Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow!*

11/13/2022 – It has been like summer here with temperatures in the 70s. Today was 30°F, so I guess our days of Indian Summer are coming to a close.

The electric grapple on the tractor stop working… then worked again… then stopped again. Fuses good, 12V at the tractor / grapple harness connection. Then it worked again. I took switch boxes apart, chased wiring and checked connections. Then it stopped again.

The dealer offered suggestions while waiting for a pickup opening in the schedule. Worksaver, the grapple maker, offered suggestions. Both companies were very helpful, but the grapple status transitioned to deader then dead.

I took one more voltage reading at the tractor to grapple connection and noticed I had to rub through oxidation with the meter probes to get a good reading. So I cleaned the contacts with a green Scotch Brite pad, reconnected the… connectors and the grapple came to life, and has since remained… and then it stopped.

Seeking 12v IP65 linear actuator, 8″ stroke,  with clutch, 1000 lb rating.

There is a great joy in being able to hop on that tractor on a day that is not going well. Go dig up a tree stump, or haul dirt to fill low spots in the yard, or drive down the driveway to check the mail. And Skippy doesn’t charge $200/hour to ask me how I feel about something I just said.

Break out the big guns

So it was 1990, I pulled my Harley into my assigned company parking spot, threw a leg over the seat and tightened the laces on my Dr. Martens boots. Ten minutes later, I was sitting in a board meeting, with eight other similar dressed men, who were also at the onset of a midlife crisis. The 90s.

These days the motorcycles are gone, replaced by a tractor. I work in an office/shop across the driveway, and sometimes I watch Doc Martin on British TV. But that’s not important right now…

In 1990, I owned two deer rifles, a Marlin 336 lever action 30-30 WCF and a compact Winchester Model 70 in 243 Winchester. My heavy rifle was a Remington Model 700 BDL in 7mm Remington Magnum, the latter a gift from my wife and children.

A Marlin 1895 Guide Gun in 45-70 was purchased. See above, “Mid Life Crisis”. That led to a realization of a genuine interest in handloading big bore firearms, which led to even bigger bores for the 20 years that followed.

First it was the British and German classics, culminating with the 500 Jeffery. Then it was the Weatherbys through to the 460 Weatherby, followed by Winchester and Remington safari rifles in 416 Remington ad 458 Winchester.

All Beautiful firearms, all very accurate and all too heavy and bulky to carry into North American woodlands. Most were costly to purchase and expensive shoot. The latter to the tune of $20 per round.

Finally, it was my shoulder, retinas and ear drums that held an intervention and collectively suggested I start to power down.

Still, there was somethings about the big 375s that kept them from being furloughed with the bigger and/or high intensity magnums. Above L-R 375 H&H, 375 Ruger, 375 Ultra Mag, 378 Weatherby.

The 375 caliber has excellent sectional density in heavier weights, excellent ballistic coefficient in heavier weights and, even when starting off at a moderate velocity, retain velocity over a longer range. They are flat shooting and accurate at long ranges and quite powerful from start to long finish.

The 375 Ruger is short, but stocky

The 378 Weatherby is too much of a good thing and not very flexible. There are few actions with sufficient capacity to handle the round’s physical dimensions and it has 120 grains plus powder capacity. As a full tilt 0.375″ cartridge, for big… really, really big and dangerous game, it is well suited.

The 375 Ultra Mag died, along with the namesake company. A good round for the handloader, two factory loads in production and never in stock. One source of brass, also never in stock. Could make it from parent 404 Jeffery case… but that is even less in stock.

The 375 H&H is a good cartridge, ammunition and components are readily available and it is relatively easy to light load. The only drawback is that it requires a long magnum action, which is usually wrapped in a 9+ lbs rifle.

The 375 Ruger is a 30-06 Springfield length cartridge and parent to PRC cartridges. Despite its short length, it has greater capacity than the 375 H&H, less than the Ultra and Weatherby Magnums. With 23″ sporter weight barrel in the Ruger African, or 20″ heavy barrel Guide Gun, both still come in at or under 8 lbs. Like the 375 H&H, it adapts to light loads well. Factory ammunition and reloading components are readily available.

Standard load baseline… Enter here.

From the Real Guns Exterior Ballistic Calculator:

That is a 270 grain bullet with a +3″ ordinate and a 258 yard point blank range!..!! Even at 400 yards, if someone had the ability to judge distance and wind… you know, a marksman, the hold over is 17″ and the bullet is still producing a 2,600 ft.lbs. of steam. Cool. Really cool.

“Joe, are we getting to some point? We’re 700 words into this”

What, you have a bus to catch? What did the motherboard say to the memory module? Don’t you have a bus to catch? It’s Saturday. Relax.

Pictured above, from centers out, left 45-70, minimum weight 250 grain Barnes, maximum weight 500 grain hard cast bullets. Right 375 Ruger, minimum weight 200 grain soft point, 350 grain protected point hard jacketed lead core bullets. Both cartridges can be loaded up or down for use within many applications.

If you handload, and you should be handloading if you routinely shoot centerfire firearms, the 375 Ruger becomes a cartridge as flexible in load performance as the 45-70, but with much greater power and range potential at the top end when required.

The thing about the Ruger Guide Gun is that, at 8 lbs, it is of reasonable recoil absorbing weight, compact at 41″ in overall length and made of any environment resistant stainless steel and hardwood laminate. There is no reason to keep it out of service in a safe when it can be put to use nearly year round.

375 Ruger loads for deer, black bear and hog hunting

The Sierra Pro-Hunter bullet is designed for the 375 Winchester and moderate velocity, for use on medium to heavy game. It is also recommended for the 375 H&H with velocity kept at 2200 fps to assure proper penetration and expansion. Yes, it is a flat point bullet designed for tubular magazines, but the loads that follow are for woodland deer hunting and the low BC, low SD bullet is not a long range projectile.

The Hornady bullet is a very good one, intended for medium and large game with a muzzle velocity falling between 2400 fps – 3100 fps. Unfortunately, it and 220 grain flat nose bullet intended for the 375 Winchester have been discontinued. There are still lots of the 225 grain bullet out there and I will continue their use until the supply is depleted.

The Speer Hot-Cor 235 is a good medium size game bullet in the velocity range of the Hornady. What is medium game? That would be anything that falls into a weight range of 50 – 350 pounds by manufacturer’s assessment. It will replace the Hornady when they are gone.

There is a good deal of consolidation in process within product lines that exclude many long existing bullets.  Economy of scale to cost reduce, newer monolithic material construction, VLD designs all preclude continued production. Not just for the 0.375″ bullets, but many across the range of calibers.

There are many other good bullet makers that are not distributed through large national suppliers, but have been in business for a long time and provide a higher level of service to handloaders. Hawk makes a very high quality, but cost effective product. They have 27 listings for the 0.375″ customer, with choice of jacket thickness, cannelure or not, in weights from 180 grains to 350 grains.

Yes, there are some tangibles….

Warning: Bullet selections are specific, and loads are not valid with substitutions of different bullets of the same weight. Variations in bullet length will alter net case capacity,  pressure and velocity. Primer selection is specific and primer types are not interchangeable. These are maximum loads in my firearms and may be excessive in others. All loads should be reduced by 5% as a starting point for development where cartridges have greater than 40 grains in capacity and 10% for cartridges with less than 40 grain capacity following safe handloading practices as represented in established mainstream reloading manuals. Presentation of these loads does not constitute a solicitation for their use, nor a recommendation.

*John Lee Hooker, “Boom Boom”