375 Plus

[Firebird]

I shoot a .375 wby-because I got a good deal
On it a long time ago. In my mind it does outperform the .375 h h and I can shoot 375 HH ammo from it if I really want to.
But the juice is not worth the squeeze-I would NOT change what you already have. There simply isn’t enough difference to justify the modifications. Nor would I move “up” to a bigger rifle. Not unless I was pursuing something really big and grey.
What you might consider is handloading something more interesting than what you are already using. -or have someone do it for you, a friend or custom ammo company. Possibly that will give you some more wallop for shots and grins. . .
I practice a lot with 235 gr tsx out to 300 yards for example and enjoy the range time. My Buffalo load also handloaded is a 300 gr A Frame but I only use them for practice tuning up prior to actual Safari time. Point being, you can have a lot of purposeful, powerful fun by tinkering with new bullets and loads without ever changing rifles or calibers-

 

[ftrovato]

For Medium Large Bores to Large Bores

For me, better than increasing bullet speed I believe it's more effective to incrementally increase bullet diameter.

375 to 416 to 458 to 500...so forth and so on.

 

[Jim Golden]

This is my .375 Weatherby that I build on a Model 1917 Enfield action, has a Douglas barrel, and an MPI stocks clone of an A-Square Coil-Chek stock. I could only get it in fiberglass...can't seem to find a wooden A-Square stock anymore. I have a 16 ounce Mercury recoil reducer in the butt of the stock. Talley bolt handle. New England express sights and a Leupold VX-5HD 2x10-40 scope in Talley rings and bases. It's fairly mild mannered, with felt recoil being less than my Remington Model 700 Classic in .375 H&H. I chose this caliber long before I ever joined this forum. I think it really has a lot for it. It's got a fair amount more than the H&H, but I've shot at least two boxes of H&H out of it and it does just fine with them. But I handload my own. My barrel is longer than standard, and I've chronographed this rifle at 2885 ft/s with 300gr. That's about 5540 ft-lbs. To date I've only shot 300gr out of it. Got some 350's that I need to load up and play with but haven't done it yet. I can actually shoot it quite well as the scope has never touched my forehead... Col. Alphin had his physiology figured out with the design of this stock. Plus, it doubles as a canoe paddle! It's been glass bedded and pillar bedded and the barrel is free floated. I am very pleased with it, and need to get my tail over to Africa and get a buff with it. That's what I built it for. That and maybe a brown bear. And anything else I might see I figure this could be my "one rifle" for Africa. I'm currently building a duplicate of this rifle but with a slightly shorter barrel in .460 Weatherby. I have two recoil reducers in that one and plan to shoot only open sights with it, but I am machining bases for it so that if it doesn't beat me up too badly and the A-Square stock works as well with it as it does with the .375, I'll put a scope on it. I'd like to take both of them and maybe a .30-06 or .264 to Africa. I should have gone already but life keeps getting in the way.... Anyway I don't know if I'd convert an H&H, but the Weatherby on its own is a really great caliber and you can shoot H&H out of it no problem. I love mine.

 

[Mark458]

I think I’d keep the 375 H&H and step up. I see a 500J, 505 Gibbs, or 577 in your future

Now you're talking my language. Best idea I've heard yet.

 

[Badboymelvin]

The Improved .375’s can exceed 5100 ft-lbs of muzzle energy putting the .375 caliber in class with heavy dangerous game big bores. At approximately 250 fps to 300 fps increased velocity over the great H&H trajectory is nice and flat for plains game or mountain hunting for that matter. In particular the .375 Weatherby chambers .375 H&H making it extremely versatile. I think the .375 Weatherby makes an argument for the finest one rifle battery in the world.

I totally agree

 

[RootballExpress]

I think I’d keep the 375 H&H and step up. I see a 500J, 505 Gibbs, or 577 in your future

Most definitely! The 375 H&H / 505 Gibbs combo is top notch!

 

[uplander01]

Increased speed isn't really the answer in Africa IMO, especially since "Big Game" shots are within such a manageable range. A 375hh with 300-350 grain bullets is extremely effective on everything. In my mind it "feels" better to have something in your hands that starts with a .4 if buff and larger game are in play. I handload all of them and I don't push for max powder charge and velocity in any of them. 404j 400gr 2150-2200fps, 416 Rig 400 gr 2300fps 'ish, 375hh 350gr at 2300fps are my magic numbers. At these levels pressure on your brass and sticky bolts will never be an issue, energy retained within 100 yards is plenty, penetration is good, and brass last many firings for practice. Within this caliber group if I could only pick 1 for Africa I think I would go with the 404j only because it's the same size rifle in hand as the 375, recoil is essentially almost the same, and when you go down to 340 gr bullets or up to 450 grain bullets it start to make sense for the one and done. A properly built 416 Rigby on a big action is going to have a larger rifle feel. All that said,...similar to others I to have taken the majority of my trophies in Africa with a 375HH,......I would venture a guess that the majority of folks on here would say the same. The only other thing I would add is when you take a 375hh down to 270 bullets at 2650-2700fps which is easy to do with no pressure things get real interesting for plains game at longer ranges. If you're generally a 200 yard or so guy this 270gr load stones non-dangerous hoofed critters.

 

[Gomer]

Except for body shots on bull elephants, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Okay, I sometimes FEEL undergunned when using a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum to hunt hippopotamus in the sugar cane fields at night. But to it’s credit, the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum has accounted for 95% of all my hippopotamuses so far.

My resume with the .375 Holland & Holland Magnum so far.
View attachment 802255View attachment 802234View attachment 802235
Note: This elephant had to be finished off by my white hunter’s .505 Gibbs, but that’s only because the ammunition I was using (300Gr copper jacketed round nosed FMJ Prvi Partizan solids) was faulty (with very poorly constructed bullets)
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One day, I want to be able to say I killed 95% of something with XXXX. I just don’t have the sample size to make that number happen yet, except for ground squirrels.

Remember the 375 RUM is fatter and rebated. The 375 WBY wouldn’t require any magazine tweaking to get it to fit and feed properly.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

One day, I want to be able to say I killed 95% of something with XXXX. I just don’t have the sample size to make that number happen yet, except for ground squirrels.

Remember the 375 RUM is fatter and rebated. The 375 WBY wouldn’t require any magazine tweaking to get it to fit and feed properly.

One day you will get there, young man.
Remember that that all realities were once somebody's wildest dream.

 

[Gomer]

One day you will get there, young man.
Remember that that all realities were once somebody's wildest dream.

I wish I had started sooner. I didn’t start hunting until I was 18. My first safari will be at the age of 44. If I had prioritized it over other stupid pursuits, I could have done a lot more.

 

[curt672]

Increased speed isn't really the answer in Africa IMO, especially since "Big Game" shots are within such a manageable range. A 375hh with 300-350 grain bullets is extremely effective on everything. In my mind it "feels" better to have something in your hands that starts with a .4 if buff and larger game are in play. I handload all of them and I don't push for max powder charge and velocity in any of them. 404j 400gr 2150-2200fps, 416 Rig 400 gr 2300fps 'ish, 375hh 350gr at 2300fps are my magic numbers. At these levels pressure on your brass and sticky bolts will never be an issue, energy retained within 100 yards is plenty, penetration is good, and brass last many firings for practice. Within this caliber group if I could only pick 1 for Africa I think I would go with the 404j only because it's the same size rifle in hand as the 375, recoil is essentially almost the same, and when you go down to 340 gr bullets or up to 450 grain bullets it start to make sense for the one and done. A properly built 416 Rigby on a big action is going to have a larger rifle feel. All that said,...similar to others I to have taken the majority of my trophies in Africa with a 375HH,......I would venture a guess that the majority of folks on here would say the same. The only other thing I would add is when you take a 375hh down to 270 bullets at 2650-2700fps which is easy to do with no pressure things get real interesting for plains game at longer ranges. If you're generally a 200 yard or so guy this 270gr load stones non-dangerous hoofed critters.

I have been doing some loads with the 260gr Accubond , at 2770 and can ring steel at 450 yd --for me that's a great plains game load --

 

[mdwest]

I think most people that DG hunt or just like big bores go through a phase where they want more than a 375 H&H.. what I see as often as not though its ultimately many go full circle and end up back at 375 after a while.. I was one of those guys..

Before I hunted Africa the first time I wanted a 375 H&H. I got a great deal buying one off a buddy that had bought a Win 70 Classic Stainless with the intent of moving to Alaska, but never did..

After coming back from the first safari (PG only) I decided the next hunt would involve a buff bull.. the 375 turned out to be much easier to handle than I originally thought it would be.. so I took on a 416.. from there I bought a 458.. I even bought into a 585 Hubel Express project rifle for a little while..

Fast forward to today.. My one and only DG rifle is that original Win 70 Stainless Classic... Ive upgraded it and dropped it into a nicer stock, put better glass on it than I originally had, etc.. but.. Im right back where I started.. and couldnt be happier..

Im primarily a buff guy though.. if I were routinely chasing elephants or rhino I might have stuck with the 416.. but for me, a client/hunter.. I just havent been able to justify anything bigger..

 

[uplander01]

I think most people that DG hunt or just like big bores go through a phase where they want more than a 375 H&H.. what I see as often as not though its ultimately many go full circle and end up back at 375 after a while.. I was one of those guys..

Before I hunted Africa the first time I wanted a 375 H&H. I got a great deal buying one off a buddy that had bought a Win 70 Classic Stainless with the intent of moving to Alaska, but never did..

After coming back from the first safari (PG only) I decided the next hunt would involve a buff bull.. the 375 turned out to be much easier to handle than I originally thought it would be.. so I took on a 416.. from there I bought a 458.. I even bought into a 585 Hubel Express project rifle for a little while..

Fast forward to today.. My one and only DG rifle is that original Win 70 Stainless Classic... Ive upgraded it and dropped it into a nicer stock, put better glass on it than I originally had, etc.. but.. Im right back where I started.. and couldnt be happier..

Im primarily a buff guy though.. if I were routinely chasing elephants or rhino I might have stuck with the 416.. but for me, a client/hunter.. I just havent been able to justify anything bigger..

I'm pretty much going in the same circle and couldn't agree more. I even went so far as to use a 500 Jeffery on a buff hunt and w/plains game a few years ago, it was fun, but it was more to lug around for sure and also requires a different level of concentration to shoot. On top of that I'm a guy who wants to practice and get really good with a rifle,....doing that with a 500J is not for the faint of heart. While a caliber like the 500J and any of the others in that realm truly to hit stuff extremely hard, it also hits extremely hard on the guy shooting it. That never bothered me in my 30's and 40's, but it's a different story in my 50's. Range sessions with the 450's and 500's just aren't that fun for me anymore. If you have a range out your back door and can step out and shoot 3-4 shots a couple times a week to keep the skillset, that's one thing, but for most its driving to a range a couple 2-3 times a month and fitting as many rounds in as you can, my upper body and head couldn't take it anymore. Anyone that says there is no difference between 50 or so ft lbs of recoil and 90 ft lbs of recoil I don't think knows what they are talking about.