Seinfeld Voice What is the deal with 375 Ruger?

rookhawk

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Seriously, I don't know anything about it and everyone on this forum is having a love fest about this cartridge. Educate me. Why would I want something?:

Less popular and proven than 375H&H

That takes special ammo that is hard to find

That requires ammo that can't be found in the bush

That has a limited amount of rifles chambered for it as a caliber

That has unique reloading requirements that are more expensive than 375H&H for brass

Please educate me as I'm looking for an upside that I've not found yet. I'm assuming its more powerful than a H&H but so is a 404J and a host of other options?

Thanks!
 
Seriously, I don't know anything about it and everyone on this forum is having a love fest about this cartridge. Educate me. Why would I want something?:

Less popular and proven than 375H&H so was the h&h before it became popular. But the rug uses the same bullet at similar velocities so the terminal ballistics don't need proving.

That takes special ammo that is hard to find. Fair point, but it is becoming more available.

That requires ammo that can't be found in the bush. See above.

That has a limited amount of rifles chambered for it as a caliber. More becoming available, the ones that are out there are better suited for other roles, eg the guide gun.

That has unique reloading requirements that are more expensive than 375H&H for brass, unique how? If you mean different dies, then so does every other cartridge. The brass, fair point on this.

Please educate me as I'm looking for an upside that I've not found yet. I'm assuming its more powerful than a H&H but so is a 404J and a host of other options?

Thanks!

I'm getting a guide gun as I need something good value and resilient, a blued gun will be trashed.
 
My guess would be the affordability of the rifles Ruger is making in the caliber. Cost savings on that over the average cost of typical classic safari caliber rifles makes the small increase in reloading cost worth it.
 
Ruger designed efficient cartridges based on the 404 Jeff. THere were some issues with other short magnums feeding, Ruger too a slightly different approach and hit a home run.
I truly love the 300 RCM BUT the only source of brass is Hornady, and to the best of my knowledge, it's still their proprietary cartridge.
Once that license expires (?) or it's open to other companies, I think the 375 Ruger, 416 Ruger and possibly even a 338 would be a huge success.

Remember Ruger is getting H&H velocities plus in a shorter barrel and a more affordable package, as well as a standard action.
 
Unless I'm mistaken it also gets higher velocities than the H&H. That allows for flatter shooting for plains game, or an elk at 300 yds across the clear cut. A little more versatile perhaps. Bruce
 
The flatter shooting bit I think is myth after doing further research. The bullets are so set back on the 375 Ruger it appears that it makes the case capacities about identical I learned this morning. Then I looked at the fine print on ballistics and they are quoting performance for the 375 Ruger from a 28" barrel to give it 75-125fps better performance than the 375HH which is almost completely absorbed by the deviation between a 26" and a 28" barrel. Chopping the barrel down to 20-21" like some do with the 375HH and the way it appears the 375 ruger often comes from the factory all this is irrelevant as the unburnt powder surely is flying out the end of the barrel for both guns.

My conclusions is this is exactly the same as the 6.5x55 versus .260 debate. One is very old, one is very new. The older one needs a longer action. The older one is much easier to find ammo and brass for. The newer one's future is uncertain. The older one has a longer neck on the case allowing more powder in the case and adjustment of the bullet to get closer to the lands. It also allows for a heavier bullet because of that.

Net result of what I've learned, the .260 remington IS the 375 ruger. I personally have now concluded I just want 6.5x55 and 375H&H because I'm not happy with the primary benefit offered with the other two: shorter actions.
 
My guess would be the affordability of the rifles Ruger is making in the caliber. Cost savings on that over the average cost of typical classic safari caliber rifles makes the small increase in reloading cost worth it.

Agree, I think the real market for the 375 Ruger is for Alaskan brown bear hunters (residents, clients and guides). It's a CRF like action, comes in stainless/synthetic, and is very affordable. It's too bad they didn't just make the rifle and chamber it for 375 H&H.
 
The classics are such for a reason. They work and have done so for a considerable amount of time. Definitely think it's a great idea to stick with the 6.5x55 and .375 H&H. They are my choices as well.
 
On the hornady website they are noth out of 24 inch barrels. The ruger is faster.
 
Ruger designed efficient cartridges based on the 404 Jeff. THere were some issues with other short magnums feeding, Ruger too a slightly different approach and hit a home run.

Hornady is actually responsible for it's development. It's new, It's fun. It's slightly faster than the H&H. It's American. It's actually gaining quite a following in North America with many figuring the H&H is outdated. The truth is that there are no real practical reasons for it but when has practicality and buying new rifles ever gone together. It's best not to over analyze. Just because is really why.
 
I have both and reload for both. I can not get the speed out of a 20 inch barrel in the Ruger, that I get out of my H&H with a 24 inch barrel.
 
@Spooksar and others: What would happen if you chambered a .375HH for one of these Ruger guide guns at 20" barrel length? Would the bullet stabilize? Would the velocity equal the 375 Ruger?

Or is there something unique to the 375 Ruger that makes it a technically superior caliber for use in brush guns?
 
I owned a Sako Kodiak chambered in .375H&H for a time. It had a 21" barrel and was extremely accurate. Velocity suffered slightly as expected but with a 250-grain bullet it was still more than enough. When comparing equal barrel lengths, the 375 Ruger is always going to be a bit faster. I don't see anything unique about the Ruger, it's just that it's been marketed more as a North American chambering than an African one.
 
I have a 375 Ruger African model with the 23 inch barrel. Why? Well I'm left-handed and Ruger got smart and put the cartridge into an affordable left-handed gun in a stout Ruger action, and that impressed me. That was the big genius move of that cartridge, it fits in a standard length action. From all the performance reports between it and the H&H there isn't enough difference to loose any sleep, just like .308 vs 30-06 (I happen to own an -06) . For practical purposes the 375 H&H has the win with far more common ammo and more firearms available in it. But the 375 Ruger is popular enough that I've seen a couple other manufacturers chambering rifles in it so it's doing better than some of the other .375 rounds out there like the Weatherby and Dakota. Hornady really pushed it, which at first was great but now is a hindrance since they appear to be the only ammo manufaturer for it still. Since I don't use it a lot and I reload it works fine for me. I took mine to Namibia three years ago without a problem getting it or the ammo there and it worked flawlessly on a giraffe.
 
Hornady didn't just push it, they developed it in partnership with Ruger. Hornady has been quite active in the development of new cartridges recently as has Nosler. It takes several years for these proprietary cartridges to make their way into the stables of other ammo manufacturers. Remember the WSMs?
 
Hornady didn't just push it, they developed it in partnership with Ruger. Hornady has been quite active in the development of new cartridges recently as has Nosler. It takes several years for these proprietary cartridges to make their way into the stables of other ammo manufacturers. Remember the WSMs?
Yep, Hornady deserves their due, so kind of like a patent I can see them having some kind of exclusive right for a few years. It's survival is commercially is tough, and actually doing well for only nine years on the market that I can tell. That's where encouraging other manufacturers to make ammo on it would only help for everyone in my opinion. For now I can only hope.
 
Nosler loads the 375 Ruger, too.

Let me ask a simple question. If each cartridge was contemporary (were each released today), which would be the more popular, a shorter cartridge of modern design, or a longer cartridge of antiquated design (a belt for headspace, long for caliber, lots of body taper for loading cordite strands, etc.)? The answer seems pretty simple to me. Yeah, the H&H has a lot of history, but that's nothing against the Ruger (and I've owned two 375 H&H rifles and zero 375 Ruger rifles...in other words, I'm not covering any bias (justifying a decision to purchase)).
 
Nosler loads the 375 Ruger, too.

Let me ask a simple question. If each cartridge was contemporary (were each released today), which would be the more popular, a shorter cartridge of modern design, or a longer cartridge of antiquated design (a belt for headspace, long for caliber, lots of body taper for loading cordite strands, etc.)? The answer seems pretty simple to me. Yeah, the H&H has a lot of history, but that's nothing against the Ruger (and I've owned two 375 H&H rifles and zero 375 Ruger rifles...in other words, I'm not covering any bias (justifying a decision to purchase)).
Indeed Nosler does, I don't know when they started but I stand corrected. It's a good thing to see.
Tough to say really, it's funny how cartridges succeed and fail sometimes. But if the 300 H&H Mag vs. 300 Win Mag history serves as an example I'd say the 375 Ruger would be far more common were it a couple decades older.
 
As a factory ammo shooter, I am always hesitant to buy a new cartridge until it's longevity and popularity is proven. Yeah, you can get a rifle for $500 but it doesn't help if they stopped manufacturing the rifles tomorrow and 10 years from now the ammo is 2-3 times that of a h&h.
This is a hard one to judge because this is a niche market to begin with; it's not like the millions of medium big game hunters are buying them. For me, there is still too much uncertainty.
 

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