375WCF cast & speeds?

[Sambar375WCF]

A post I put in the Test section, thought I would copy an paste here also for the Question sake.


Gday fellas,
not new to the Forum thing but new to this one, looked at links via this site for many years but never signed up.

am 27 from the mountain in Australia. avid sambar deer hunter and love my lever guns.

I own a Win 94 BB in .375, ive signed up to learn a bit more about this Cartridge as ive just moved into shooting Cast boolits from Hawksebury River bullet co..
prior to this I used Hornadys, reloaded to 1800fps * (or to 38-55 speed) as Factory ammo shot Really high and I had been unable to change front sight pin and so 'customised' the load..


I have shot Sambar with this Load, I found the Jacketed Hornady 220gr to pencil the Deer generally, which I expect with slower velocity... thus meaning great penetration.

Now I am using the "Copper hawk" 245gr .375 projie and have started back with 38-55 data, an testing so far has proven that for my hunting req, at 50ms 2inch is great. 3in would be ok.......

all loads have been satisfactory, using AR2207 , I started at 23gr and went up in 2gr to 25gr - 27gr, and will continue up in 1gr increments as of now.


So if anyone is familiar with the HRBC line up, the copper hawk is one of the Harder ones an can be driven up around 2200fps..... So a Question for now, to you gurus would be, Ideally , how fast would you like to Run these Boolits for optimum performance? Do I need to be closer to 2200 as I can or is a milder load of 1800? 1900? going to be plenty for Sambar (read elk/biggame)

case life expectancy is long running 38-55 loads IMO.


I hunt very Regularly, and once I get a load sorted I will be for sure heading on a meat hunt with said rifle.

Appreciate any Replies an Responses.... will get around to adding some photos and hunting reports with Cast as I can.

Thanks

S3W

[TXGunNut]

Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you're on the right track. AR2207 is very close to an ideal powder for this cartridge if I'm reading the conversion charts correctly. I've had good luck with the Hornady bullet a few decades ago but nowadays I use the Lyman 375449 with excellent results. I'm getting about 2" @ fifty yards but that's about as well as I shoot a Winchester.
Can't advise you on that commercial cast boolit supplier, my frustration with commercial cast led me to cast my own.

[Sambar375WCF]

hi mate, thanks for the reply.

yeah from what I gather it is similar to your h4198, off top of my head.



What I found Today with some more load testing was about 28gr of 2207 and the 245gr boolit with dry lube coating was certainly accurate enough with Williams peep sight, 2 shots withing an inch and one I pulled due to what I would call a Sharp recoil. (shoulders are buggered @ 27y.o ) having to sight in a 308 and test fire the 375 I had enough after 10.

so for today I have a group around 3 inch, which I know I pulled of at least 1 inch... with the original front sight bead it matter very little for Deer sized game.

I shot into a target with a backstop of an old Red gum tree stump, boolits were going in a bit and then I lost them with the other holes an bullets in there. yet to dig far enough into the dirt from prior testing either but I know where they are, when I can be bothered gittin muddy.

So with rough estimations , I rekon 1750fps would be closish, same load I used with 220gr Hornady jacketed projies..
the same POI so im expecting to use this for under 100m in near future for a meat hunt.


side note-
I have a Box of Factory 200gr rounds here, after testing these loads I wouldn't like to get on the end of them, or any 250gr class boolit sent at around 2000fps + in such a handy little Win 94... so theres bit of an answer to my other thread ;)


S3W

[JFE]

Welcome to the forum.

The 375 Win has a bit of following and the top eject Winchester's are ideal rifles for hunting up close. AR2207 and Reloader 7 are the best suited powders we have access to in Oz. Being quite light those rifles aren't ideal for long sessions of target shooting with full power loads.

An acquaintance of mine used to use a 375 Win for hound hunting Sambar and reported good performance using Hornady 220 gr FP.

I have shot some smaller deer with mine and even velocities around 1700-1800 fps work well. If you get into casting your own then take a look at CBE's moulds as they have a good selection and are locally made.

[Ramjet-SS]

1800 or higher you will be good to go. What may more important is alloy you casting from?

I shoot a 375 GNR#2 it is a 45-70 necked to .375 The gun is converted Marlin Guide a Gun with a Burris scout scope. I load a 245 grain FP GC to 1950-2000. Shot Rocky Mountain elk with that rifle last year and it staggered 35 yards and was done. I was using the Lyman #2 equivalent alloy.

I think you are on the right track just adjust the alloy for the performance you want for the game you are hunting.

[Sambar375WCF]

Gday Ramjet.
I may have bitten off a bit more than a can chew with going for Hawkesbury river bullet co's toughest bullet the Copperhawk, maybe the Blackhawk would be better or even their standard clear dry coat "Silver hawk"..

I thought I would be more likely to push the round an wanted to eliminate leading...

to be honest it is doing no dissimiliar to the hornady!? in performance into the dirt..
I also wouldn't know what the casting contains

Gday JFE, good too see an Aussie around with the 375winnie

thanks for the info

WL