absolutely correct. The .375 is a mighty versatile caliber. However, I personally would not recommend it if your safari does not include dangerous game. I tell friends who will be hunting only antelope and zebra to take the caliber they use regularly at home for deer and elk. Too many first-timers are over-gunned for their first African plains game hunt and, although they won't admit it, can't handle the recoil their brand-new big boomer produces. Proper placement is more important than a bullet's size, speed, or weight.
Bill Quimby
Hi Bill,
You said that all the truth but the truth . "PROPER PLACEMENT" - "ITS NOT THE RIFLE BUT THE MAN BEHIND THE RIFLE"
Monish
Hi Paul,
Thanks Paul , may you procure a fine .375 H&H caliber-ed rifle .......... The EMPEROR does rule & has been ruling for past 100 long years ..
Happy Hunting ...
Monish
I agree 100% with Bill. Use the gun you are most used to but if you are including dangerous game a 375 would fit the bill quite handily. I used a 30/06 for my 14 animals & all were 1 shot kills. Proper shot placement is the answer!!
Paul, welcome to AH you will like the folks here!
You have been given some good answers to your question, and like most here, if I had to hunt everything for the rest of my life with a single rifle caliber it would be either one of two 375 H&H cartridges and rifle types. The big thing about the 375H&H is that it is not only a fine cartridge, but is legal for the Big five, in all but a few places, eventhough it is not a big bore but a medium bore cartridge. So that if you intend hunting Buffalo, or elephant it can do the job, and with care, on Elephant as well. Also if you get into African hunting it will make a fine light rifle to back-up your big rifle later.
I’m not one who recommends the use of too light rifles even for plains game if hunting in an area where you are likely to come in contact with Buffalo, or elephant, whether hunting them or not. So if I go with just one light rifle where the big boys are in the area, it should be the 375 H&H or the 9.3X62, or 74Rs. Those animals don’t know you mean them no harm.
My choice of 375 H&H would likely be a CRF bolt action Mauser or Mauser type rifle. I don’t care for Push feed rifles where any dangerous game may be hunted. The rifle with a good set of iron sights, and a scope in quality Quick detach rings and bases that return to zero each time the scope is removed, and replaced. OR a S/S double rifle chambered for 375 H&H flanged with the same scope set-up, and very well cut irons with the standing rear blade cut for 50 YDS, one cut for 100YDS, and a third one for 200 YDS.
That is if I had to hunt all game world-wide with one rifle! However I don’t have to use just one rifle or cartridge. In reality my choice therefore would still include either the 375, or one of the 9.3s and another rifle in the .450NE to 500NE and that would be a S/S double rifle, with the 375 or 9.3 as light rifle and as back-up for the big rifle.
Again welcome here!
Terrve ! Hi Paul. For us Scandinavian hunters, we don't have to much use for anything larger than a HH375. To hunt any kind of African or why not say any animals in the world, we don't need more that caliber HH375. HH 375 works for Roedeer to Elephant, all that's matters are of cause the "man behind the rifle" and also very important, choice of ammunition. My own small experience with hunting, I have used my Sako TRG-S HH375 since 1997, and NEVER had any problems with rifle or caliber. Here comes some more comments:
The All Around Rifle
"Considering all animals, without a doubt the all around rifle must belong to the .375 H&H."
by Mike LaGrange, Ballistics in Perspective (2d Ed.), PHS Publishing (1990), p. 49.
"This cartridge and rifle was definitely designed for the 'one-rifle' man; it's the only weapon that has ever been definitely designed as an 'all-around' rifle for the man who cannot afford or does not want to be bothered with a number of different weapons, and yet who wants to shoot a wide variety of animals. There is no other rifle on the market with which such a wide variety of different species of big game, from the largest to the smallest, can be killed equally satisfactorily. Its three different weights of bullet are all most deadly on the type of game for which they were intended, and at the ranges at which such animals are normally shoot."
by John "Pondoro" Taylor, African Rifles and Cartridges, Safari Press (1994), Chp. V, "The Medium Bores," p. 131 (emphasis in original).
"There is no other rifle in existence of which so much can be said as it can of the .375 Magnum."
by John "Pondoro" Taylor, African Rifles and Cartridges, Safari Press (1994), Chp. VII, "An All-Around Rifle," p. 204 (referring to a .375 Magnum double rifle made by Holland & Holland).
"I am giving this rifle ['Holland's .375 Magnum'] a chapter to itself because I honestly think that it deserves it, it is so far ahead of any of its contemporaries..."
by John "Pondoro" Taylor, Big Game and Big Game Rifles, Safari Press (1993), Chp. VIII.
"There is no other weapon in existence of which so much can be said; and when it is further remembered that the rifle can be obtained as double, single and magazine, so that all tastes are catered for and all types of shooting considered; it must surely be admitted that here is, indeed, a weapon which every man - or woman - wanting a rifle must at least consider."
by John "Pondoro" Taylor, Big Game and Big Game Rifles , Safari Press (1993), p. 98-99.
"I know, from using the rifle myself, that the .375 magnum can safely be taken against any animal anywhere in Africa."
by John "Pondoro" Taylor, Big Game and Big Game Rifles, Safari Press (1993), p. 103.
"Indeed... the .375 may not have a place in every safari battery today. But whether in .375 H&H or some other configuration, the .375-bore remains what it was nearly 80 years ago - the single most useful rifle any African hunter could carry."
by Craig Boddington, Safari Rifles, Safari Press (1990), p. 53.
"The actual necessity for a .375 H&H - or any cartridge of similar or greater power - is quite limited in North America. Brown bear, polar bear, the largest of the interior grizzlies, just perhaps bison, and you've said it all. However, unlike the shorter-ranged and much harder-kicking .416s and larger calibers, the .375 H&H is both shootable and versitale."
by Craig Boddington, American Hunting Rifles, Safari Press (1995), p. 142.
"For Alaskan Brown Bears, the "[b]est of all, to my mind, remains the 1912-vintage .375 H&H. It has the reach if you need it - but, and this is more important, it has the knockdown power for close-range work."
by Craig Boddington, American Hunting Rifles, Safari Press (1995), p. 366.
"The beauty of the .375 H&H is simple: you can take every animal on earth with the caliber without ever being over- and only rarely undergunned."
by Peter Hathaway Capstick, Safari: The Last Adventure, St. Martin's Press (1984), p. 97.
"The .375 was, and is, the legal minimum for dangerous game in several countries and still remains the one outstanding choice for the hunter who wants a rifle that works well on everything from little gazelles to five-ton elephants. My .375 has done exactly that, in addition to having given quite satisfactory results on the 48 buffalo taken with it..."
by Finn Aagaard, Aagaard's Africa, National Rifle Association of America (1991), p. 80.
"f I could have two cartridges to hunt the world, I'd be quite happy with the .30-06 and the .375 H&H. And if I could have just one cartridge to hunt the world over, my only answer is the .375."
by Craig Boddington, "Classic Hunting Cartridges: .375 Holland & Holland Magnum," Petersen's HUNTING, June 1995, p. 43 (emphasis in original).
"The .375 is one of my real enthusiasms in big-game cartridges. If I were going to hunt all over the world and could use only one rifle, it would be the .375. If I could have only two, one would be a .375 and the other would be a .270."
by Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
"As much as I like the .375, I have never seen much use for it in North America, except for hunting the big Alaskan brown bear. However, if anyone wants to use it on elk, moose or grizzly, I am not going to take exception. It is a hard-hitting, flat-shooting cartridge, for which I have scored a higher percentage of one-shot, in-the-tracks kills on medium to large soft-skinned game than with any other cartridge."
by Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
"My own .375 is a Model 70 Winchester restocked in French walnut by Griffin and Howe and equipped with a Kollmorgen 2.75x Bear Cub scope on the Griffin and Howe side mount. It also has a Lyman No. 48 receiver sight and the factory front sight. If I want to use the scope, I simply slip out the slide of the 48, slip on the scope, and vice versa."
by Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
"[The .375] has enough power in a pinch for elephants and rhinos, yet it shoots flat enough for mountain hunting. Up to 250 yards, there is so little difference in the point of impact with the two bullet weights that I am not a good enough shot to be able to determine by group which bullet I am shooting."
by Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
"Incidentally, the published velocity figures for the .375 check out exactly on the chronograph with factory ammunition, which is by no means true of all factory-made cartridges."
by Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
"THE .375 H&H MAGNUM But the queen of the medium bores is the .375 H&H Magnum, one of the world's most useful and widely distributed cartridges, and probably the best all-around cartridge ever devised."
by Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
"And there isn't any doubt that a good big gun is better than a good little gun - if it's properly handled."
by Jack O'Connor, The Complete Book of Rifles and Shotguns, Outdoor Life (1961).
"You also don't need anything bigger, but if you happen to own a .375 H&H you've got a pretty good black bear gun ... for any black bear that walks."
by Craig Boddington, "Big Bear Guns," Petersen's HUNTING, February 1998, p. 29, 56.
"Chances are equally good, however, that next time I try for a brown bear I'll go right back to where I started and carry a .375 H&H. The good old .375 is the classic brown-bear caliber and with good reason. It will stop a charge if necessary, and if necessary it will also make 200-yard shots with ease. And although it's been very good for 85 years now, it's better than it ever was thanks to superb new bullets like the Swift A-Frame, Trophy Bonded Bearclaw, Barnes X and Winchester Fail-Safe. If you have a .375, you have your brown bear rifle."
by Craig Boddington, "Big Bear Guns," Petersen's HUNTING, February 1998, p. 58.
"When asked my choice for a survey [about what is the "all around rifle"], my answer was the .338 Winchester Magnum, provided we're talking about North America and we include the big bears. Exclude the big bears and the simple answer is the .30-06, just like it has been since 1906. Throw in the rest of the world and the only sensible answer is the .375 H&H, just like it has been since 1912."
by Craig Boddington, "Big-Game Rifles," Petersen's HUNTING, April 1998, p. 53.
"Brown Bear: The brown bear is just an overfed grizzly. He gets much bigger, and he is usually hunted in closer cover. The .375 H&H is the rifle, period."
by Craig Boddington, "Big-Game Rifles," Petersen's HUNTING, April 1998, p. 56.
"For an octogenarian, the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum gets around right well. Other cartridges are decidely superior for most any specific big-game hunting assignment. But if you balance lethality against ranging capability, and factor in tolerable recoil, the .375 H&H (a.k.a. .375 Belted Rimless Magnum and .375 Belted Rimless Nitro Express) does more jobs better than any single round we have. It is arguably the most broadly effective cartridge in the entire history of sporting firearms. If internationally experienced hunters were asked to vote on one cartridge for all-around use, the .375 would win by a landslide."
by G. Sitton, "Reloads: The .375 H&H Magnum," Petersen's Big Book of Cartridges, Vol. 1, p. 84.
"As an all-around African cartridge for a hunter who wants the convenience of transporting only one rifle, there is still no better choice than the .375 H&H. It really will do it all. ... I would use it for most purposes, including at least the first shot on a buffalo and would reserve solids for elephant and for following up wounded buffalo. ... Almost any hunter, I believe, can learn to tolerate the recoil of a .375 H&H, at least for the few shots normally fired in the field. Anyone who cannot do so has no business hunting buffalo."
by Finn Aagaard, "One Rifle - One Load," Rifle, No. 171 (May-June 1997), p. 22.
"The .375 H&H is well liked as a back-up gun by Alaskan brown bear guides and would make a splendid all-around choice for hunting anything in big bear country, though I am not sure everyone would like to pack one up a sheep mountain."
by Finn Aagaard, "One Rifle - One Load," Rifle, No. 171 (May-June 1997), p. 22.
"For my big rifle, I can unequivocally recommend a stout bolt action in .375 H&H Magnum. That was easy wasn't it."
by Ron Spomer, "The All-Around Rifle Battery," Rifle, No. 158 (March-April 1995), p. 50.
"I do not mean to denigrate the .375 H&H [as not being the only true African rifle]; quite the contrary. I think it is arguably the finest all-around big game cartridge ever designed. If I could have but one rifle for all African hunting, I would without any hesitation choose a .375 H&H."
by Finn Aagaard, "Cartridges for Africa - The Reality," Rifle, No. 170 (March-April 1997), p. 17.
"If I had to choose only one rifle to use the rest of my life, I'd take the .375 Holland & Holland."
by John M. Taylor, "Hunting Loads: The Regal .375 H&H," American Hunter, Vol. 25, No. 10 (October 1997).
"... I believe the .375 is the round most frequently recommeded by professionals for clients wanting to do all of it [African hunting] with one rifle."
by G. Sitton, "A Winning Pick Six!," Guns & Ammo, June 1998, p. 62.
"In North America, the .375 is an excellent cartridge for bad brown bears (white ones, too). ... For mature bull elk and moose, especially in the timber, the .375 is by no stretch too much."
by G. Sitton, "A Winning Pick Six!," Guns & Ammo, June 1998, p. 62.
"Discovering [the .375's] capacity for dual use has been great fun, and rewarding. Not only is this rifle's power legendary, but also its destructiveness is frequently less than that of a high-velocity small-bore, especially for those hunters who prefer steaks and loin chops to hamburger."
by Ken Waters, "Update: .375 H&H Magnum Pet Loads," Handloader, No. 200 (August 1999), p. 50.
"A .470 H.V. would be very useful in the Himalayas, although somewhat heavy, and a .375 Magnum would be a very serviceable weapon in the jungles. In fact, this last seems to more nearly approach the ideal all-around weapon than any other. With 235 grain bullet it is perfection for the hills and the comparatively heavy bullet of 300 grains with its high velocity would deal a tremedous blow at close quarters."
by S.R. Truesdell, The Rifle: Its Development for Big-Game Hunting , Safari Press (1992), p. 169.
"The caliber .375 H&H Magnum is....a wonderful cartidge for use on elk, moose, bear, or the heavy artic game. In a factory make rifle and load, the .375 H&H Magnum in the Model 70 Winchester, Model 700 Remington, the Browing, Sako, etc., is one of the finest all around rifles and cartridges."
by Elmer Keith, Hunting Big Game, Peterson Publishing Company (1965), Chapter Two, "Timber And All Around Rifles," pp. 37-38.
"It (the .375) handles anything from small deer to the heaviest bear or moose. I have used the .375 Holland and
Holland Magnum on a great deal of game with good results."
by Elmer Keith, Hunting Big Game, Peterson Publishing Company (1965), Chapter Three, "Stalking Rifles," p. 53.
"Due to the fact that .375 H&H magnum ammunition is available all over the world, the .375 H&H becomes a very good choice of a plains rifle for Africa. I found that many of the 17 white hunters regularly employed by White Hunters Limited of Niarobi used a .375 for their medium rifle, and most all of them considered it ideal."
by Elmer Keith, Safari, Safari Pulications (1968), p. 136.
[Note: The chapter title this quote is from is called "The All Purpose Rifle"] "In my opinion, if you envisage some open-plains hunting, this strengthens the case for the .375 H&H. It may seem ironic that, in a book about rifles for Africa in the twenty-first century, the .375 H&H is still being recommended as an all-rounder. Some of today's hunters can't help feeling ill at ease about using a cartridge that was introduced as long ago as 1912 - it seems to offend their sense of technological progress. But the fact remains that there isn't much that can beat the .375 H&H as an all-rounder if you take all factors into account, including recoil, carry weight, and the major advantage that ammunition is readily available. Furthermore, the availability of 'heavy magnum' factory loads, which increase the velocity of the 270-grain and 300-grain bullets to an advertised 2,870 and 2,700 fps, respectively, now makes the .375 H&H about as versatile as you could want, if you don't mind the extra recoil."
by Gregor Woods, Rifles for Africa, Safari Press (2002), Chapter 24, "The All Purpose Rifle," pp. 323-325. Please note that there are so many references to the various uses of the .375 H&H Magnum in this book, I only picked the quote that seemed to best sum up the caliber.
"Few who have a great deal of hunting experience with the .375 H&H Magnum will disagree when I describe it as one of the most useful big-game cartridges ever developed. The .375 delivers far more power than is needed for most North American game, and it is a but shy on bullet diameter in times when some of the heavier African game have to be taken under the worst of conditions, but the fellow who decides to hunt all over the world with one rifle can do a lot worse than choosing the .375 H&H Magnum. ... I can think of no big-game animal presently residing anywhere in this world that I would not tackle with a rifle in .375 H&H Magnum."
by Layne Simpson, Rifles and Cartridges for Big Game, Safari Press (2003), pp. 241-242.
Return to The .375 H&H Magnum Page .
MichaelHH375 Very impressive post sir!
................................Congratulations!
'michaelhh375' . . . Thanks for the great post! Certainly the praise heaped upon the .375 H&H is very well deserved. My .375 H&H would definitely be my choice to keep if I were forced to give up all my rifles but one.
Hi Paul. What was your decision ? " The best all around caliber ", Were and when are you planing to visit Africa ? Looking forward to hear from you, as well as some pictures from new rifle and of cause from Africa.
Merry Christmas from Sweden !
Michael
Hi Paul,
Welcome to AH. The 375 HH is really the one man rifle but you should use good ammunition and practice, with and without a scope before you go hunting to know your rifle and to manage the recoil. BUT I do prefer the 404 JEFFREY, think about it...
Anyway enjoy your hunting trip in Africa.
Christophe
Ok i have finally come up whit an idea of my big game rifle. i will use a billet from this web site Väriyhdistelmät, erä ja urheilu | CWP Coloured Wood Products Oy i like the classic WAC :)but in classic safari model stock. my gunsmith will fit the iron in it:) i use cz 550 magnum as a doner to this project. it will have 24" custom barrel whit NECG express sights onsighted to 75 meters. and maybe leupold scope that i can put on and take off if neccecary. pachmayr old english recoil pad and mercury reducer in the stock and i will add there a grip cap from dakota, the traditional skeleton and i have a plan to fill the hole in it :) my friend is a carpenter and he is great when it comes to wood carving and he was happy to help me making a little medallion to fill that hole.i have one mammoth tusk and i will use a little part from that to make the medallion :) so you all must be thinking that what is the caliber.......well it is going to be 375H&H after a long long thinking that it will be my safari rifle caliber because it is the EMPEROR OF ALL ;) and i can shoot it well. i will put some pictures when i get the gun made. ou and there will be a mammoth carving on the magasine plate :) on the side will read 375H&H "MAMMOTH EXPRESS" :) I know that there will be many who does not like my ideas but i like it:) hope that someone will give me thums up for the project :)
Hi Paul,
Sounds like a nice rifle you're building. Please post pics when it's done.
I agree the 375H&H is a great cartridge. Not many things in this world last 100years but the 375H&H has!
Neil