Ed Harris
posted this
28 April 2009
Inexpensive plinking loads in the .375 which work well with soft alloy and require no gascheck use 13 grains of any fast burning pistol or shotgun powder you have lying around, such as Bullseye, Red Dot, Clays or 700-X, or 15-16 grains of somewhat slower burning pistol or shotgun powders in the range of Unique, Universal, 7625, PB, Green Dot, or Herco.
Any 250-280-grain cast bullet works well, such as #375248, #375449 or the Meister 255 grain plainbase. Velocity approximates the .38-55 Winchester. These loads make fine work of garden varmints up to the size of deer. No fillers are necessary or recommended. In most rifles you can shoot soft bullets 10-12 BHN, as cast, unsized, simply tumbled in Lee Liquid Alox and these loads will shoot around an inch at 50 yards if you do your part.
The last few years my friend Greg Kalnitzky was alive before cancer finally took him, he hunted as much as he could. His belief was that any day spent outdoors hunting, fishing or camping under the stars didn't count against your time on earth. His favorite hunting rifle was a .375 H&H Winchester Model 70. It had once belonged to the great hunter, the late Arvvid Bensen, who collected many of the specimens on display at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History. Greg bequeathed the rifle to his best friend and hunting buddy Wes Bryant, who lives in Texas.
When he lived in the RSA Greg shot hundreds of head of game with cast loads over his lifetime from guinea fowl to waterbuck and kudu. Greg's experiences formed the basis for George Martin's article in American Rifleman, entitled “Cast Bullets In Africa."
73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia