375 H&H and cast

[sharpsguy]

I'm looking to get my 375 H&H up and running with cast bullets. I have a Lyman 375248 mold which throws a 255 grain bullet. I am currently shooting 32 grains of IMR 3031 which feels good, and gives recoil about like a 30-06. I don't want to shoot a gas check and am not looking for 2000+ fps. I am trying to avoid leading and mostly want a decent load around 1500-1600 fps. I would appreciate any help and insight into this.

I have loaded and shot tens of thousands of cast bullets and black powder in my Sharps, but this is the first bottleneck I have ever loaded for. The rifle shoots 3/4 of an inch at 100 with the 270 grain TSX and H4895, so I know it will shoot. I would rather ask for help than re invent the wheel.

Thanks, sharpsguy.

[leftiye]

I'm using a lyman 375674 330 grain which I have hollow pointed the mold (comes out about 315 grains). I cut down the base band and gas check it. I've been using about 35 grains of 4759 and dacron, a mild load which gives good accuracy. I plan to go to a better lube this summer, and probly 3031 powder. I don't think you need full house loads for this to be enough gun for almost anything.

[725]

Can't remember which boolit it was but as memory serves (not reliable, of course) I loaded my friends .375 H&H with a 250 gr projectile with 13.5 gr of Unique - no filler. Very accurate and enough for whitetail. Hope many others chime in here, as I wouldn't mind delving into this one a little deeper.

[Nobade]

That plain base boolit may require granular filler to get it going to the speed you want without leading the barrel, but it is easily doable.

Paper patching works very nicely with the 375 as well, and allows you to load it all the way to the pressure limits of the cartridge if you feel the need, and of course anything below that. This, coupled with the ability to use dead soft lead for boolits, is what makes this option the most attractive to me.

-Nobade

[sharpsguy]

I have paper patched a lot of 40, 45, and 50 caliber rounds with black powder, so that is not something I am afraid of. However, I don't have a clue as to where I need to be as far as bullet diameter before and after patching for the .375, or if I need wads and/or a grease cookie with smokeless. Advice?

[x101airborne]

I am excited for you working on this. I love the 375 H&H although I don't own one yet. I will one day. If you need some patching paper, let me know.

[TXGunNut]

I'm going to join my friend from Victoria in cheering you on. 375 is a caliber that interests me but haven't gotten as far as deciding on a cartridge yet but the H&H is a strong possibility. Haven't gotten interested in paper patching yet but if you don't want to GC Nobade has the solution for you.

[Adam10mm]

Had an Encore pistol in 375 H&H mag for shooting cast bullets. I had a 378674 and a 375449 mould. Nice accurate bullets. Think I used IMR4198 using the Lyman data. The 378674 is a PB and I don't recall any leading issues using it. I cast my bullets around 12 BHN, sized them to .376, and didn't have any issues. Put a couple hundred rounds through it and then sold it.

I did pick up a barrel and stock from a CZ 550 magnum in 375 H&H. Guy wanted the action for a custom rifle. I chopped it down to about 20 inches and my intent is to get an action from Brownells and make it a cast bullet carbine.

[NVScouter]

Ken Waters load 270g over 34g R7 @1750fps. 3 shots at 100y.


I've been working on my new 375 H&H for the last couple weeks. The shot to the right is not from this group but site in on a target to the right. I also tried 17.5g of Unique but the wind was blowing the bench around so grouping was like 4" at 100y, I think they were around 1450fps since I didnt bring my chrono.

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

78[/url]!

[Nobade]

I have paper patched a lot of 40, 45, and 50 caliber rounds with black powder, so that is not something I am afraid of. However, I don't have a clue as to where I need to be as far as bullet diameter before and after patching for the .375, or if I need wads and/or a grease cookie with smokeless. Advice?

Probably the best thing to do is go over to the smokeless paper patching room on this forum and read the stickies. In a nutshell you'll size to .001 over bore or .367", patch with 15# paper to fit the throat or a fired case, so likely about .377" and load so the patch engages the rifling when the bolt is closed. A case full of slow ball powder (much slower than you would expect) is usually the best for accuracy. Hint - I use WW760 and 780 in my 375 with good effect.

So do some studying and see if that tickles your fancy.

-Nobade

[Chill Wills]

Attachment 68020
Sharpsguy,
Here are pictures of a 2 cavity LBT mould I had made years ago. I made an impact impression of the chamber and let V. Smith cut the diameters based on the chamber-throat. I have a GC cavity and a PP cavity in this one mould block. I did not bargain for the small boat tail on the base of the PP bullet but it turns out to be great. The boat tail is more than a bevel and less than a real BT. You may want to play with the neck expander to get the neck pull light enough not to tear the paper but just right to hold firm the pp bullet. Once set up correctly I could load the rifle magazine full and cycle the action as you would any bullet.

Both GC and PP bullets weigh close to 285gr and for hunting the Spitzer points work fine when matched to alloy and velocity. The PP cast in 20-1 lead tin can be driven hard and works well in the few cow elk I haven taken with it. With the hard body 2-part or 2-alloy bullet the soft nose would act like the old Nosler partition bullet. That is the nose would expand and then sheer off and the body would go all the way through.

I shot many loads with it in both GG designs and the one PP design plus the cast the RCBS flat point and an NEI 275gr flat point as well. Loaded slow or fast all were fun and cut the cost of shooting that rifle way down.

For hunting elk I used the PP bullet with IMR-3031. I worked up to a load of 60 grains which gave 2450 fps in my Interarms Mark X rifle. At this power lever the rifle was not hard recoiling. Not for a somewhat flat shooting CB elk rifle.
Attachment 68021Attachment 68022
-Michael Rix

[leftiye]

I have paper patched a lot of 40, 45, and 50 caliber rounds with black powder, so that is not something I am afraid of. However, I don't have a clue as to where I need to be as far as bullet diameter before and after patching for the .375, or if I need wads and/or a grease cookie with smokeless. Advice?

Size the boolit to bore (not groove) diamter plus .001" prior to wrapping. Two wraps of .002" paper will add about .008" to the diameter, size to groove diameter plus .001 or .001", and lube with JPW. Just smear it on by hand. Cow or bran filling will protect your base. Might not be necessary. So will a gas check.

[Nobade]

Attachment 68020
Sharpsguy,
Here are pictures of a 2 cavity LBT mould I had made years ago. I made an impact impression of the chamber and let V. Smith cut the diameters based on the chamber-throat. I have a GC cavity and a PP cavity in this one mould block. I did not bargain for the small boat tail on the base of the PP bullet but it turns out to be great. The boat tail is more than a bevel and less than a real BT. You may want to play with the neck expander to get the neck pull light enough not to tear the paper but just right to hold firm the pp bullet. Once set up correctly I could load the rifle magazine full and cycle the action as you would any bullet.

Both GC and PP bullets weigh close to 285gr and for hunting the Spitzer points work fine when matched to alloy and velocity. The PP cast in 20-1 lead tin can be driven hard and works well in the few cow elk I haven taken with it. With the hard body 2-part or 2-alloy bullet the soft nose would act like the old Nosler partition bullet. That is the nose would expand and then sheer off and the body would go all the way through.

I shot many loads with it in both GG designs and the one PP design plus the cast the RCBS flat point and an NEI 275gr flat point as well. Loaded slow or fast all were fun and cut the cost of shooting that rifle way down.

For hunting elk I used the PP bullet with IMR-3031. I worked up to a load of 60 grains which gave 2450 fps in my Interarms Mark X rifle. At this power lever the rifle was not hard recoiling. Not for a somewhat flat shooting CB elk rifle.
Attachment 68021Attachment 68022
-Michael Rix

Hi Michael,
I am surprised you got such good results from that slick boolit. So far every attempt I have made using slicks and smokeless powder has been a complete failure. Roughing them up with a file sometimes helps, but I still get wild fliers. Making the boolits with small "tumble lube" type grooves keeps the patch on during the trip down the bore and results in exceptionally good performance. Slicks have worked very well for me using black powder though, that's all I would use there. Are you using some secret technique to get those to work for you? Something we can learn about?

Thanks!

-Nobade

[MattOrgan]

You are right in the ballpark with your 3031 load and that bullet. I use the 375449 sized at .376 without a gas check in my .375 cast from wheel weights and 30 grains of 3031. My average velocity is 1450 fps. Accuracy is reliably 1.5 inches at a 100 yards and there is a light wash of lead in the bore that patches out easily. Have you chronographed your load? My experience has been
that between 1500 and 1600 fps accuracy begins to fall off with my un checked bullet. You might be approaching that barrier. The .375 is a great cartridge all around and has been the easiest cast bullet cartridge to work with for me.

[leftiye]

You are right in the ballpark with your 3031 load and that bullet. I use the 375449 sized at .376 without a gas check in my .375 cast from wheel weights and 30 grains of 3031. My average velocity is 1450 fps. Accuracy is reliably 1.5 inches at a 100 yards and there is a light wash of lead in the bore that patches out easily. Have you chronographed your load? My experience has been
that between 1500 and 1600 fps accuracy begins to fall off with my un checked bullet. You might be approaching that barrier. The .375 is a great cartridge all around and has been the easiest cast bullet cartridge to work with for me.

Good results. What lube are you using? What alloy are you using please? I'm tempted to think that you shouldn't be getting antimonial wash at that speed, nor losing accuracy so soon with increased velocity. Gas check, slower powder(?), cow filler(?), harder alloy maybe.

[Char-Gar]

The 375 Holland and Holland is a great rifle cartridge and rifles chambered for it are very cast bullet friendly. It is not great trick to get 250 to 320 grain gas check bullets to shoot well with medium powders, but that was not your question.

At 1.5 to 1.6 K fps, you are pushing the outer limits of plain base cast bullet performance. You might make it, but my suggestion would be to start at about 1.3 to 1.4 K fps and sneak up on the higher speeds and find out where your bullets start to roll snake eyes and then back off a hair.

You will be better off with powders in the 2400,4227 and 4759 range with the latter having the most bulk. With the ash can size case, you should look at the use of Dacron filler to hold the powder against the primer flash.

I am slightly skeptical about 1.6 K fps, but otherwise your project is quite doable. Have fun and let us know how things work out.

[David2011]

Sharpsguy,

Take a look at this. http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/ByC...0375%20H_H.pdf Lots of reduced load data. Your boolit at 1500-1600 fps from a rifle should be very pleasant. I'm shooting a 255 grain boolit at 1600 fps from a 14" Contender. It's stout but manageable. I have a .375 H&H project underway myself and am looking to shoot the RCBS 250 grainboolit at 1700-2000 fps depending on what gives the best accuracy. Should be an incredible hog rifle.

David

[Pilgrim]

Not an H&H, but the RCBS boolit is fairly easily pushed to the velocities you want in a .375 BB94. I've got one and am using surplus 680 to reach those velocities (around 2000 fps).

[x101airborne]

From an armchair quarterback standpoint, if you want to try your loads out on some Texas hogs, all you need to do is call........