Reduced load - use over powder wad or not? safety question

[groovy mike]

I have had excellent results in my 375 H&H with a plinker load of just 15 grains of Red Dot under a compressed cotton ball. Its accurate, no recoil, and consistent at 1450 fps. I shared this load on hunting forum where someone was looking for advice on a cast lead load for 375 H&H and someone posted back a three paragraph warning that sums up something like "OMG you are going to ring your barrel and blow up the rifle if you use an over powder wad in that big cartridge case"

I have never tried the load without a cotton ball. But I don't want to take unnecessary risk. So what do you think?

Is there a danger of ringing the barrel by using a cotton ball to hold the powder tight against the primer? Would the danger of improper ignition (detonation?) be a concern without a wad?

Any opinions or advice?

[NSB]

There have been pages of info on that topic on here before. There is a resident expert on here who has written extensively on this subject and he really knows what he's talking about. His advice is to use a small piece of dacron pillow stuffing (.5g) and pluck/loft it up to it's fullest potential and put it on top of the powder without tamping it down. It's purpose is to simply take up the air space between powder and bullet base. It works very well and will not allow ringing of the barrel. Using anything like a wad or compressed/packed fibers on top of the powder can lead to ringing. I think his name is Larry Gibson IIRC. He's a pretty knowledgable guy. Do a search on this subject.

[runfiverun]

the filler must touch both the powder and the base of the boolit.
look up Larry's stick on the proper use of fillers, it has an outline on the good and bad.
I personally use a filler if I am seeing vertical stringing on the target, this is indicating velocity variations.
or if I will be shooting at extreme up and down angles [like for hunting] and the velocity of the round suffers from powder positioning.

[Larry Gibson]

I would not use a wad in the 375 H&H or any other cartridge....period! The risk of ringing is there.

I would not use a filler with Red Dot powder.

In my own M70 375 H&H I use 4 gr of Bullseye under s lubed (LLA) .375 RB for 900 fps. I am developing a load with Unique under the 375248 at about 1400 fps also. I do not use a wad or filler for either.

I do use a Dacron filler under medium and heavy loads (1900 - 2400 fps) with 4895 and the 375449.

Larry Gibson

[Outpost75]

I would not use a wad in the 375 H&H or any other cartridge....period! The risk of ringing is there. I would not use a filler with Red Dot powder.

In my own M70 375 H&H I use 4 gr of Bullseye under s lubed (LLA) .375 RB for 900 fps. I am developing a load with Unique under the 375248 at about 1400 fps also. I do not use a wad or filler for either.

I do use a Dacron filler under medium and heavy loads (1900 - 2400 fps) with 4895 and the 375449.

Larry Gibson

I can validate Larry's advice based upon my own experience with the .375 H&H over 40 years. I have used Bullseye, 700-X, Red Dot, 7625, Unique and PB with plainbased cast loads in the .375 approximating .38-55 velocities for years and have NEVER used a filler of any kind, nor felt one necessary with these easily ignited pistol and shotgun powders. For the most part I have used #375248 or #375449 without the GC, always cast fairly soft from 8-12 BHN, with starting loads around 10 grains and working up to about 13 grains of the fast burners, such as Bullseye, Red Dot and 700-X and 16 grains maximum with PB and Unique.

When my friend Greg was a PH in South Africa he killed literally truckloads of plains game from impala and waterbuck to as large as kudu with #375449 for biltong, in order to save his expensive and hard to replace factory jacketed rounds for buffalo, etc.

Agree that with powders 4227 and slower that a 1 grain fluffed tuft of Dacron helps. Avoid any use of pistol primers which cause weak ignition of reduced loads, as this can cause problems. Standard Winchester WLR and Federal 210s have always given stellar results with 4064, RL15 or Varget in GC loads about 65-70% of a full jacketed load. CCI250 magnums gave more uniform velocities in cases larger than the .30-'06 than the 200.

[groovy mike]

I appreciate your input guys, I will continue to search for relevant stickies. Does everyone agree that with a standard large rifle primer ignition should be safe with Red Dot that only fills about 25% of the case?

[Outpost75]

Red Dot will be fine in those conditions of loading.

[Larry Gibson]

Have to check that. 25% of capacity of a 375 H&H case seems like a lot of Red Dot?

Larry Gibson

[MT Chambers]

Get you some Trail Boss powder.

[groovy mike]

You are right Larry - its a lot less than 25%. I wont explain where I went wrong in my calculation in my head - it would only confuse the thread. But you are right 15 grains is much less than 25% of the case capacity.