Standard Cartridge Series - 375 Winchester

Jay Edward (deceased) · December 28, 2004, 08:33:15 PM

Now we come to a cartridge that is one of my favorites. I traded into a Winchester Big Bore the year they came out. I found, through much frantic experimentation, that a 265 grain gas check bullet sized .001" over groove diameter shot around 2" groups at 100 yards.

I used it the first year to take a very nice Mule Deer buck and it cemented the relationship between us instantaneously. It has a Lyman peep sight (with gold ring outline) and ivory bead front sight.

The cartridge just 'looks' like a cartridge should look. It really is just an updated .38-55 Winchester but it has all the qualities I look for in a short range 'brush rifle/cartridge'.

periscope_depth · March 03, 2005, 12:59:00 PM

Again,

A cool idea and I am sure a very handly little cartridge to putz around with....but from where I sit, it seems to offer the worst of two fairly sub-standard rounds.

Look at the energy levels: The 30-30 is nearly as powerful as the plodding .375

Look at the trajectory. We are talking 45-70 lollypop trajectories....a shot beyond 150 yards is all guess work.

Where I hunt....the most likely shot will be one of less than 75 yards....more like 125 feet. But I have the possibility of spying a deer on the other side of a pasture.....a good 255 yards away. A tricky shot with a .270 or a 30-06 but makeable. With a .375 Winchester.....no way.

Glad you like your pea-shooter and I am sure I would quickly fall in love with it as well.....but from my deer stand, that rifle limits my view from 360 degrees to about 280 as I have 70 degrees field of fire through pasture.

Jay Edward (deceased) · March 03, 2005, 02:39:00 PM

The following is a portion of a article written by Chuck Hawks:
http://www.chuckhawks.com/ ...a website that is very useful.

"The single .375 Win. factory load from Winchester drives a 200 grain Power Point bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2200 fps with 2150 ft. lbs. of energy. The figures for 100 yards are 1841 fps and 1506 ft. lbs. At 200 yards, by which the .375 has pretty well reached its practical range limit, the velocity is 1526 fps and the energy is 1034 ft. lbs. Winchester's handy game selector lists the 200 grain .375 factory load as a deer and black bear cartridge.
Hornady figures, in the 6th edition of their reloading handbook, show that their 220 grain FP Interlock bullet can be driven to a MV of 1800 fps by 31.1 grains of RL-7, and to a MV of 2200 fps by a maximum charge of 38.0 grains of the same powder. Hornady used Winchester cases and WLR primers in developing these loads. The muzzle energy of a 220 grain bullet at a MV of 2200 fps is 2364 ft. lbs., and the trajectory looks like this: +2" at 100 yards, 0 at 150 yards, and -5" at 200 yards. According to my Rifle Recoil Table a 7.5 pound rifle shooting that load should come back at the shooter with 17.1 ft. lbs. of recoil energy."

It is my opinion that the rifle is a 200 yard rifle for those who would practice with it. In additiion, I believe you would get many arguements out of .45-70 users as to the maximum range. I'm not speaking of the casual user or one who hunts with a multiplicity of rifles...I'm speaking of the hunter who uses his .45-70 consistently and knows it's drop over various ranges.

My hunting is done more around 100 yards or less for a number of reasons. The country I hunt in will allow you to be in deep woods if you so choose. There are open hillsides for those who wish to do longer range hunting. We have a great number of archers who hunt here in the Rockys and if they can do it with a bow I can certainly do it with a lever action rifle, iron sights and lead bullets. It's called 'stalking'.

But I would not have you think that .45-70, 375 Win., .40-65, etc. is for short ranges only. There are just too many hunters out there willing to learn their rifles and develop their shooting skills to the point of taking long (for iron sights) range shots on game animals. My longest shot with a muzzle loader was 125 - 135 yards using iron sights and a roundball. 200 yards to 250 yards is not unreasonable if the hunter has 'paid his dues'.

PC gun mag writers are in lock step about these old cartridges but they are wrong. My proof? Many hundreds of thousands of dead animals.

periscope_depth · March 09, 2005, 12:40:02 PM

The 45-70 is legendary for its amazing accuracy at long range. Find an old sharps rifle and practice with it consistantly and I wouldn't be surprised if it outshoots nearly every out of the box rifle ever assembled.

But my point wasn't one of accuracy.....my point is one of TRAJECTORY.

On the history channel they were showing a group of civil war artillary enthusiasts who could put 3 shots out of 10 into a newspaper page at 1000 yards. Nearly everyone of the 10 shots was hitting inside of a 5'x5' ply wood board at that range. Accuracy has nothing to do with it.

Move that target 50 yards either closer or further and each of their shot misses entirely.

If you are shooting at a deer at 225 yards and are even 40 yards off on your guess....you either miss your deer completely or are trailing one that was hit too low or too high.

I love the big bores and the huge holes they make. Totally devestating deer and elk rifles that will put an animal down quicker than lightening....but if you are not extremely skilled in calculating range or not 100% sure of where your drop is.....you should not take shots with these rifles beyond 150 yards.

Standard Cartridge Series - 375 Winchester

Jay Edward (deceased)

periscope_depth

Jay Edward (deceased)

periscope_depth