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.375 WINCHESTER:   THE UNKNOWN CONTENDER

 

 In 1992, with an almost complete lack of fanfare, Thompson/Center Arms added the .375 Winchester to its extensive lineup of Contender chamberings.  The addition has gone virtually unnoticed since then, by both the shooting public and by gun writers.  That's a shame.  The .375 Winchester is an excellent choice for Contender hunters searching for a non-wildcat caliber to use on game larger than deer. 

 

 Developed by Winchester in 1978 to increase the effectiveness of America's favorite lever guns, the .375 is the largest and most powerful member of the .30-30 case family.  Because it is chambered only in firearms of today's metallurgy, the .375 is loaded to a much higher working pressure than its near-twin the ancient .38-55, for which century-old rifles are still to be found. 

 

 Like the similarly developed 7-30 Waters, the .375 hasn't yet ignited the fires of passion among the West's deer hunters, but I understand it is a fairly popular number among lever-action devotees in the Eastern whitetail woods.  For a Contender shooter however, it is an excellent round for game up to and including elk and moose.  It's not a long range, reach out and stomp 'em caliber, but the Contender isn't ideal for that kind of big game hunting either.  Rather, the .375 Winchester is for the Contender toter who stillhunts or waits on stand and has the moral fortitude to pass up less than ideal shots.  But if you have the patience to get within sniffing range, and the skill to slip one of these pinkie-sized slugs through its lungs, even a bruiser of a moose is going to have its air let out in short order.

 

 Factory offerings for the .375 include two loadings from Winchester only.  These are a 200-grain (X375W) or a 250-grain (X375W1), both with Winchester Power Point bullets.  According to ballistics tables corrected to Contender velocities, the 200-grain version is a fine load for large deer, while the 250-grain version is a better choice for elk and moose. 

 

 Right here, many readers are already flinching just from the thought of firing a 250-grain moose load from a pistol.  And they're right.  In fact, this is the only Contender barrel I own that seldom draws volunteers when I offer trial shots at the range.  The .375 is definitely a double hand full, especially in factory 250-grain persuasion.  Wayne Blackwell's excellent Load From A Disk computer program calculates the felt recoil at 19.8 ft/lbs in a 4.75-pound Contender, a level he calls "vigorous."  Recoil of the factory 200-grain load is 18 ft/lbs.   Subjectively, I'd rate the .375 Contender about like the average .41 or .44 Magnum revolver in recoil, but not as sharp.  That's probably due to the greater barrel length and total weight of the Contender.  And if the .375 is a bit unfriendly to the hand, it's downright hostile to hardware.  My .375 barrel has so far trashed two different scopes.

 

 At my very first range session with the .375, the 19th shot  abruptly turned a Burris 2.5-7X into a kaleidoscope.  Months later, the .375 ate a Swift 4X scope.  True to their word, the good folks at both companies soon had my scopes back in shape, and they haven't hiccupped since.  But prospective buyers should consider a premium "recoil proof" scope for their Contender lest a lesser glass fail under the .375's considerable punch.

 .375 Winchester Results

 

 With the 200-grain factory load, my T/C barrel averages 1934 fps with 2.74-inch groups at 100 yards.  Case expansion runs 0.4180, measured just ahead of the case web.   The 250-grain factory load hits 1637 fps, 2.24-inch groups and case expansion of 0.4184 inch. 

 

 With velocity, accuracy and case expansion parameters thus identified, I began reloading efforts with powder selection.   Like most large-caliber, straight-sided cases, the .375 calls for fast to medium-fast powders.  According to reloading manuals and the Load From A Disk computer program, the useful range for jacketed bullets runs from 4198 approximately through H335.  A recently published table of canister propellants lists more than a dozen powders in that range.  Rifles in .375 can burn powders as slow as IMR 4320 in their longer barrels, but muzzle blast in the Contender becomes severe with these numbers. 

 

 To minimize variables, I elected to use Federal 210 standard brisance primers for all loads. These primers were entirely satisfactory for the powders I tried, including Accurate Arms 2230 and Hodgdon 335, both ball powders.  All full power charges filled at least 90% of the available case volume, to the base of the bullet.  A few were lightly compressed.  With no limitations due to action type or magazine length, bullet seating depth was set at approximately 0.10 inch off the rifling for loads using pointed bullets, and to the crimp groove for flat-nose bullets.

 

 Reloaders have a fair choice of bullets to choose from in .375 diameter, especially for the Contender.  Jacketed styles include a Sierra 200-grain flat nose, a Hornady 220-grain flat point, and a Speer 235-grain semi-spitzer.  The former two were designed specifically for lever-action .375 rifles, while the latter is a heavier jacketed bullet originally meant as a light bullet load for the bellowing .375 H&H Magnum.  Barnes also offers their superb pure copper X-Bullet in 210- and 235-grain weights.  I obtained samples of all five for reloading tests.  I also obtained samples of a 240-grain cast bullet from Wyoming Casting Company.  These plain base bullets are beautifully cast with three lube grooves and a crimping groove.  They are lubed with a hard, blue lubricant and sized to 0.376-inch.

 

 The .375's head size and some of its exterior dimensions match those of the .30-30, but the .375 uses a much stronger case, with a thicker web and walls.  My samples of .375 empties weighed an average of 12 grains more than .30-30 cases.  Reloaders should therefore NOT use .30-30 brass to form .375 cases, except possibly for cast bullet or low pressure practice loads.

 

 Forming .375 cases from .30-30 brass is, however, quite simple.  I used a regular Hornady New Dimension three-die set.  Lightly lube each virgin or once-fired case and run it through the size/deprime die.  Now lube the inside of the case neck with graphite or mica.  Run each case slowly and carefully into the neck expander die just until the neck is very slightly belled.  If you are careful, you won't split or crush any necks.  Take it slowly, though.  My very first attempt resulted in a badly crushed case when I rushed things.  Raising the ram slowly while guiding the case with the fingers of my left hand prevented any further losses.

 

 The result of this operation is a very weird looking case with a pronounced "waist" instead of a neck, as the accompanying photo shows.  To fireform, seat a 200-grain jacketed bullet to the start of the waist over a starting-level load of any suitable fast powder such as 4198.  As an alternative, charge the case with 8.0 grains of Unique and seat a .375-inch round ball intended for muzzleloaders.  This load fireforms cases beautifully, and serves as a useful plinking or small game load.  Segregate any such reformed cases for use in low pressure loads only.  For full power loads, use cases with .375 Winchester headstamp only.

 

 Beyond Factory Performance

 

 Results with jacketed bullets were very gratifying.  I was able to beat both factory velocities and accuracy with several combinations of bullets and powders.  With most bullets, Accurate Arms 2015BR was highly accurate and best or second best in velocity.  It and the Sierra 200-grain bullet teamed up for the most accurate loading.  Hercules Reloder 7 was also a consistent performer, and is an excellent choice if 2015 isn't available.   

 The Hornady 220-grain slug is billed as a compromise weight between the two factory offerings, but it outshone both in my tests.  Again, I was able to better both velocity and accuracy of the factory loadings.  Here AA2105 turned in the second best performance, just 50 fps behind H4198 and tying it in accuracy.  Scot Brigadier 4197 was very accurate with the Hornady, although it didn't give velocities as high as the slightly faster burning H4198.  I've found that Scot powders are excellent performers, suffering only from lack of availability.  Now that Accurate Arms has taken over Scot Powders, perhaps that situation will improve.

 

 Because my supply of Barnes bullets was limited, I ran out of them before I worked up to maximum in the 210-grain weight.  With that bullet, both Scot 4197 and AA2015 gave good results.  I think that one or two grains more than shown in the table would be maximum with either powder.  With the 235-grain X-Bullet, I reached maximum loading with two powders, AA2230 and Reloder-7.  Using RL-7, I was able to exceed the factory 200-grain load in both velocity and accuracy - with a bullet 35 grains heavier.  Case expansion with this load was slightly greater than the factory 250-grain loading, and gun opening was a bit sticky.  Both indications point to a maximum load.  If I were going to swat an elk, I'd choose this bullet, seated over 36.0 grains of RL-7.

 

 The Speer 235-grain semi-spitzer makes a wicked looking load for the .375 Contender.  Like the 235-grain Barnes, it would be an excellent choice for really big game, especially if booted out at nearly 2,000 fps.  My best combination of speed and accuracy with this bullet came with a lightly compressed charge of Reloder 7.  I intend to do more work with this bullet using AA2105 as well.

 

 With 240-grain cast slugs, my initial efforts were based on loads found in Lyman Reloading Manual #46.  But results were nothing short of dreadful, despite the high quality of the bullets.  Using moderate charges of H4198, H4227 and Red Dot, I was unable to keep shots on 24x24-inch targets even at 25 yards.  I have no idea where many of these shots went, and I temporarily gave up the effort in disgust.  Over the next few weeks I began to wonder if the problem wasn't with the bullets' plain bases.  To lessen the heat load on the naked lead, I tried very small charges of Unique and Red Dot.  These gave velocities in the 1,000 to 1,100 fps range and groups of about an inch at 25 yards.  Point of impact was two inches lower than full-power loads at that range.  These would make excellent "camp meat" loads, not too loud and easily recognized from full power loads.

 

 The beauty of the Thompson Center Contender lies in its versatility.  With it, a proficient handgun hunter can be adequately armed for any quarry from mice to moose.  For the moose end of that scale, the .375 Winchester is one of the better choices in factory chamberings.  While there are hotter wildcat loadings, they are available only from expensive custom barrel makers.  In contrast, the .375 Winchester is a regular TC offering.  Predictable and tractable to reload, it can be safely coaxed to performance levels beyond that of factory ammunition with several combinations of components.  It deserves more attention than it has so far gotten.

 

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Note:  Due to a lack of digitized photos, this article is presented as text only.  I’ll search the files for the original pictures, however, and insert them if found and scanned.

Notes: Group size and velocity are average of five-shot groups at 100 yards.  All loads used Winchester brass and Federal 210 primers. 

WW=Winchester, HDY=Hornady, SPR=Speer, SRA=Sierra, BNS=Barnes, WCC=Wyoming Casting Co.

"+" powder loads are lightly compressed.  

LOADS SHOWN ARE SAFE IN THE AUTHOR'S GUN WITH THE PARTICULAR COMPONENTS USED BUT SHOULD NOT BE USED IN ANY OTHER GUN UNLESS FIRST REDUCED BY 10 PERCENT.

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