[Tnhunter]

Well, the deed is done. I had purchased a nice 1894/.44 about 18 months back. I enjoyed the rifle and it functioned and shot as well as I'd hoped. I was a bit disappointed on it's performance on a really large wild boar though, loaded with 270grSP ammo. I found a Marlin .375 in mint condition and have decided it might be more the short powerful lever I'd been looking for in the .44. The .44 will now live it's life as a special X-mas gift for a new 13 yr old deer hunter. Tomorrow will be their first hunt together.

The 2.5X scope has been mounted and boresighted on the .375 and a good number of both 200 and 220gr ammo assembled for sight-in. I've read about all I could find on the .375 Win, but would enjoy hearing any additional first hand info, good or bad. It will be my new woods deer and hog rifle and I'm hoping to break it in on a Georgia hog hunt next month.
Thanks.

 

[William Iorg]

Did you see Sunday Creek’s thread?

http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=7300&highlight=.375+winchester

Marshal and others have posted quite a bit of information on the forum about the 375 Winchester and the Marlin rifles.
Unless you pigs are very heavy I believe you will be better served using the 200-grain Sierra bullet. The Sierra bullet is tough, opens up quickly and penetrates very well.
I am in the minority but I believe the Sierra is the 200-grain Sierra bullet is the best bullet for deer and pigs for use in the 375 Winchester. Almost everyone else prefers the heavier bullets. I look forward to reading of your range and hunting results.

For young shooters starting out with the 44 Mag carbines I would load them down a bit. One of my wife favorite rifles is the down loaded Marlin 1894 in 44 Magnum. The full power loads push around quite a bit and are not near as much fun!

 

[Tnhunter]

William, There is a lot of good info there. I appreciate your taking the time to help me out.

 

[TOG]

I was a bit disappointed on it's performance on a really large wild boar though, loaded with 270grSP ammo.

I'm curious if any of you who hunt large wild boar with Marshall's hard-cast, large meplat bullets fired from a .44 Magnum have been similarly disappointed with their performance?

Put another way, is a .44 Magnum loaded with Beartooth bullets in front of something like a case-full of W-296 adequate for large boar?

Thanks,

The Old Guy

 

[Ranch Dog]

Put another way, is a .44 Magnum loaded with Beartooth bullets in front of something like a case-full of W-296 adequate for large boar?

Old guy and others,

I have shot the BTB with both of my Marlin 44 Mags, an 336-44 and 1894P, and they are my favorite hog guns. I do home cast my bullets now and they are very similar to the BTB, one a .432" 265-grain bullet and the other a .432" 300-grain bullet. Simply put, they are devastating.

The 265-grain bullet is loaded over 23.0-grains of H110 for the 336-44 it produces 1600 FPS. With the 1894P, the 300-grain bullet is loaded over 21.0-grains of H110 for 1540 FPS. Of the two rifles, I favor the 1894P.

A year ago, I started a hog eradication program on my ranch. I have hulled them out. Through the end of the summer, I have eliminated them. I believe I've killed 56 hogs. I lost track. I got pretty good at shooting them. The best I've done is kill four with one shot! With proper placement of a "string" of corn I killed four with chest cavity hits with the 300-grain bullet at about 60-yards, it blew right through some very large hogs. What made this notable is that the sounder of about 30 turned and ran from the tower blind I was sitting in. One hog joined a sendero that the blind sits on and I shot it as it was running straight away from me at 125-yards. The 300-grain bullet hit it in the ham on one side exiting the chest on the other side and killed it on the spot! The largest hogs I've killed in my life have been with the 1894P (44 Mag) and a 300-grain cast bullet. Here are three of the larger hogs I've killed in the last 12 months with the 1894P.

Everyone worries about the "shield" on a large hog. I don't. I shoot them through their tiny lungs in tight behind the shoulder right through the shield. That big flat pointed bullet blows right through them even at velocities below 1500 FPS. On hog #2 above, you are looking at the bullet entry side. The wound cavity is devasting! Punch a lung and a hog can't go any where. All that body mass needs a lot of oxygen to operate.

 

[Ranch Dog]

Having done quite a bit of design work with the 375 Win, I favor a heavy cast bullet to fill the extra long step/throat that was designed in this rifle. The jacketed bullets don't fill it.

Here is an image produced from a chamber cast of a Marlin rifle. This is a detail of the forward portion of the chamber that shows the huge gap between the end of the chamber, the step, and the throat. That is a huge jump for a light bullet to travel.

If you compare it to the parent cartridge, the 38-55 Win (below), you see the difference between the two cartridges at the step and throat.

The step of the 375 Win is almost three times as long, the throat is one and a half times long and just as important the angle of the throat is half as that of the 38-55 Win. These points are why you don't shoot a 375 Win cartridge in a 38-55 Win, even if the 38-55 Win is a modern rifle. The chamber of the 375 Win has been cut to relieve the 52.0K CUP that the cartridge generates.

I've owned three Marlin 375s and have examined a good number of them. I see a lot of erosion in the throat on rifles that have shot a lot of jacketed bullets from the typical suggested loads. I suspect it is caused by the "jump" the stubby bullets are making to engage the rifling.

I use a cast bullet that fills the step/throat and the performance with this cartridge is outstand. I would not hesitate to take any NA hoofed critter with it. I've killed whitetails and desert mule deer with mine and consider the practical range on these critters about 150-yards.

 

[Warhawk]

I'm curious if any of you who hunt large wild boar with Marshall's hard-cast, large meplat bullets fired from a .44 Magnum have been similarly disappointed with their performance?

Put another way, is a .44 Magnum loaded with Beartooth bullets in front of something like a case-full of W-296 adequate for large boar?

Thanks,

The Old Guy

I suspect the original poster was using Speer 270 Gold Dot soft point ammo. I used these in heavy handloads in a revolver on hogs, had poor performance. IMO these bullets are too lightly constructed for hogs.

I've been using hard cast Keith bullets (Keith loads for that matter) ever since with much better results.