Bullet test for penetration on 375 H&H

[AlaskanGuy]

Got a new to me mold the other day from a nice member here, the Lyman 375449. It casts for me about 268 gr with my alloy and tests out about 16 bhn on my hardness tester. I wanted to find out how well it would hold together for our large Alaska moose and Brown bears, and how well it would penetrate.

The test was as follows:

The load was 50gr of 4064, lube was 50/50 beeswax and JPW, making veloicity about 2000 fps give or take 100 fps. Gun was a Browning A-bolt synthetic stock stainless barrel chambered in 375 H & H Mag, slugged at .375

Two 4 x 4 pressure treated set side by side backed by several feet of semi frozen sand.

Two 6 x 6 pressure treated set side by side backed by several feet of semi frozen sand.

Here are the pics. The first is the boolit as cast.

87332

Then the finished rounds, seated a bit long to engage the lands.
87333

And finally the results...

87334

Going through the 2 pressure treated 4x4's into the sand, the bullet held between 70 and 75% of original weight and continued into the frozen wet sand over 19 inches...

Going through the 2 pressure treated 6x6's into the sand, the boolit still held between 55 and 60% of he original weight and continued into the frozen sand over 12 inches...

Overall, i was very impressed with the results.. Especially for the flat point boolit. I normally shoot something with a wide flat noose, but i would not hesitate to use this boolit for either moose or our big boned Brownies.. It expanded nicely considering the goal was penetration.

Next i will test if for accuracy out to 200 yards.



Alaskan

[starmac]

Not too shabby. It sounds like your 375 is a twin to mine except your bolt is probably on the wrong side. lol I haven't even gotten around to shooting mine, and have quite a bit of ammo for to play with too. (J words)

[AlaskanGuy]

I was hoping you would check this out star... You got any extra brass for yours? I have a very limited amount... Would love to talk you out of some... How about some of my yummy salmon?

[starmac]

Let me dig out some stuff and see. It seems like I bought some at a garage sale a couple years ago.

[starmac]

Sent you a pm.

[dondiego]

starmac - I have the .375 H&H Browning A-bolt port side as well. My butt pad recently melted off ......in my safe! What a mess. It was an aftermarket pad. I was wondering if your rifle is original and what the pad looks like. I need a replacement.

[AlaskanGuy]

Yes mine is original...i will post a pic for ya... Cant imagine it melting though, must have gotten real hot in the safe... Parked near a heater?87353
87354

And the butt

87355

Just click on the pic for a close up...

Hope that helps,

AG

[starmac]

I can't do pictures, but mine looks identical to Alaskaguys.

[dondiego]

It didn't get too hot. It was a manufacturing defect that happened to another friend of mine who installed these particularly gummy type of butt pads. After about a year or two the pad turned to gel and ran everywhere and stuck like jelly to everything it touched. It was like a black, sticky putty. The pad is gone! I need a new one. I had bought this rifle used with the jelly butt pad and a muzzle brake. With full power 300 grain bullets, the recoil was equivalent to a 12 gauge duck load. Not bad at all. I see that you rifle has the same muzzle brake. Is that factory? It screws off.

[Hardcast416taylor]

The after market recoil pad on the rifle that a friends wife uses, a .280 Remington Model 700 did the same melt trick after only 3 years use. The pad was made by Kick-Eze. Robert

[dondiego]

That's it Kick-Eze! They are easy on your shoulder................but gooie after awhile. I won't be buying any more of those!

[starmac]

I have heard those kickeze pads kind of stick to your shoulder even when new. I believe I will stay away from if they just go away for no reason. lol

[wmitty]

I bought a synthetic Rem 700 stock from someone in Anchorage several years ago and the recoil pad melted sitting in the rack... is this some kind of an Alaskan thing?

[starmac]

Nah the goo freezes solid here, we don't have to worry about them melting. lol

[AlaskanGuy]

Hey dondiego.... That is not a screw in brake... It was done directly to the barrel about 15 years ago by a great gunsmith in wasilla, alaska... It saved the rifle from going into the trade pile... The gun shoots better now. ( or am i not flinching as much now...). Lol...

[tygar]

Heh AK Guy who in Wasilla did you have do yours?

The only good guy I knew in Was. that Craig Parker & he mostly did military match guns. I probably have 10 rifles in did. We did a really neat M-14. I found a BM59 folding stock, we took one of my NM rifles, cut the brl to 16" welded flash supr, match bedding, etc. Shoots MOA at 100 & is easy to shoot with stock folded. Just can't think of anyone else in Was.

I had Stan ???? (can't remember last name) in Anchorage do a number of rifles, match & hunting, barrels, breaks, accurizing etc. and Jim West did his upgrades on several levers but he's in Anc. also. Lee Stoner made my cast rifle bullets for the winter matches at the Palmer indoor range & pistol when I was too lazy to cast myself.

Miss it up there for the summer but not the winters.

Back to the stuff on butt pads. I also had one of those POSs melt in my safe making a real mess.

I have the 264gr mold for .375 but can't get it to shoot.

I'm on the current GB for one that will drop 275gr but really want a 300gr since that is what both my Kleinguenthers shoot well in JBs.

[AlaskanGuy]

I cant remember his name.... He worked out of Chimo guns in wasilla....he was really great with guns, but he moved to South Dakota shortly after finishing my 375... That is the only time i have ever taken a gun to a smith... Most of the stuff i try to do myself, but the muzzle break was out of my reach or ability....

AG

[Snyd]

Got a new to me mold the other day from a nice member here, the Lyman 375449. It casts for me about 268 gr with my alloy and tests out about 16 bhn on my hardness tester. I wanted to find out how well it would hold together for our large Alaska moose and Brown bears, and how well it would penetrate.

The test was as follows:

The load was 50gr of 4064, lube was 50/50 beeswax and JPW, making veloicity about 2000 fps give or take 100 fps. Gun was a Browning A-bolt synthetic stock stainless barrel chambered in 375 H & H Mag, slugged at .375

Two 4 x 4 pressure treated set side by side backed by several feet of semi frozen sand.

Two 6 x 6 pressure treated set side by side backed by several feet of semi frozen sand.

Here are the pics. The first is the boolit as cast.

Then the finished rounds, seated a bit long to engage the lands.

And finally the results...

87334

Going through the 2 pressure treated 4x4's into the sand, the bullet held between 70 and 75% of original weight and continued into the frozen wet sand over 19 inches...

Going through the 2 pressure treated 6x6's into the sand, the boolit still held between 55 and 60% of he original weight and continued into the frozen sand over 12 inches...

Overall, i was very impressed with the results.. Especially for the flat point boolit. I normally shoot something with a wide flat noose, but i would not hesitate to use this boolit for either moose or our big boned Brownies.. It expanded nicely considering the goal was penetration.

Next i will test if for accuracy out to 200 yards.



Alaskan

Nice job.
Looks like you've got your alloy just right.

[tygar]

I cant remember his name.... He worked out of Chimo guns in wasilla....he was really great with guns, but he moved to South Dakota shortly after finishing my 375... That is the only time i have ever taken a gun to a smith... Most of the stuff i try to do myself, but the muzzle break was out of my reach or ability....


AG

Isn't Chimo in Eagle River?

[AlaskanGuy]

Nope, it is in wasilla, near the post office.. Behind gold nugget jewlers.

[tygar]

ok kinda remember. CRS disease. Wife, of course, remembers gold nugget jewelers but I don't.

For guns, I used Bill at one pawn shop & husband & wife at another(can't remember their names).

Now that I think about it I believe I bought a LNIB Colt Service Model Ace from Chimo. Jim West ultimately got it from me at a gun show. He tried to get it for a yr or 2 but I wouldn't come off my price which he finally paid.

Wish I had it now, book says about 7k.

Going to try Snyd's load. Do you have any suggestions on loads to try?
Tom

[AlaskanGuy]

Try my above load.... With that 268 gr boolit, 50 grains of 4064 seemed to work out nice.... You have the same mold tygar?? What are you gunna shoot?

[tygar]

Ya sorry. Your load.

Mine is a 264gr Lee I think. Close enough for govt work.

45 2.1 told me to just use any JB starting load & go from there. So I have lots to play with.

In the winter cast bullet shoots we had at Palmer range I believe I used 15gr of Unique or Bullseye or some pistol powder which shot good at 25yds.

Got to go try & fix my Lee dripomatic. Got badly plugged smelting scrap lead.

Ordering a Magnum melter so I don't plug up when melting dirty ****.
Tom

[AlaskanGuy]

I use a dutch oven to clean up and make ingots... I never use my lee for anything but casting alloys... Just works good that way.... And i never cast the last drop out of my lee pot... I leave the last inch in there for next time...

Gold nugget jewlers was right in front of chimos.... About 100 yards away from it... They used to sell a very cool chest holster for a 44 mag that i still use every day.... Been using mine for about 12 years now, and starting to think that i might need another soon...

Please post when you do your shooting... Would love to see your results...

AG

[NVScouter]

I should send you some of my 320s to test. I need shoot my elk with it since my tests showed results almost as good as yours. My alloy is closer to BN. 12 though over win760@2100fps

[AlaskanGuy]

I would love to check some out.... I will pm my addy... 25 or 30 would be all i need to get to drooling.... What mold is it?

AG

[SCHUETZENBOOMER]

Bet that chest holster is a GrizzlyTuff. I own 3 of 'em and they cant be beat.
Grizzlytuff.com

[NVScouter]

Check out my new 375 H&H post in hunting for info and pics. I also got your PM and will cast some and send them your way. Have any tags left I'd like to see more kills with this.

The boolit is in Accurate molds catalog now as 38-315E. You will see the lube grooves are huge and ogive fairly long with a decent metplat. I wanted lots of lube and the best SD and BC possible for Elk, Moose, and Bear.

[AlaskanGuy]

Nope... No tags.... And doe season was closed down early due to an 80% deer kill of because of an unusually bad winter a couple years ago.... Look the look of those boolits though... I WANT some...lol.. But the brownies are still out... I carry a gun fishing and still have my brownie tag in my wallet.... But it would have to be a good target of opportunity..

[tygar]

Nope... No tags.... And doe season was closed down early due to an 80% deer kill of because of an unusually bad winter a couple years ago.... Look the look of those boolits though... I WANT some...lol.. But the brownies are still out... I carry a gun fishing and still have my brownie tag in my wallet.... But it would have to be a good target of opportunity..

My son in Anch just called & said he got back from POW where he got a nice buck but didn't see any bear.

We were talking about doing a A,B,C boat hunt so my crippled old az could have a chance for another brownie.

And of course, kill some fish.

[AkMike]

I had Stan ???? (can't remember last name) in Anchorage do a number of rifles, match & hunting, barrels, breaks, accurizing etc.


That would be Stan Jackson I'll bet. Good `smith!

[tygar]

I use a dutch oven to clean up and make ingots... I never use my lee for anything but casting alloys... Just works good that way.... And i never cast the last drop out of my lee pot... I leave the last inch in there for next time...

Gold nugget jewlers was right in front of chimos.... About 100 yards away from it... They used to sell a very cool chest holster for a 44 mag that i still use every day.... Been using mine for about 12 years now, and starting to think that i might need another soon...

Please post when you do your shooting... Would love to see your results...

AG

Hi, havn't got any "good results" with the 375s yet, but only shot once. Been working mostly on 30s now & finally got some decent groups in my sporter 1917.

32, 33, 34 gr. 3031 got 1 hole, perfect cloverleaf .3, & .4 w/2 touching, respectively at 50yds 3 shots. So loaded up 5 ea in those loads for proof testing at 100.

I just emaild Tom at Accurate about NVScouters mold. Asking about what & how to order an appropriate bullet. The current factory molds aren't to my liking. All of my 375s like 300s & my customs were made for it, so the 264 hasn't impressed my yet.

I'm going to email NVScouter about his.

BTW I just picked up 570 more lbs of lead from the local scrap yard. Only 50# of WW but since this was all cut to usable size strips & had been somewhat cleaned I won't complain. There is more but couldn't afford it right now but he will hold it & add to it for next month. With what I got from him previously I've got about 1100lbs to smelt. Still waiting for my 20# lee melter. I plan to do as you do & get a dutch oven set up.

LOL just now as I am writing this, FEDEX came with my new melter. Guess I'll get hot & set it up.
Tom

[AlaskanGuy]

Awesome....

Keep me in the loop about NVScouters mold thing with NOE... He was gunna send me some of those boolits to check out, but i am sure with the season, he is swamped and hasn't had a chance yet....

AG

[AlaskanGuy]

Opps.. Double post.