375 H&H scope

Ridgewalker said:

But, it is 2019 and I have taken some game in Africa where I only take one rifle, 375 H&H. I do have two scopes on QR mounts.
Primary DG scope Leupold VX6 1-6x illuminated. Backup for PG.
Primary PG scope Leupold VX6 2-12x illuminated. Backup for DG.

I no longer have young eyes and cannot see open sights well enough to count on them. When I switch on the red dot, my eyes are drawn to it and it centers well on what I am wanting to hit. Put the red dot where you want the bullet to go. Works for me and my PH needed to use it once and couldn’t believe how easily it pointed at the target before the sun came up.

I love hunting night critters and the 1x or 2x with a turned low red illuminated dot have worked excellent!

I believe, depending on what you hunt, you will find at times the 12x is needed. Example, I used it for a 90 yard shot on a golf ball size target on a crocodile. Worked perfectly. I don’t believe I could have made that shot with only 6x. Maybe

Best of luck in your decision! Hope it doesn’t cost you as much as me figuring out what works best for you!

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Reading through and I started thinking 2 scopes and I also thought Aimpoint, maybe an aimpont and an existing scope in QR rings

I own an EoTech I don’t use it enough as it’s on a .357magnum Lever action. I’ve heard Aimpont a tough as nails. There are many reliable illuminated scopes that are affordable through to pricey. There are Trijicon too. I’m not sure I would treat any scope roughly intentionally but I hear Aimpoint can take a beating. EoTech are used by military.

The Aimpoint should fit Weaver base or Pic rail and many QR rings will do the same.

What scope you add depends on budget but non illuminates Leupold are reliable and affordable. A VX3i and an Aimpoin could easily come in under the Swarovski scope options. Depends on your budget and your preference.. using that combo also allows you to have the scope sighted with appropriate ammo to be the PG rifle. I suspect that night critters from a blind would be taken close enough to use the Aimpoint

All good in theory but I not as experienced as many others here.

It may or may not fit your needs but have you considered a holographic sight? I have several from 0 power to slight magnification. I really like them for inside 100 yards, target acquisition it as fast as open sights, and in low light it’s pretty hard to beat. Eotech makes my favorites but there are several other very good ones made by many companies

CBH Australia said:

Reading through and I started thinking 2 scopes and I also thought Aimpoint, maybe an aimpont and an existing scope in QR rings

I own an EoTech I don’t use it enough as it’s on a .357magnum Lever action. I’ve heard Aimpont a tough as nails. There are many reliable illuminated scopes that are affordable through to pricey. There are Trijicon too. I’m not sure I would treat any scope roughly intentionally but I hear Aimpoint can take a beating. EoTech are used by military.

The Aimpoint should fit Weaver base or Pic rail and many QR rings will do the same.

What scope you add depends on budget but non illuminates Leupold are reliable and affordable. A VX3i and an Aimpoin could easily come in under the Swarovski scope options. Depends on your budget and your preference.. using that combo also allows you to have the scope sighted with appropriate ammo to be the PG rifle. I suspect that night critters from a blind would be taken close enough to use the Aimpoint

All good in theory but I not as experienced as many others here.

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I just saw your post after I posted a similar suggestion. I have multiple Eotech’s and carried one on my M4 for a living for many years. I’ve had it in rain, snow, hail, cold, dust, and heat. I never had a problem. There was a recall on them a few years back and those of us that bought our own we’re given brand new replacements by my department. I kept the old one on my duty rifle and put the new one on one of my toys that didn’t already have one on it. I still never had any trouble out of the one that was under recall.
It’s still on that rifle and I still use it for predators. I put another on the side of an ATN Thor unit on an AR-10 that I use for feral pig management. Works great as in close quarters the Thor isn’t very practical. I get the best of both worlds on that particular rig.

@gizmo I bought mine a few years back??? From a reputable dealer retail store in Australia who had a good deal on them.
Do you know more about the recall? Mine hasn’t been used much. I had planned on a .308 pump action but mostly hunt with a bolt action occasionally taking more than one pig but that’s not in the scrub either where I had hoped to use a pump gum due to Semi auto restrictions.

CBH Australia said:

@gizmo I bought mine a few years back??? From a reputable dealer retail store in Australia who had a good deal on them.
Do you know more about the recall? Mine hasn’t been used much. I had planned on a .308 pump action but mostly hunt with a bolt action occasionally taking more than one pig but that’s not in the scrub either where I had hoped to use a pump gum due to Semi auto restrictions.

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I don’t remember exactly how long ago it was but it was about 5 years or so ish. What we were told was that the military found that with a few of their units in some ungodly like -20 degrees F or something like that the sight wouldn’t turn on.
I’ve had mine on my rifle at 0 F freezing my butt off at work and hunting for hours at a time and never had an issue. I don’t think it was all of them either but just a portion of them but they had a big recall for all military and law enforcement. I don’t think (don’t quote me) that the recall applied to civilians that purchased them at a store or whatnot.
I’ve had that sight for something like 15 years or better and it’s been through hell and back and never had an issue with it.
I bought it from the department the day my department authorized us to put them on our rifles and it’s been on it every since. When the recall happened I sure wasn’t going to turn down a free one especially considering I didn’t have to give my old one back.

Thanks, I don’t want to be where it is freezing if I can’t afford to bring home a nice Grizzly Bear rug.
I hope they did not offload the old stock on the Australian market when they did this.
I would take a freebie and buy that pump gun if they were to hand em out.
LE and Military’s Deserve to have reliability but so does a hunter facing down DG if he bought it from the family income.

I like my Winchester 375 w a 1.5-5 Leupold.
Dont need high powers for what I hunt.

CBH Australia said:

Thanks, I don’t want to be where it is freezing if I can’t afford to bring home a nice Grizzly Bear rug.
I hope they did not offload the old stock on the Australian market when they did this.
I would take a freebie and buy that pump gun if they were to hand em out.
LE and Military’s Deserve to have reliability but so does a hunter facing down DG if he bought it from the family income.

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Truthfully I wouldnt worry about it and would hunt with it. As long as the batteries are good (they last a loooong time in one too) I wouldn’t think twice. My life depended on mine From the time I put it on until the day I left the PD. I never took the original off my rifle and had and still have full confidence in it.
I guess I wouldn’t feel that way if I didn’t have a lot of years of first hand experience with them. They are absolutely TOUGH and reliable.

-20F in Australia...

Ridgewalker said:

-20F in Australia...

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"It Happens!" -O.J. Simson

I have 2 model 70 Winchesters in 375 H&H and have Leupold 1.5-5 on both, one is a VX-3 the other VX-3i, I'm happy with both of them and would buy another.

Fastrig said:

Let’s put it this way, I don’t really “aim” with my open sights I just draw, point and fire. I’ve practiced with them so much that I shoot instinctively with them, and I hit what I shoot at probably 95% of the time. When I miss it’s normally because I started “thinking” and “aiming” instead of just letting my instinctive side take over. Now this is close in type shooting, which i believe is what we are discussing, say 50 to maybe 60 yards and in....longer than that, then you have to start “aiming” and a scope is the tool for that, not open sights.

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Many years ago, my father taught me instinct shooting with a rifle on aerial targets. You focus on foot position and mounting the rifle without a cheek weld. Look, step, shoot. After some practice, I could hit a small perfume vial that Dad threw hard overhand. I think any DG hunter should practice this technique, for close range work it is by far the fastest. I believe it will work as well with as without a scope, since the heads up shooting position keeps the scope well below line-of-sight, though I've not tried that.

gizmo said:

Truthfully I wouldnt worry about it and would hunt with it. As long as the batteries are good (they last a loooong time in one too) I wouldn’t think twice. My life depended on mine From the time I put it on until the day I left the PD. I never took the original off my rifle and had and still have full confidence in it.
I guess I wouldn’t feel that way if I didn’t have a lot of years of first hand experience with them. They are absolutely TOUGH and reliable.

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I own many of the red dot type optics, MRO, Aimports, EOTech, etc. If I had to choose one that I trusted in the most, in type of situation where there is zero margin for failure, I would choose EOTech every single time.

Take a look at the Trijicon Accupoint 1-4x with the illuminated German # 4 reticle. Tons of eye relief and a very wide field of view.

I have a 1-6.3x24 Leica Magnus on my 375. It has at various times been on my 9.3x62 for plainsgame and 416RM for hippo. I wouldn't hesitate using it for pg and dg. Enough eye relief for both of you....

Pricey, but I use the Blaser RD20 for inside 100 yds with the .375. Occasionally I put on the 1x7 if I'm looking for more range.

Mark R said:

I have a 1-6.3x24 Leica Magnus on my 375. It has at various times been on my 9.3x62 for plainsgame and 416RM for hippo. I wouldn't hesitate using it for pg and dg. Enough eye relief for both of you....

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I really like these scopes. I have one on a 416 Ruger and another one that will be going on a 375 Ruger.

I have several .375 H&H's, but the one I hunted with in Arfrica and took two of the Big Five with is my Krieghoff Teck O/U double rifle. It is part of a three barrel set which includes barrels in .458 Winchester Magnum and 20 gauge 3" Magnum shot barrels. The .375 wears a Lyman All American 3X wscope and the .458 a Lyman All American 2 1/2X. Actually, the only reason I chose two different power scopes was so that I could easily identify which scope went with which barrel set. The longest shot I made with the .375 was on an eland at around 300 yards. The longest shot on "dangerous game" with the .458 was at a buffalo at about 100 yards. The eland shot was made prone, with me lying across a bush, which was the only way I could think of to accomplish it. I fired twice, the first shot going through the heart-lungs area and the second as the animal turned away from me, into the hip. He went down and was dead when we got to him. The second shot had hit the hip shot joint and shattered it.

The buffalo shot was made from a sitting position, the only time I was able to use that position in Africa. It did not require a second shot.

My background is as a target shooter, a sport I learned in the military, where we shot at 200, 300 ahd 600 yards using iron sights only. After shooting at a 12" "ten" ring at 600 yards with iron sights, even a low powered scope seems like a luxury.

The advantages of a low powered scope are a longer eye relief, a larger exit pupil and larger field of view. All these can come in handy in the game field. If you have to shoot up or down hill at a steep angle, you need all the eye relief you can get. If you have to bring your rifle into action suddenly and unexpectedly, the larger the exit pupil, the better. If you spot a target at a distance, through your binoculars, then having a large field of view makes locating the target in the rifle scope much easier. Plus, it brings the scope down as low as possible over the bore, which means that you can shoulder your rifle like a shotgun and expect to be looking through the scope at your target.

A light, low powered scope puts less of a strain on the scope mount, which is a concern with a rifle with moderate to heavy recoil.

I cringe to see big heavy high powered scopes on a powerful rifle. I view them as a crutch for those who are unwilling to spend the time needed to fully familiarize themselves with their rifle. A low powered scope can be just as sturdy as iron sights and much easier to use.

xausa said:

I cringe to see big heavy high powered scopes on a powerful rifle. I view them as a crutch for those who are unwilling to spend the time needed to fully familiarize themselves with their rifle. A low powered scope can be just as sturdy as iron sights and much easier to use.

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I agree with your reason and add that most folks are going to eat that scope on the narrow eye box found on the sniper scopes.
Nobody can just make a shot anymore. We have to dial and fumblephlucque in an effort to make the bullet pass within seven microns of poa.

Does anyone have experience with CZ 550 375 H&H, Warne QR rings, and Leupold VX-3HD 1,5-5x20?
Is the scope long enough?