375 Winchester

I'm looking for a cartridge for my Contender powerful enough for elk hunting to say 100/150 yds. I've been thinking real hard about the 375 Winchester. Is it really that hard to find brass for reloading? My only other conditions for other rounds are that I don't have to buy custom dies, and that the cartridge is rimmed. I know the 44 mag would fit the bill, but I'm just enough off to not want one, to common. Any thoughts? I have a 357 Max., but feel it's a bit on the light side.

.45-70

.445 Super Mag

I thought it was spelled Windchester...? Sorry, I couldn't help the Hunlee reference.

.45-70, 400 gr. Speer FP. Time proven. Might try a few TSX.
I've done deer to 150 with it. Never anything bigger. No problem getting brass.

The 45/70 would be a better idea!

Another vote here for the .45-70

Oh Lord. There's a blast from the past

I had forgotten all about hunlee!😂

OK guys - the biggest handgun I have fired so far is a Ruger 44 mag. Stiff, but I can handle it. So, If I ported a 45-70, how would recoil compare between the two. The Ruger was not ported. I thought of a 45-70 early on but figured recoil would be an issue. Thanks.

A ported 45-70 will be about the same or a little less than your 44 depending on the loads. I don't find a hot loaded 45-70 in a t\c platform unbearable, but it isn't exactly pleasant either.

The worst recoiling handgun I have EVER shot was a 44mag in a Contender with tapered bbl and factory ammo, and I've shot some whompers. I can't speak for 45-70 in Contender, but the powder and pressures are so different, I can't see it being worse.But there are guys on here who will know much better than I.

I've shot 45-70 quite a bit in Contender and Encore. The recoil from my 300gr JHP at 1900fps load isn't bad. I was working up a 400gr JSP load which was not fun but that had more to do with the Pachmayr grip and shooting conditions. I tried loads increasing in half grain increments starting with the minimum and stopping at what was listed as the halfway point to a max charge. I was shooting six different loads/powder charges with 4 rounds per load. Minimum charge loads averaged 1343fps and the last load averaged 1464. That shouldn't be horrible recoil.

I was shooting off bags on the bench to find the most accurate load. I normally like my Pachmayr grips but I think with this load they made it worse. With the heavier recoil of this load, they seemed to compress and "stick" to my skin. Offhand this load probably wouldn't be too bad but 24 rounds off the bench with the rubber grip causing traction on my hand wasn't fun. Still a pretty mild load compared to some rounds out there.

A lot of people look at the 300gr Hornady JHP as a "deer" bullet. I haven't taken game with it but I tested it and was very impressed with its performance. The materials I used were multiple layers of particle board, glossy catalogs and water filled milk jugs. The 300gr Hornady penetrated 25" and held together very well. For comparison a 375JDJ firing a 270 Hornady (which has been used on some very big animals) only penetrated 18" and had jacket/core separation. I posted the results here a few years back.

I have a 12 in factory ported Contender in 45-70 and have shot it side by side with a 14 in magna ported barrel.The magna port barrel kicks a lot more. A good brake makes a BIG difference. I also have .44 and .45 revolvers. Shooting a 300 gr bullet at 1700 to 1800 fps from my 45-70 is not the same as a 300 gr bullet at 1200 to 1300 fps from a similar weight revolver.Physics wins. The 45-70 can be learned but is not fun to shoot 15 or 20 rounds at a sitting from, for me. The 45-70 like most big bores can be learned and can be very accurate. It does require dedication and time behind the gun, preferably with someone who shoots big bore pistol. .
Good habits are easy to learn, bad habits are very hard to break !
Learn the right way first. The 300 gr Hornady works well for me on deer.J.M.H.O.

Didn't mean it wouldn't work well for deer. A lot of people say that its a good deer bullet but wouldn't be good for larger game. From my testing with it, including the test in the link below, its obviously constructed much better than people give it credit for.



I really didn't notice too much difference in the recoil of my 45-70 barrels. I've shot the same load using 300gr JHP (and 300 gr Partitions)over H4198 from a 14" Contender Hunter barrel, a 12" magna-ported SSK Contender barrel and a 12" Encore barrel with no brake. I sold the Contender barrels since I prefer to limit those frames to rounds with lighter recoil. That load in all 3 barrels was very accurate and chronied in the 1900fps range.

Here's a link to the bullet test I did. As a bonus on that test day I was able to connect on a steel plate with my 45-70 at 300 yards. Not a real long shot but the longest I've done with a 45-70 so far. For some reason the inch symbol (") in the link now comes up as ”. Not sure why.

.45-70 and 375JDJ Bullet Test

Not directly apples to apples, but I really really didn't like 44mag in a 10" contender barrel. Very sharp recoil, hurt the hands. Got a 45-70 in the encore platform and with the 300 gn Remington loads, pleasant to shoot. 350 gn hornady leverlution, not so pleasant, clocked them at around 1700 fps in a 13" barrel after the break was added. In my experienc, 45-70 recoil was always more of a strong push then a kick regardless of the muzzle break and much more tolerable.

My vote would also be the 45-70. In my experience recoil is quite tolerable with the 300 gr. loads. I am shooting a regular contender 14" no brake built by J.D.Jones. I have loaded the 400 gr Speer bullets to 1500 fps. The recoil level at that point got pretty rough. On most animals 1300 fps would be sufficient. If I would use it for elk I would load a 350 gr bullet for better penetration at approx. 1700 fps. More controllable and I really don't see the need for premium bullets. Just my 2 cents.

I shoot the 45-70 in both a 15" OTT Encore and 14" SSK Contender and can say that the Encore isn't bad at all and the Contender at little less than my S&W 29 with full house loads. I deer hunt with my Contender using Barnes original SP 300 grain bullets and they hammer whitetails but are hard to find. That said, since the OP is going after elk I would simply switch to the 300 or 350 TSX bullet for deeper penetration.

My .45-70 is only 12" and MagNaPorted. It's more recoil than a .44, but not unmanageable. A brake will lower the recoil a good bit more. Lots of them out there. SSK has several that are affordable.
A .45-70 in an Encore (heavier than Contender) with 14" barrel and brake should put you in .44 Mag. recoil territory.

I love the 45-70 in a contender or Encore. But back to the original post my BIL had a .375 Barrel. It was great. If you can't find brass it is easily made from 38-55 brass which is easy to get. From a 14" barrel it was launching the 220gr Hornady bullets 2100fps. Very accurate as well. I am blessed to have a ton of brass for my .375 Win rifle and tons of brass made for it out of 30-30 and 38-55.

If elk is on the menu then IMO the .375 WCF is simply too weak. I have killed deer with my .375 WCF carbine but I would not use it in a handgun for elk. Sure it will kill elk but not as quickly or surely as the .375 JDJ will. This cartridge can be loaded down to .375 WCF velocities or loaded up to higher power. The WCF can't do that. The JDJ is well-proven on game larger than elk too.

I have used the .45-70 on game up to brown bear and it is awesome...but recoil can be brutal. Like the JDJ it can be loaded down to .45 LC power if needed for targets and smaller game. Regardless of your choice, use enough gun.


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Dang it guys, can't you all agree? LOL. Again we are talking elk to 150 yds. For some reason I like the idea of the 375 Win but some feel it's not enough. If I can manage the recoil, I'm not opposed to the 45-70, I already have the dies. Now Carpe Diem puts in another option I didn't think of. What the heck?
Really, thank you all for your input, it's fantastic to have such a range of opinions.

Nothing wrong with a 375 win. If it's all you want to for it. I'm a huge fan of the 45-70. Better and bigger bullet choices.

Use what you want. If it doesn't work, go a different direction. Best of luck to ya.

Ha, ya. Consensus is seldom the consensus ;-)

The 375 Win will definitely take elk cleanly, it's not too weak. Bob Milek to several elk bulls with his contender pistol in 35 rem. I suggested the 45/70 due to brass availability and a huge selection of appropriate bullets, that cannot be said for the 375 win, which really can't produce enough velocity to expand bullets reliability above 220 grs., still an elk doesn't require anything bigger.

Surprised nobody has mentioned the 35 Rem. It can be made into a rimmed version if one desires, member Kyode has one. One could use "pistol" bullets like the 180 XTP, or the SSP, which would certainly expand at shortgun velocities, and there are a host of hard cast options. I agree the 375 doesn't have much for bullet selection for pistols and the 375 JDJ might be more gun than some want recoil wise.