375 winchester

[fordwannabe]

Happy Thanksgiving all, I hope your day is wonderful. Last night my pusher called me(don't you love it when they call you at home to tell you about good stuff) and I am now the proud new owner of a marlin in 375 Winchester, and I am familiar with them but I don't KNOW that cartridge. If anybody can edumacate on this cartridge it would be much appreciated. Thanks

PS on a different 1980,s marlin I am SERIOUSLY thinking to do a takedown conversion. Any info on the process and time involved would be much appreciated. I saw on of our members did a takedown conversion on a Rossi that was very cool, is it pretty much the same on the Marlin. Thanks

[Blaine]

I'm going to hitch along on this one. I got a real nice Big Bore 94 AE a couple years ago, from a forumite, that I don't know too much about. Just looking at numbers it seems like it's heads, and shoulders over the 30wcf for effectiveness.

[Griff]

I've loaded for mine... many, many times... I've only loaded jacketed 220gr Hornady FN's. Its a killer on both ends. I've carried mine a couple of times on bear hunts, but never been successful... Don't you have to see bear to be successful on a bear hunt? So for me, it's only punched paper. My son killed a coyote here on the farm with mine several years ago. According to him, it picked the coyote up, flung it across the pasture and skinned it!

I use RE7 as my powder of choice. My 1980 Hornady Reloading Handbook lists a max load of 38 grains for 2200 fps. The boxes I have still loaded show that I used 36 grains of RE-7. I haven't had my rifle out to chronograph any of these since I got access to a chronograph, so I can't verify what fps my loads are.

It's an easy cartridge to load for, hard to get brass for, and a very small selection of appropriate bullets. Right now I think Hornady has the 220gr on hold... so you can either get Winchester 200 or 250 grain bullets, the only other FN styles in .375. I've never loaded cast in mine.

I recall a couple of others posting about theirs, and what cast bullets they're using, but don't recall the particulars off-hand.

Enjoy your new (to you) deer slayer! Good for most NA game. At proper ranges, I wouldn't be afraid to use it for anything.

[tman]

Turns the 94 and 336 into brown bear stopping rifles.

[JFE]

i like the cartridge and it is cheap and easy to load for, especially if you cast your own pills. Jacketed pills are limited but there are plenty of options for bullet casters. You can use 375, 38/55 or reformed 30/30 cases, with the strongest being the 375 cases as they are thicker in the head area.

The best powders we have down here are Reloader 7 and AR2207 (=H4198). Apparently 1680 is good for lighter pills but I never seen it, much less tried it.

It's fairly easy to push a 300 gr cast pill to 1850fps or a 250-275gr pill to around 2000 fps. In a lighter Winchester top eject, thats getting pretty lively.

Performance wise I think it's on a par with the 35 Rem, but due to its faster twist and the number of cast designs available, I think the 375 is more flexible.

[TedH]

Congratulations on a fine rifle! The 375 Winchester is one of my all time favorite cartridges. I currently own a Winchester 94BB, a Marlin 375, and a TC Contender in 375. As you have probably already found out, factory ammo is scarce, and when you find it, usually in an online auction, it brings a lot of money. Usually well beyond $5.00 a round. Components can be hard to come by too, since Winchester hasn't produced a run of brass in quite some time, and from what I've been able to find out the next run is 18 to 24 months out yet. If you find any at a decent price, snatch it up. The Hornady 220 has been a favorite bullet, but from everything I've been able to find out, they have dropped it from their product line.

The good news is Sierra 200 gr. bullets are available, and a couple other small outfits produce jacketed bullets suitable for the 375. Also, it's a wonderful cast bullet round. There are good mold offerings from Lyman, and RCBS for gas checked bullets, and plain base, as well as the LEE plain base. I would recommend sticking with a gas check bullet if you want to get the most out of it. However, if you want the very best cast bullet for hunting, look no farther than the Ranch Dog design that you can get from NOE molds. It's got a huge meplat, and three crimp grooves to accommodate any chamber out there. Your Marlin I suspect, like mine, will want that bullet seated out to the bottom crimp groove to fill the leade. I get accuracy on par with jacketed bullets with that 235 gr. Ranch Dog mold. I cast them hard, from a Lyman #2 alloy duplicate, and heat treat them. 1.5" at 100 yards is common with them pushed to 2200 fps. Reloader 7 is THE powder for the 375, in my experience. AA1680 will get a slight advantage in velocity, but the accuracy has never matched RL7, in my experience, and everyone I've ever talked to that loads the 375.

Brass can be formed from 30-30 brass, though it usually ends up a bit thin in the neck to provide adequate neck tension, and it will be a bit shorter than spec. Federal brass seems to be the best for this, since it starts out the thickest in the neck area of all the major brands I've measured. Fireformed brass works wonderfully with cast bullets sized larger than the .375" jacketed bullets. I size all of mine to .379" and they work beautifully in all 3 of my 375's.

If you are a Facebooker, there is a group there dedicated solely to the 375 too. Good place to find deals on 375 ammo, guns, and Contender barrels sometimes.

Enjoy your new rifle!

[Daisyman]

TedH, thanks for the very useful information on the .375. Personal knowledge goes a long ways in my book. I've got a Marlin and a BB both and a friend of mine is loading some for me now. Jacketed bullits are hard to come by and cast ones at a reasonable price aren't much better. Just got home from a gun show and didn't see either, but there was a LOT of lookers for components.

Irv

[fordwannabe]

Thanks Ted. I very much appreciate you taking the time to get me on the right track. I got a half box of Winchester ammo with it and a 2-7x burris on it(in junk rings that are going back to the guy I bought it from). I think I paid a little much but with the scope it probably worked out $425. Thanks again. Now off to NOE.

[264 Win Mag]

Was lucky to get some brass when I first acquired my Marlin Model 375. Starline is rumored to be looking at making it but no timeline has been announced. Have never been able to get my hands on any jacketed bullets but they are more available right now than they have been for the past several years. I tried the Ranch Dog cast bullet but several users recommended the heavier Lyman 375449 and it shoots extremely well in my rifle with Reloader 7. I love the way the rifle handles and don't believe I will have any issues taking down anything I might run across her in south Alabama.

Thomas

[BenT]

The Ranch Dog 235 gr bullet shoots great in mine. I size to .377 hard cast. I don't do full house loads, but they plenty warm. 34gr of H4895.

[Griff]

I was at the fun store earlier today and found Hornady still catalogs their 220gr FN... ordered two boxes. Will pick up some new brass as soon as I find it.

[TedH]

Thanks Ted. I very much appreciate you taking the time to get me on the right track. I got a half box of Winchester ammo with it and a 2-7x burris on it(in junk rings that are going back to the guy I bought it from). I think I paid a little much but with the scope it probably worked out $425. Thanks again. Now off to NOE.

That's not a bad price these days for a Marlin 375. I've had mine for a few years, and accidentally stumbled onto it on Gunbroker. They just had it listed as a "Marlin lever action". When I clicked on it, and saw it was a 375, and the buy it now price was just $325, I couldn't hit the BUY button fast enough.

Griff, I hope you're right about the Hornady bullet. If it's one of those on their back burner, but it they still have plans to produce them again, we might see some yet. Midway has them listed as "Discontinued".

[Sixgun]

The half dozen original 38-55's and the one lone .375 Marlin I have all eat the same ammo......a 270 grain gas checked NEI bullet sized .379 over 21 gr. Of 5744 in reformed 30-30 brass.

[t.r.]

My cousin has a Savage 99 in 375 that he bought new a few decades ago. He still has some factory ammo and it shoots about a 2.5 inch group at 100 yards. We hunt together in the wilds of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania nearly every year and he has slain many deer and one bear with his rifle. Its a keeper!

TR

[6pt-sika]

I had a pair of Marlin 375's a few years back . Both were circa 1980 , if one looks into the serial numbers they'll find that the majority were made in 1980 with a very few more made in 1981 , 1982 and 1983 .

With the two I had the first one I got was set up for jacketed bullets only and I used the Hornady 220 and the Sierra 200 . Pushed the 220 with H335 and the 200 with AA1680 . Killed a fat doe with that rifle shooting the 220 Hornady at I think about 80 yards dropped at the shot .

I got the second rifle a year or two after the first and at a very very good price I might add . Local pawn shop dealer called me and told me a guy had it and wanted to sell it and to come down . So I set the price he bought it for gave him $40 profit and out the door I came . Got the whole deal for less then $380 .
This number 2 rifle was first set up with the Ranch Dog 379-210GC bullet . This was RD's first try at a bullet for the 375 . I pushed it with XMP5744 and knocked over a decent 7 pointer one day at about 40 yards . After that I used the 235 grain RD bullet but never killed a deer with it before I sold the rifle .

While the vast majority of lever action folks extoll the vitues of the 30 WCF it isn't my favourite . I like the 32 Special over the 30 WCF and I like the 375 WIN over the 32 Special . When I started trimming my arsenal of lever actions a few years ago I got down to four cartridges the 444 , 45-70 , for a pistol class cartridge I went with the 44 Rem Mag and for something loosely based on the 30-30 class case I went with the 375 WIN . That unto itself wasn't overly difficult as I've always liked the 32-40 and 38-55 both in lever guns and schuetzen rifles .