.375 H&H Squirrel Loads

[cptuap]

My question on the original question is, is there a need to go with a pistol primer or will the standard rifle primer be ok if not better? Charlie

[FergusonTO35]

A .375 pistol? Yikes!! I really love the big bore mystique but I don't like the noise and recoil. Awhile back a local place received a special run of Remington 700's in .375 H&H. I was seriously considering one for reduced loads with cast boolits.

[Jeffrey]

American Rifleman recently had an article on the 375 H&H. An Encore in that calibre had me sorely tempted for a while. There are those that are fascinated by powerful handguns. Powerful rifles fascinate me. My H&R 444 is my current favorite. 10 grns Unique under a 265 RD has been great fun. Isn't that the point of reloading? Not only do we save a LOT of money on ammo (or shoot a lot more) but we also get to shot our favorite firearms with ammo we couldn't buy if we wanted to.

[Larry Gibson]

My question on the original question is, is there a need to go with a pistol primer or will the standard rifle primer be ok if not better? Charlie

Standard LR primers will work fine with small charges of powder in the large case. The Encore should fire them w/o problems.

Larry Gibson

[Shooter]

Terry, My Encore is a rifle.

Charlie, I have been using pistol primers with good results.

[Olevern]

Why not a round ball lubed with LLA? Might have to try that in mine.

Let us know if those rb's keyhole, will ya?

[cptuap]

In looking for light loads for my Ruger#1 in .375H&H, I tried 10 to 12 grains of Bullseye with the 375449 cast soft and hard with good results. Soft or hard, 10,11,or 12 grains put all rounds within a 4" circle at 100yds. The 12 grain load ran about 1200 fps and I figure it might do ok for a short range deer load. The lighter bullets Shooter suggests with the 4-5 grains of Bullseye sound like a fun experiment. Just how much more or less can we do with the .375H&H? What fun! Charlie Oh ya! RB. Wow!

[1Shirt]

When I first started shooting a 375 H&H about 30 years ago, I tried just about every thing bullet weight, both cast and jacketed, and that included round ball with unique and bullseye loads. Fun, but most impractical. About the biggest cal that I would go squirrel hunting with would be a 30-30 with round ball with LLA, and limit myself to 25 yds (shoots fine to that in my 94 Win). However for all the messing around with center fires, would always go back to my 10-22 in LR for tree rats!
1Shirt!

[Larry Gibson]

1Shirt

Some of us (mostly out west) consider that when "hunting" squirrels they are of the eating variety mostly shot out of trees. No doubt there the .22LR is about the best to use. However, out west we have numerous types of ground squirrels that are not for eating.....just shooting as they are vermine. Thus the larger calibers with such reduced loads with cast or even full power cast bullet loads can be used for such "squirrel shooting".......and a lot of fun it is



Larry Gibson

[1Shirt]

Well Larry, guess it is "to each his own!"
1Shirt!

[Larry Gibson]

Well Larry, guess it is "to each his own!"
1Shirt!

Yup, guess it just depends on where you are and what the shooting/hunting consists of. Probably why I agree 100% with; "[I][However for all the messing around with center fires, would always go back to my 10-22 in LR for tree rats!
/I]. That's where I end up most often when hunting tree rats.

Larry Gibson

[Olevern]

Yup, guess it just depends on where you are and what the shooting/hunting consists of. Probably why I agree 100% with; "[I][However for all the messing around with center fires, would always go back to my 10-22 in LR for tree rats!
/I]. That's where I end up most often when hunting tree rats.

Larry Gibson

I wish I could hunt squirrels with my 10-22 in Pa. No semi-autos allowed. I would also like to hunt squirrels with my various .32 revolvers (most of them Ruger single six's) but that too is verboten (nothing over .23 caliber for small game). I just read the hunting regs over again and see I can use either a black powder rifle or PISTOL in .44 cal or under for squirrel...hum...I have an old Lyman 58 Army in .36 cal that could be put to use in the squirrel woods.

I am thinking about looking for a small capacity .22 centerfire barrel for my contender to load with cast for squirrel (perhaps a .221 Rem. Fireball or .22 Hornet). I had a hornet barrel at one point but seem to have lost/misplaced it in my last move.

Like y'all, I sometimes like to do things differently, 22LR is probably the most logical choice for squirrel and that and my various .410 shotguns see most of the squirrel duty.(along with occasional use of my T/C Cherokee .32 frontloader) However I pursue squirrel, I definately do not want wasted meat as squirrel is probably my most treasured field to table meat.