Preffered hunting round 38/.375?

[Sambar375WCF]

I realise this topic may have been done to death? but I have been going thru the archives all night searching a lot of great threads on the 375 BB.

I just wanted to ask specifically, which you thought was a better round for performance on game.


the 375win at 2,200fps
or
the 38-55 at 1700fps?

Game class,

Ferals (goat, pig)
Deer (mid sized general deer species/ bear)
Big Game (bigger deer, elk , sambar incl up to buffalo)

Boolits-
Can talk Jackets, in re to the 375, but generally speaking Cast , various rates of hardness etc.
Elaborate a little on your choice, if you don't mind, please.


Theres a little story behind the question, which I will get too later.


Cheers

S3W

[rking22]

Watchin this with interest as well.

[Whiterabbit]

me too. I don;t own a 375, but if I lost every single one of my firearms in a fire and could only replace it with one single gun, it would be a custom mauser 375 H&H. reading about love for 375 cal is beat only by reading about love for the 7x57. :)

[Sambar375WCF]

Is it odd there is only minimal replies to such a thread on this Site?

Hoping to hear some more



Sambar375wcf

[northern smith]

Also watching whith interest.

[Whiterabbit]

Is it odd there is only minimal replies to such a thread on this Site?

Sambar375wcf

It's not odd during hunting/harvest season.

[Sambar375WCF]

that's strange, wouldn't of thought it would have mattered weather it was Christmas, Easter or huntin season to discuss a good topic.

[khmer6]

Haven't used it yet. But just loaded up some sierra game king 300gr. Good BC foe some long range gunning, freight train energy at close range. Not overpriced. About $30 for 50. Ive looked at a majority of the production and discontinued 375 bullets and I think this is probably the one I'd go with from deer to lion. Most of the other bullets lack the BC to keep carrying downrange energy just in case. 375 ruger and RL17

[Sambar375WCF]

some seem to be misinterpreting the thread title, it is in regards to the 38 55 and the 375 Winchester rounds... mostly varying the speeds each provides the bullet.


Thanks though.

[Mk42gunner]

I don't have either one, but I don't think you will see much discernible difference between the two rounds on anything under about 350 pounds at under 150 yards.

If you are using Winchester Model 94's, the .375 Big Bore is a bit heavier; if you are using Marlin rifles, they should weigh the same, with equal length barrels. If you are talking about any of the single shots, that is another story.

You will probably find the groove diameter of a .375 barrel is closer to .375" than the run of the mill .38-55.

.375 Win brass is supposed to be heavier,(read that as thicker) for higher pressure. How much difference the higher pressure rating will make with same weight boolits? Who knows. The most common jacketed bullet weight I can think of for the .375 is 220 grains, while the .38-55 normally runs a 255 grain JSP in factory loads.

IIRC, your 1700 fps load should be equal to the old .38-55 High Velocity load.

I think there will be more difference from where you hit them than from what you hit them with.

Robert

[JFE]

There are some differences between the 38/55 and the 375 Win. The 38/55 generally has a wider groove diameter (mostly 0.379-0.381) and a slower twist. The 375 generally has a groove diameter of around 0.376 and the twist rate is much faster at 1 in 12". The cases are different too, the 38/55 is slightly longer and 375 brass is thicker in the head area. The throating is another area of difference. The 38/55 has a better throat design cf the 375 for cast bullet work. The 375's throat is designed to allow a small case to achieve higher velocities by being able to relieve pressure via the large throat, somewhat like a 458 Win Mag.

As as a general rule cast bullets are more accurate if velocity is held below 2000 fps. You will notice a lot of users tend to use loads in the 1600-1800 fps range. You can drive them faster but you have to be very particular with your bullet culling and every aspect of bullet prep and selection if you want any kind of accuracy.

The Win 375 BB has very deep rifling and mine is very accurate for what it is, limited only by my eye sight. At 50 mtrs it can produce very tight groups with longer bullets (300 gr cast). However it also produces astounding accuracy with loads that are subsonic, which ideal for practice on bunnies or finishing shots.

To to be honest I haven't used jacketed bullets on game and have only used the big CBE 300gr pill. The load I have settled on for now produces around 1850fps. Not only is it accurate it penetrates very well. If you are using commercially cast bullets the alloy tends to be quite hard and is not the best for expansion on game.

There is a group buy for a 375 mould that would be ideal for the 375 Win and other 375 calibres. Unfortunately it has been open for over 3 years now but I am hopeful it will be finalized in the coming months. MIHEC without doubt makes the best HP mould going, which is why I have stuck with that group buy. That bullet would offer a lot of flexibility to someone wanting to use a 375 Win on a variety of game.

[TXGunNut]

I have rifles chambered for both and treat them as totally different cartridges. One of my 38-55's was built in 1901 so I'll give it the respect it deserves. My 375 BB was built to take the punishment of this round so I don't cut it much slack.
I killed a few critters before the BB became a safe queen but that was with the excellent Hornady 220gr bullet. Haven't killed anything with either cartridge since I began hunting with cast but I suspect either cartridge is good up to at least 300 pounds and maybe 100 yds, at least for me. I think the 38-55 is at the edge of the big slow boolit camp and the 375 is a super-sized 30-30. Remember that 100-115 years ago hunters were "upgrading" from the 38-55 to the 30-30.
Due to doing all my hunting in TX I seldom get a chance to shoot anything over 300 lbs so either works fine for me. I suspect the 38-55 is a pretty fair penetrating round but I'd have to test it for myself with my boolits before I went after something big. There's a chance the 38-55 will actually out-penetrate the 375 in some situations.

[Sambar375WCF]

now we are talking.

maybe I est 38-55 velocity a bit quick for conversation sakes... :) but we are getting to the same page.



speaking of hard cast lead.... with that 44mag an the 375 bb of mine, on a gum tree the 240gr opened up more violently than the hard cast 375 pills did... they penetrated a lot more..

[Good Cheer]

Tried the Winchester lever action .375 "Big Bore" and couldn't get it to group with cast. Swapped it in on a Ruger No.3 in .375 Winchester and it didn't have enough powder capacity. So, had it chamber reamed to .375 H&H. Boy howdy was that some fun with factory duplication loads. Then I sat back and thought about it a while and designed my own. And it's just right.

http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/38LC_zpsusxxl2gs.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/user/SNARGLEFLERK/media/38LC_zpsusxxl2gs.jpg.html)

[Whiterabbit]

Should have called it 375 Goldilocks

:)

[Good Cheer]

Well yeah but I was crazy about a half French half Italian girl with raven hair back then.
Goldilocks just wouldn't have been right!

[DanLee]

I have a Savage 99A chambered for the .375 Winchester. I have not been able to get cast bullets to group well with this gun--no better than 4" at 100 yards and mostly worse than that. OTOH, it will keep Sierra 250gr boattails inside 1.5" at 100 yards all day long. This is with a 1x-4x scope. The 99 has a rotary magazine, so using pointed bullets is not an issue. Ken Waters in his Pet Loads book was not able to do well with cast, so maybe it's the gun.