Savage 110 Bear Hunter .375 Ruger

HAWKEYESATX said:
Is the 375 considered a mid to long range round? It peaks my interest as to how far y’all have taken game with your 375’s and above.
Click to expand...
Last fall I shot a buck at 150 yds with my 375 Wby with the 330gr MTH from Cutting Edge. That bullet would make most 375’s a long range rifle.
Strelok screen shot of that bullet in my 375 Wby
IMG_5627.png
 
HAWKEYESATX said:
Is the 375 considered a mid to long range round? It peaks my interest as to how far y’all have taken game with your 375’s and above.
Click to expand...
My first bear with a 375 H&H was at 306 yards according to the laser rangefinder.

260 grain Nosler AccuBond at about 2650 fps via RL-15. Not the highest velocity but recommended by Nosler as their accuracy load:

1743684497015.png

Can easily load that bullet to 2800 fps in the good ol' 375 H&H. Should be able to do a bit better than that with the 375 Ruger. I found the lower velocity load to be accurate and easy to shoot. It's still a powerful cartridge even at that level. Trajectory is similar to a 308 Winchester or standard 30-06 loads, depending on the bullet chosen. Most 375 bullets don't have particularly high Ballistic Coefficient figures, though some do. I surprised some rifle looneys at the range when I was easily slapping the 300 yard gong shot after shot with the 375. Many folks have it pegged as a short-range cartridge. Nope, it's solid at mid ranges like 300ish. I don't remember ever pushing it farther but it could be done.

Enjoy your 375 journey!

Regards, Guy
 
Guy Miner said:
My first bear with a 375 H&H was at 306 yards according to the laser rangefinder.

260 grain Nosler AccuBond at about 2650 fps via RL-15. Not the highest velocity but recommended by Nosler as their accuracy load:

View attachment 25768

Can easily load that bullet to 2800 fps in the good ol' 375 H&H. Should be able to do a bit better than that with the 375 Ruger. I found the lower velocity load to be accurate and easy to shoot. It's still a powerful cartridge even at that level. Trajectory is similar to a 308 Winchester or standard 30-06 loads, depending on the bullet chosen. Most 375 bullets don't have particularly high Ballistic Coefficient figures, though some do. I surprised some rifle looneys at the range when I was easily slapping the 300 yard gong shot after shot with the 375. Many folks have it pegged as a short-range cartridge. Nope, it's solid at mid ranges like 300ish. I don't remember ever pushing it farther but it could be done.

Enjoy your 375 journey!

Regards, Guy
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Guy!
You never cease to awe and amaze me! That’s a great story. I never knew that a .375 could reach out like that. You and the others on here that have the experience with taking much farther shots than I expected is quite fascinating to me.
I have a new respect for the .375 H&H, and the .375 Ruger. I’ll have to try shooting some longish shots with it when I get up to speed with hand loading for it. I know that I don’t have to go full throttle with it to be a slugger. But it sure is interesting and fun to know it can stretch the distance some.
 
JD338 said:
Hawk,
The 375 is pretty versatile. I have a Nosler M21 in 375 H&H Mag with a Leupold VX-5HD 2-10x42mm FireDot reticle. I have shot this rig out to 600 yards and used it on WT deer with great success. I shot a couple of crop damage deer at 150 yards, knocked them right off their feet.
Nosler occasionally has seconds and I'm stocked up on 260 gr AB, E-Tip and 300 gr AB seconds.
I also am impressed with the Sierra 250 gr SBT.
This is a very robust bullet and will handle 378 Wby speeds making it ideal for you 375 Ruger.
Thread '375 H&H Mag 250 gr SMK' https://forum.nosler.com/threads/375-h-h-mag-250-gr-smk.47705/

JD338
Click to expand...
That was an amazing post!
 
I have an older Savage in 375 Ruger which does not have a detachable magazine, making it a 2+1 proposition. I don't particularly find that to be much of a limitation, but the idea of a magazine sure is appealing. All that aside, what I continue to find most remarkable about it is how manageable the recoil seems to be. It has no break or porting at all, and with my typical 285 grain loads, I find it easier on the body than my 700 Classic Whelen with 250s, or even many 225s.
 
I tell you what guys!
Y’all get me going down some rabbit holes and I’ve been reading up on the likes of Craig Boddington and other African hunters who have stretched the legs of their .375’s! I love to read, and love to read about my favorite calibers. I never knew that the .375’s are so capable and more at shooting what is now considered intermediate distances to 300 yds or a little longer. Way back when, when I had my first .375 H&H, it was a good 12 lbs, and never felt like a heavy hitter. It was so smooth. The recoil wasn’t objectionable, to me. I actually liked shooting it way more than the Ruger M77 in .300 Win Mag.
From what I have read, even the Savage 110 Bear Hunter’s recoil isn’t as bad as a lot of other writers have expressed over even their personal .375 H&H, and heavier calibers. Given a streamlined .375, 270 gr or 300 gr bullet, I’m curious to see on my own account how good this round and rifle are.
 
So I'm clear, you have the Bear Hunter - with the longer barrel? Mine is closer to the Brush Hunter, with a 20 inch tube (though mine is sans magazine and doesn't have a threaded barrel). My Hornady manual uses a 20 inch barrel, and my Lyman uses a 24. It will be interesting to see your performance.
 
KinleyWater said:
So I'm clear, you have the Bear Hunter - with the longer barrel? Mine is closer to the Brush Hunter, with a 20 inch tube (though mine is sans magazine and doesn't have a threaded barrel). My Hornady manual uses a 20 inch barrel, and my Lyman uses a 24. It will be interesting to see your performance.
Click to expand...
I’m interested to see what the velocities are too. It’s a 23 inch barrel. So it will be somewhere in the middle of your 20 inch and 24 inch barrels. I’m down close to sea level here. Now, if I were up in Wyoming, it would have higher velocities.
 
HAWKEYESATX said:
Well, after owning this rifle for a couple of years now, I finally got her fully dressed. I love the heft of this rifle, and the 375 bore. This one will certainly put a thumping on any animal in the world.
I’m attaching photos for all to see.
Now, all I need to do is scrounge up some ammo or components to load my own ammo.
Click to expand...
If you want a sample of projectiles, I could give you about 10 of several things I like in my 375R. From round ball and cast to 300 grain Sierra.
 
Oh, if you can find some 200 - 220 gr blunt nose bullets for the 38-55 or the 375 Winchester... IMR 4227 is your friend for about a 2,000 fps plinker load. I can't help but think that it would work well on whitetail deer at modest range too. My youngest son was reluctant to shoot my 375 until I loaded up some of those easy-shooting loads. He said that it felt almost like shooting a 22 rimfire! I wouldn't go that far, but it's awfully easy.

I got the idea from John Barsness and I believe that he got it from Tom Brownlee.

Regards, Guy
 
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