Picked up a Model 94 Big Bore 375 today!

[William T. Watts]

RIDE-RED 350r when I purchased my Big Bore model 94AE .307Win I purchased 2K rounds when brass was less than $25 for a bag of 50, I thought .40--.50cents a case was horrible. To anyone needing brass buy while you can especially if the cal is a new or unusual caliber, strictly a business, if the demand isn't there on to something else more profitable. None of my business but I hope you purchased several hundred rounds, figure no more than 3-4 firings per case. The cases are rugged, check length after each firing, you may have to trim, good luck!! You might give some thought to learn annealing (case mouth) I never quit got the feel for it you may.. William

 

[Strafer Gott]

I recently found some .307 win brass, which turned into .356 win brass with one pass thru my RCBS resizing die, which has a tapered expander for necking up .308 win brass to .358 win brass. Some guys on Paco's lever site load low pressure lead loads in expanded .308 brass and shoot in their 94 XTRs.

 

[William T. Watts]

That can be done loading single rounds by hand, they will not feed correctly thru the magazine, they will however eject O.K... Been there done that.. William

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Well, it's nearing the end of the first business day after placing my order and I have not received an email stating the item I ordered is not in stock....My payment was processed successfully...I'm starting to get my hopes up a little now.

I wish I could say I ordered 6 or 8 bags of the stuff, but things are just tight for me after buying what I already got. Ordered one bag. So if Lohmans comes through I will have 76 brass in all. I'm sure I can get a fair bit of use from that. Plus tax time is coming and if push comes to shove I'll just have to pay the premium and get some through GB, as much as I hate to spend triple on it.

But I have some interesting information to pass along to you gents..

I recently contacted Starline and asked if they would consider doing some 375 Win brass, if even seasonally. (they do after all produce not 1 but 2 different types of 38-55 brass..which is similar) I pointed out that it doesn't take much searching around the web to see that people are fire-forming 30-30 brass and running trimmed 38-55 brass at lower pressure just to be able to use their 375 Win chambered rifles. I got a reply and this is copy/pasted what he said:

Quote: "Hopefully we will be able to begin producing brass for the .375 sometime this year.
Regards,
Hunter Pilant
Process Manager
Chief Ballistician"

This is promising!! Over on the shooters forum, another member posted about how he had contacted Starline and received basically the same answer only he was told they were shooting for spring/summer of this year! I think if more people drop a line with Starline inquiring about 375 Win brass, it would be a good thing to show them there is a market. And how great would it be to not have to rely on 1 manufacturer for brass....

 

[William T. Watts]

Brass is going to be tough for all three of the big bore calibers, luckily I had a bit of insight into the issue before it became a problem and I picked up a lifetime supply for my .307 Winchester big bore. None the less good luck with the rifle.. William

 

[Drm50]

375 brass

I think the new deer season in Ohio will see demand for brass and ammo for
375BB and other similar cals. Increase to point it will make it profitable for
companies to make it. It is crazy in Ohio for demand on these guns.

 

[tahoe2]

375 Big Bore

Congratulations Ride-Red; absolutely my favorite "tight timber" round, but mine is a Marlin 375 (336).

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

^^^Thank you Sir!^^^

 

[zeke]

RIDE-RED 350r-nice looking rifle and another fan of the 375 win. Could you update us on the brass order?

Win 375 brass is heavily constructed to take the extra pressure. Started out using RCBS dies for it, and was it tough to resize and cases seemed to magically stretch beyond any reasonable degree. Took to adjusting the die up, but balancing act between case mouth being tight and over sizing base of case.

Then tried lee dies, which did not act like a sb die, and made life considerably easier. Have since gone to lee sizing dies for all the lever actions hand loading for.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

As of right now my order status is "processing".... I have received an email saying my order and payment were both processed, but no email letting me know the order has shipped. I have never bought from Lohmans before. Do they send a notification for the order being shipped like Midway does??

So far I have been partial to the Hornady Titanium Nitride die sets for my straight walled cases. (357, 44, and 460). I do find that a little case lube on every other shell when resizing my 460 brass keeps things running smooth. The 460 brass is kind of long and thick. Lube seldom if ever needed when sizing 44 and 357...But I suspect that like the 460, I will find a little lube every other shell with those long 375 cases will prove helpful...But with the Hornady dies, I like the fact I don't have to break out a screw driver and small wrench to adjust my seater. (like adjusting valves on an engine! LOL!) I was planning on sticking to what I like so far and getting the Hornady die set for my 375..unless someone has a good reason not to??? (free bullet rebate program from Hornady extended for this year again) I like getting free bullets, even if they are of lighter weight than what most consider optimum weight for the calibers... I usually get the 110gr XTP .357 cal for my 38spl loads.

 

[tahoe2]

Hornady "does" make great bullets! I use their 220 grn FNJSP, .375" in my Marlin 375 for about 2150 fps that produce 4" for 10 shots @ 100 yds with "Iron peep" sights, I can cut that in half with a scope!
As far as dies go I use Lee and lube my cases, never had an issue, I use Lee dies for all my calibers (4-pistol & 7-rifle). Nothing against other brands, I just never tried them.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

I too am a fan of Hornady bullets for both my handguns and rifles.

Their 220's you speak of are what I hope to be able to get my mitts on first!! But ultimately, I'll take what I can get when bullets start coming into stock.. I have "notify me" set up on a few of the online retailers for 375 components.

Still no news on my Lohmans order.....

 

[tahoe2]

I've also used 200 grn Sierra's (2300 fps) and 245 & 265 cast FRN w/gas checks @ 1900 & 1800 fps respectively. Those cast are for 38-55 Winchester and sized to .377",
grouping was pretty close to the same, albeit 8"-10" low @ 100 yds. I still haven't taken any game with it, but confident to 150 yds or so with those irons.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

In case any of you 375 owners out there are wondering....

Up to this point I still have not received am "order shipped" notice from Lohmans for my 375 Win brass. I emailed them yesterday inquiring about my order. I got a quick response (within a few hours) and was told that they are waiting on the factory to fill orders.

I told him I understood and would be waiting.

What we have here essentially is a case of on online retailer whose webpage does not give up to the minute in-stock/out of stock status on the products they sell like some do.

In no way do I intend this post to be a slam against Lohmans. In fact, I really appreciate how quickly their representative got back to me and I fully intend to do more business with them in the future. I just wanted to make my fellow 375 owners aware that no, we didn't get lucky and find our components in stock at Lohmans.

 

[KnappJU]

RIDE-RED 350r nice rifle. I also recently purchased model 94 Big Bore in 375 win, and i'm running into the same problem lack of brass and bullets and when you can find them they are extremely high priced. I do hope starline starts making brass for it. I ended up purchasing some old ammo on GB which has worked fine but was very expensive. I'm a reloader as well and after much searching found Hawk Bullets. I have not tried them or contacted them yet but plan on making a purchase next month so I thought I would share. This is the only place that has had bullets available for the 375 that i have found. Every place i have check has been out of the Sierra and the Hornady.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Thanks for the lead Knapp.

I got lucky and got the 26 rounds of factory ammo for free with the purchase of my rifle... Which was $750. I was very happy with that considering the prices I am seeing ammo getting bid up to on GB.. Many going for $100 per 20 or more!! I'm not going to get too worried about bullets just yet..at least not enough to pay the premium they are demanding on GB right now.... I would hope the 3 manufacturers that make bullets for the 375 Win will do a run before this fall... And the email I got from Starline about the brass is promising. Hopefully they come through and we can get our mitts on some new Starline brass before fall as well.

I plan to get roughly another 100 brass and a couple hundred bullets when things start coming into stock. Not looking to hoard or be greedy. Just want a small stash to get me through deer hunting and occasional range fun for a little while without counting every shot fired and worrying about it. But, this is part of owning a caliber like this, and I was fully aware going in.. So now I just have to be patient

 

[Blindstitch]

Well that sucks. I hoped they would work.

When I was looking for 30-40 krag brass they seemed to be the only one not showing it sold out. Wonder if they even had that either. But at least they got back to you.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

KnappJU: I want to thank you for the tip about Hawk Bullets!

I contacted them with a couple of questions and they got back to me quickly. While they are currently out of stock for the FN .375 bullets (he said they sell quickly, wonder why! ) but he estimated they will be doing a run late in February. I plan to order a couple hundred in 200 and 250gr.


Now to build up more than 26 brass and I'll be set for awhile! LOL!