375 Ruger and Cast Bullets

[High Desert Hunter]

350 grain cast bullets for my 375 Ruger.

 

[nztimb]

Is there a reason you have paperpatched some and not the others. I have just got into paper patching for my 577-450 after many years of gas check or PB cast bullets and was really happy with the result. Have you got load details and shooting results yet. Are these just for shooting paper or do you intend shooting meat with them. I found that a 160gn soft nosed cast bullet from my 7x57 at 2415fps was a quicker killer than a ordinary C&C bullet and even my 404 accounted for a number of goats with a 350gn cast bullet.

 

[High Desert Hunter]

The paper patch bullets were given to me to try, so far I haven't had much luck with them, I think I need a bigger expander die. With the standard GC bullets I am casting and shooting, I have found a couple loads that have worked well, but as I would love to make meat with a cast bullet from my 375 Ruger, I haven't found a load yet that I like out to 200 yards yet. Unique and 2400 have both proven accurate in the extreme at 50 yards for plinking loads, IMR4198 has shown some promise in the 2000-2100 fps range, going to try some RL22 and RL17 next to try and get up around 2300 or so fps, I will let you know how it goes.

 

[nztimb]

That is a good looking bullet and one that should respond well to some load development, Depending on the alloy and the fit of the bullet..
I was able to succesfuly load a 370gn cast bullet in my 404 Jeffery to over 2400fps with the 87gn H4350,same powder I used for the 400gn jacketed bullet where 84gn gets 2315fps.
For the bullet you are casting, if you are using the likes of H4350 for jacketed bullets as I was for the 404, I started with about 60% of a case volume and it ran about 1900fps with very good accuracy, then continued on loading heavier powder charges till I found the limits of the alloy and accuracy. With the slower powders like H4350 I don't use any filler like Dacron when charge weight starts at 60% of case volume. I tried Varget and found that 74gn got me to 2365 and would make a hunting bullet for anything short of DG out to 200 yds and if I was working with your case I wouldn't got to a faster powder than Varget if I was trying for a good velocity hunting bullet. I do like the case shape of the 375R and think it should make a very good cast bullet shooter.
This is my own designed 404 bullet that runs from 350 to 370gn depending on alloy

At 1900fps over 63gn ADI 2209 - H4350

5 shots with one pulled at 2415fps over 87gn ADI 2209 - H4350

Good hunting accuracy with aperture sights that shows that looking at the slower powders will get the results you need for 200 yd hunting with ease.

 

[High Desert Hunter]

Thank you for both the advice and encouragement. I have been casting and shooting cast for decades, somehow never dabbled with the bottle necked cartridges, probably because both of my favorites have short necks and because of the horror stories. Thank you again.