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.338 Winchester Mag or .375 H&H
Sig220_Ruger77
Member Posts: 12,754 ✭✭✭
You get your dream bolt action rifle chambered in either the .338 Winchester Magnum or .375 H&H Magnum.....which do you choose and why?
Here is my .375 H&H.
Jon
Here is my .375 H&H.
Jon
Comments
Pretty versatile.
375 is an awful big caliber for North America unless your after grizzlies, Polar bears, or Moose.
And the 338 would be more than adequate.
I have both, a custom 338, a pre 64 Model 70 375H&H with a magnificent custom stock, and I prefer my 30-06 custom Mauser rifle.......
Custom 338 Win Mag
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Custom stocked Winchester Pre 64 M70 375 H&H
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Custom stocked (by my Dad) 721 Remington 30-06
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Custom 30-06 Mauser action, Tom Shelhamer Stock, AA White engraved
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I like beautiful custom "dream rifles"!
The .375 is a round you could do all your North American big game hunting with, antelope to grizzly. For someone who loads their own ammo, with different loads it's very versatile.
Here's mine...
Too old to live...too young to die...
" It's also just cool to say H&H."
"Take the one that makes the biggest hole!"
"Just because I want one"
"I don't have the shoulder left for either one."
[:D][:D]
It was a hoot. The full-power load he wanted came straight from a Ken Waters article on the subject. Ken's Pet Load lived up to its name and I never needed to try a second one. It used (IIRC) a 250-grain Nosler over 4064. Accurate and powerful.
The deer/practice load used that brilliant Speer 235. Designed to mushroom at reduced speeds, it is a real winner. I don't recall the load I ended up with and I gave all the load sheets, targets, and chrono tapes to the rifle owner. But I remember that it kicked about like a 30-06, and was a sub-two-inch grouper at 100 yards. All anybody needs for most deer.
All told, I think I fired about 100 rounds, probably 80 of them at reduced power. Loved it. So did the owner.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
The H&H after the 375 stands for Hurts & How when shooting full power loads.
This is what happens when the screws strip right out of the barrel and the scope, rings mount and screws smacks you between the eyes when shooting the 375H&H. [:0][B)]
That .338 kicked me like an Army mule, I fired about 40 rounds through it over the two years I owned it and then sold it when times got lean. I never missed it. (I still have the 1894...and about 9 more levers to go along with it...and I also now own the Weatherby, which I have yet to fire.)
IF I was to go to Africa or up North after big bears, I'd do the .375 for nostalgia. That caliber is just cool. [8D]
The less (ahem) bulky you are, the less a rifle seems to recoil. That's because your mass is easier to push to the rear. Less to accelerate. The bigger you are, the more immovable you are, and therefore the harder the gun hits you.
All that said I would still love to have a pre-64 in 375. Pure classic rifle....[:D]
Also have hunted Africa, with 375. The PH was looking at the rifles of the group. Asked a couple guys if they had enough ammo. They asked why, and were told, you won't find any of that here.
I hate to tell you this bpost, but it was your skull that broke those scope mount screws. When a scope comes off due to recoil, it goes forward - or seems to. The rifle actually comes back, and the scope just falls.
The less (ahem) bulky you are, the less a rifle seems to recoil. That's because your mass is easier to push to the rear. Less to accelerate. The bigger you are, the more immovable you are, and therefore the harder the gun hits you.
I was shooting off a bench that day locked in for accuracy testing. I weigh a bit north of 250 with, shall I say LARGE shoulders and no neck. When that pile of steel smacked me between the running lights I was shocked, blood running down my nose while staring at the stripped barrel steel still stuck in the screw threads.
Of course I am much more handsome now. I shaved off the stash when it turned pure white and got my neck fuzed into one rigid block. [^]
I really like the rifle That seems to be beginner'luck on finding some parts to put together and building a rifle I really like to shoot even if only at the range on paper targets Years ago I thought about BIG GAME hunting but never had the Money I still hunt but only shoot what I will eat and I like to hunt where I am the guide. Today I can't get excited about someone else being my Guide or even worst a CANNED hunt I pick my own places to hunt walk in no atv's until I get something I can't drag and load in my Pick Up then drive home and hook up trailer and a gator type unit with HYD. lift bed
quote:I then found a Mauser # 5 action in the white This is a longer action than normal 8mm Rifle would have I think it was called a BREVETT MAGNUM action
The minute I read Mauser #5 action, I knew what you were talking about.
These were Brevex Mausers made in France on confiscated German machines. Being French, they couldn't figure out how to market these correctly so the company folded, ending the availability of an incredibly well made action. The #5 was the largest of the actions which could accommodate the 416 Rigby cartridges and with a little shoe horning, the .505 Gibbs.
As to the choice, there really isn't one.
The .375 H&H is THE classic rifle cartridge which conjures up all the nostalgia of hunting big game in Africa. There might be better cartridges for specific uses but when it comes to flexibility, the .375 H&H is at the top of the heap. All those who fear the recoil have never been behind the buttstock of one using properly constructed loads such as Rocky and a couple of others have mentioned.
The 235 and 260 grain hunting bullets by Speer and Nosler are superb especially when matched with powders such as IMR-3031, VVN-550, Re-17 and Ramshot Big Game. I'm in the process of building a new one simply because I want one.
Best.
Because 375 is a larger number than 338
It was politely suggested that I switch to a 308 caliber rifle.
Too old to live...too young to die...
Jon