Remington .375 H&H Dangerous Game Rifle

After an unsuccessful morning hunting Hog deer, I decided to drop in and pay my mate Pete a visit and check out his new Toy.

Pete was the proud owner of a brand new Remington 700 Dangerous Game Rifle in .375 H&H caliber. He has topped this formidable rifle off with some quality optics in a Nightforce 2.5-10×32 scope mounted on rock solid Nightforce Picatinny rail and steel rings.

Pete had only just developed a load for this rifle the day before. It consisted of 75 grains of AR2209 behind a 270 grain soft point round nose, Woodleigh projectile for a chronographed velocity of 2520 fps. His last three shots at 100 yards had hit into a small cloverleaf of just under one inch. So this rifle can shoot.

My interest was mainly in the scope but I soon took a liking to this rifle. The scope featured the NP-1: Big game hunting reticle that provides an uncluttered view. This scope has no parallax adjustment and I was keen to see how much parallax was present.

Sitting the rifle on a solid rest and looking at a fence post at 600 yards the reticle appeared to move from one side of the post to the other as I mover my eye back and forward. Although this is no problem on a big game rifle intended for normal ranges it may pose a problem if the shooter intended to shoot out past 500 yards at small objects. At 200 yards parallax was almost undetectable.

Back to the rifle, it features a 24 inch barrel with open sights which Pete promptly removed. The stock is plastic with soft over mould sections for added grip. The metal surfaces have a matt black finish. Pete has fitted a barrel band sling stud. The Recoil pad is quite soft and works very well. Over all the rifle is well balanced and feels quite light. Pete suggested that I have a shot so I jumped at the chance.

 Looking out over his rural property from his back deck area we spotted a Rabbit feeding quietly in the afternoon sun. Pete used his Bushnell Yardage pro and ranged it at 165 yards.

He said that the rifle should be just a tad high at that range so I sat down on a step and just rested the rifle on my knee and let rip. The Shot landed a bit low and the rabbit disappeared but soon reappeared . I let rip again with the same result.

 Seeing as the rabbit was still there and both previous shots had landed about three inches low, I told Pete that this time I was going to aim a bit high and see what happens. Well at the sound of the shot the Rabbit was thrown backwards and lay still. Obviously Pete needs to work on his trajectory calculations if he intends to use this as a rabbit rifle. Not that it is intended for that purpose.

 Recoil from the rifle is surprisingly light. Much more comfortable than say a .300 Win Mag. Recoil from it is more like a gentle push than a sharp jab.

Pete intends to use this rifle as a walk about Sambar rifle and from my limited experience with it, I am sure that more than a few Sambar are in for a rude shock.

Tags: Remington DGR

Category: Norman Nelson's Column