Big Texas loves big Guns! Back some time ago I wrote prolifically about the .375 Ruger and a reader from Texas named Alan L. He read the article I wrote entitled; “Hand Loading the .375 Ruger for Deer, Bear, Moose and Cape Buffalo” and proceeded to purchase the Ruger M77 Hawkeye in .375 Ruger and he has never looked back.
He has changed the stock to a synthetic McMillan Stock, a personal preference, see the photo below and had it professionally bedded and accurized by Hill Country Rifles in New Braunfels, TX.
My Ruger M77 Hawkeye in .375 Ruger is exactly as I received it from a dealer. It shot sub MOA out of the box and I never looked back either. I love my .375 Ruger! Shooting it is really fun!
He reloads the .375 Ruger the same as I have with hand loads that are customized to the game he hunts. From small game, varmints to deer at 38-55 Winchester velocities, to 2600 fps for wild hogs, and on the higher level with 300 grain Dangerous game bullets including solids, what ever game on the Planet he wishes to hunt. In Texas, wild hogs can gore the hunter with tusks making a close encounter one of dangerous game.
The .375 Ruger on large ornery wild hogs is good medicine when confronted with a charge. For those who believe that recoil is severe, you are wrong when the recoil pad is a Pachmayr decelerator or a Sim’s SVL recoil pad. These pads reduce felt recoil around 50 % making them feel more like a 30-06 instead. If you can’t shoot an ’06 then the best advice is to stay out of the Hog woods.
I would use a round soft nose bullet for Hogs. The soft round nose will expand largely and drive the expanded bullet like a freight train wrecking bone and tissue in its path in such a devastating way as to put the lights out on a hog like it was struck by lightning. Big hole in, a barn door hole coming out. A bullet like the 270 grain Round Nose traveling at 2600 fps delivers over 4000 ft-lb at the muzzle. Amazingly the .375 Ruger that I own and that Alan owns are both sub Minute of Angle accurate; that is to say grouping three bullets in less than 1 inch at 100 yards for heavy bone crushing loads. That is the Ruger hammer forged barrel. I have hunted and killed Moose and deer with the .375 Ruger and after 50 years of hunting and reloading it is truly impressive when the shooter can reload his or her own custom loads with impeccable accuracy over a wide range of bullets and powders.
The key to shooting any rifle is that you must place the bullet in a vital area to do its job. Shooting a big Hog in the foot ain’t gonna do that, so practice. Alan says he chose a scope a Meopta Meostar 1.5-6 x 42. This allows the shooter the ability to shoot at 5 feet using 1.5x and still see the animal in focus to shoot, a great scope choice.
If you are interested in one rifle for the Planet then see your Ruger dealer and check out the Ruger at http://ruger.com/products/HawkeyeAfrican/models.html
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