cast bullets in 375 Winchester

[big bear]

Anybody cast for and/or load cast bullets for their Win94 in 375Winchester?Looking for tips and advice. Thanks!

[6pt-sika]

I used to have a couple Narlin 375's and I shot cast in one of them . I used the Ranch Dog 379-210GC and the Ranch Dog 379-235GC pushed them both with XMP5744 and killed a 7 point buck with the 210 grainer . Sold the rifle before I killed one with the 235 grainer I am sad to say , but it did do nicely in paper . I had originally intended to use the Lyman 375449 and the RCBS 37-250 as I had them on hand for a 38-55 but I never got around to it after I saw how well the RD bullets did in that rifle .

[TedH]

I had a Winchester 375, but sold it when I bought a Marlin 375. The Winchester shot very well with cast bullets. I used the RCBS and Lyman gas check molds, and I think the Winchester preferred the Lyman bullet, but it was a bit heavier than I liked. In my Marlin I use the 235 Ranch Dog mold. It shoots like a house a fire, dare I say as well as any jacketed bullet load I have tried. I cast them out of a Lyman #2 alloy duplicate and heat treat them, they are hard. I push them to 2200 fps with RL7. The whitetail in my avatar photo was havested with that bullet and my Marlin.

[tman]

The winchester was Heavier than the Marlin

[ollogger]

I also use the 235 gr. ranch dog in a 375 big bore with RL7
have a 280 gr. lyman I use in a 38-55, need to try it in the 375 also



ollogger

[rogn]

A little off the axis of this thread, but I ve had very good results with the Lee 255gr, tumble lubed and driven at about 1600 fps from a Ruger 375. This load uses an out of production shotshell powder so I won't mention it. Groups at 100yd, 3 shot tend to be sub 1" without wind. I havent been lucky enough to harvest any deer with it yet, but its on the list.

[BenT]

235 gr ranchdog. 34gr H4895 . Very accurate load. I use it in my 38-55 also.

[Sixgun]

Anything that works in the 38-55 will work in the .375. Just size the cast to .377. My load was 22 of 5744 for around 1500. IIRC, 27 gr. of RL-7 is good for 1700+

Like the 38-55, I use blown out 30-30 brass. Just seat the bullets to correct OAL>-------------6

[TedH]

The winchester was Heavier than the Marlin

No, the Lyman bullet was heavier than I wanted, so I switched over to the Ranch Dog.

[JFE]

If you do a search you should find quite a few threads on the 375. I have used a number of different cast designs from 250 to 300 gr, both PB and GC, and all worked pretty well. Win 94BB's in this calibre have deep rifling, which is good for cast bullets. R-7 and 4198 are good powder choices for heavy loads with GC bullets. A nice light load is 6.5 gr of Red Dot behind a 250 gr PB. It's just under the speed of sound and very accurate.

The main issue to take on board is that Winchester chose to give this cartridge a long, wide throat to reduce pressure. There are some cartridge drawings in the reference area on this site and its worth reviewing them. Most common cast designs in this calibre are designed for the 38/55 and have the crimp groove in the wrong location. A Lee FCD helps here and by seating these designs out, you help fill that large throat. I have found that loading the widest diameter that will still chamber helps to centralise the bullet and align it with the bore and this helps accuracy.