375H&H on deer!

[1Shirt]

Had never taken a deer with cast, so this year, having both a buck and doe tag, decided to take one with Jacketed, and then go to the second with cast. Took the first with 7x57 and jacketed, 140 yds. Nothing to report, would have been within range of my 375, but wanted meat this year.

Then switched to my 375H&H #1 Ruger with cast. Kill was a large bodied, but not impressive rack 3x2 buck, estimated weight in excess of 180 lb. live. 110 yds, offhand, and the shot was a bang/flop. Load was 375449HP, WW/water drop, over 27gr. of 2400, 1 gr dac fill, and mag primer in RPbrass. Vol chronoed at right about 1800 fps. Hit was just behind the shoulder about 6" down from top of back. Lungs were mincemeat, 37 cal in and 37 cal out. The HP performed very well, and feel that water drop WW's work fine at least for 37 cal HP's. Could not have asked for better performance, and no meat loss. Ne corn fed deer are tasty!

Donated the first deer to the hunters feeding the hungry program. The second I had all ground to burger. I like to mix 50/50 with pork sausage. Life is good!
1Shirt!

[357maximum]

Gongrats on your first cast kill. Feels real good don't it? :bigsmyl2:

[runfiverun]

sweet.
i have gotten a few different p.m.'s about this boolit and velocity window.
this report just confirms what i have been saying about how they would perform.

[Hamish]

Good on you for the donation sir!

[smoked turkey]

Nice going. That 100 year old 375 H&H is an awesome cartridge isn't it? I used a .357 mag rifle this year. However, last year I also used the 375449 in my .375.

[HiVelocity]

"So, when do we get samples of your deer jerky?" [smilie=w:

I love to make deer burger chili when its cold out, like today. Specially when the neighbors come over to eat and have no idea that the meat is venison.

LOL! You should see their faces after they rant and rave over how good the chili was, blah, blah, blah. Lol! Then I tell them.........Bata-bing, bata-boom!

I appreciate you donating your first deer to hunters feeding the hungry program. SC is still too "bass-ackards" on feeding hungry folks with wild game. I don't see a problem with it.

Congrats on your 2 deer!

HV

[375H&HGuy]

Congratulations on your cast bullet deer success. This post is of real interest to me. I also want to use my 375 H&H model 70 on deer this season. I have the Lyman 375449 mold and have cast up some with 20 to 1 alloy and sized to fit my rifle's bore at .377. I am looking for a load that will give me around 1800 fps impact velocity. This is where the tricky part comes in. Some shots I forsee could be as close as 20 yards in thick forest or could be as far as 200 yards(my absolute self-imposed max with a perfect rest) across a green field. I notice you used a HP design of that bullet. How deep and wide is the HP cavity you used?

By the way, I shot a doe a few weeks back with my 45-70 handi rifle using the Lyman 45-330 Gould Express bullet at 1350 fps (also 20 to 1 ) Shot was a heart/lung at 30 yards broadside, resulting in a bang-flop. I was very impressed with the cast bullet's performance on game and would really like to get this kind of result with my 375 H&H also.

[Idaho Mule]

Good job 1shirt!! I am jealous of that #1 in 375, maybe I could borrow it someday just to make sure it's all functioning ok, safe, etc... I also thank you for donating the deer to the hungry, that is very generous of you. I agree with your half pork, half game for burger, that works well for us too. JW

[btroj]

My 375 got shut out. I used a similar load but with a solid cast bullet. This is a great cast bullet cartridge for deer.

[David2011]

1Shirt,

Thanks for sharing. A buddy gave me a brand new commercial Mauser action, barrel blank, chambering reamer, headspace gage and New England Custom Gun double set trigger to build a .375 H&H. Oh,yeah- and a 250 grain RCBS mold to go with it. I thought from the beginning it would be a great cast boolit rifle. The metal work is done now so I just need to stock it and add a low power scope. Thanks for encouraging me to get it done.

David

[GabbyM]

Here is a 255 gr Saeco tapered boolit fired from a single shot 38-55 at about 1850 fps IIRC. Through deer at 75 yards and dug out of the tree it was standing and then laying in front of. No hollow point required to get expansion. I cast this bullet up from about a BHN #9 alloy for member LoneWolf a few years ago. Imagine the boolit was a more pretty perfect mushroom before hitting the tree.

I think it’s the slow twist of the 38-55 plus the tapered boolit pushed snug into the rifling that allows the soft plain base boolit to run so fast. with the 375 magnums faster twist you’d need a gas checked bullet. Probably around a BHN #12 for accuracy. This would still expand down to around 1300 fps with no hollow point.
Following the formula of BHN * 100 = minimum velocity for expansion in fps units.
There is a better way to write that formula but I’ve been working 3rd shift and am nearly brain dead.

Big piece of soft lead is fairly reliable.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52254&d=1300680648

[Just Duke]

I just sold mine but I have a ton of the brass made by Winchester if anyone need it.