I am now firing and reloading my sweet shooting .375 H&H more and more. It really is a joyous experience working to develope an optimum powder load and, thereafter, produce repeatable and accurate target results. All of this development is of practical value: once I have loads that deliver reproducible results, it is very likely that the .375 might become the only rifle I take on safari.
With heavier projectiles [300gr] the .375 can take DG. Lighter projectiles [250-270gr) can take PG and it is even possible to load the .375 down to effectively mimic .308 performance and deliver minimal damage on really small quarry. So one rifle to take everything from the tiny ten to Cape buffalo! That would give me ease of carriage [previously I have taken two rifles on trips abroad] and also make most efficient use of IATA ammunition weight limits. [when I have taken 50/50 ammo for two calibers, I have invariably run out of the caliber I found myself shooting the most. The 270gr projectile could be pressed into any service at a push]
In the journey of discovery that always attends load development, I became aware of quite a few forums and YT clips that explained an issue that falls out from the belted magnum case design which affects case longevity in the reloading arena: Standard FL dies do not adequately address the ever-growing case obturation that inevitably occurs just above the belt near the head of the case. That is because FL dies cannot ingest the cases far enough into their bodies.
Larry Willis came up with a very good solution to overcome that hurdle. I would describe it as an inverted die that leverages the cantilever principle to squeeze a collet beyond the mouth of the tool. As ever, video explains the die operation far better than words.
I took delivery of mine today. It is well made. I have only one niggle: the outer face of the re-sizing collet was laser-etched with the corporate name. That lettering was measurably raised wrt the rest of the cylinder and very rough to the touch. It offended my mechanical sensibilities to think that the laser swarf would have to be ground off by the polished internal face of the die body in the first 10 or so operations. I imagine the die body to be harder, but the abrasive marriage of surfaces is avoidable: they could have laser etched the outside of the die body.
With some 240 water paper I gently polished the "INNOVATIVE" lettering flat such that neither fingertips nor micrometer could detect letters:
My fired .375 cases still pass the go/no-go test, so it may be a while before I have a batch to run through this tool in earnest.
With heavier projectiles [300gr] the .375 can take DG. Lighter projectiles [250-270gr) can take PG and it is even possible to load the .375 down to effectively mimic .308 performance and deliver minimal damage on really small quarry. So one rifle to take everything from the tiny ten to Cape buffalo! That would give me ease of carriage [previously I have taken two rifles on trips abroad] and also make most efficient use of IATA ammunition weight limits. [when I have taken 50/50 ammo for two calibers, I have invariably run out of the caliber I found myself shooting the most. The 270gr projectile could be pressed into any service at a push]
In the journey of discovery that always attends load development, I became aware of quite a few forums and YT clips that explained an issue that falls out from the belted magnum case design which affects case longevity in the reloading arena: Standard FL dies do not adequately address the ever-growing case obturation that inevitably occurs just above the belt near the head of the case. That is because FL dies cannot ingest the cases far enough into their bodies.
Larry Willis came up with a very good solution to overcome that hurdle. I would describe it as an inverted die that leverages the cantilever principle to squeeze a collet beyond the mouth of the tool. As ever, video explains the die operation far better than words.
I took delivery of mine today. It is well made. I have only one niggle: the outer face of the re-sizing collet was laser-etched with the corporate name. That lettering was measurably raised wrt the rest of the cylinder and very rough to the touch. It offended my mechanical sensibilities to think that the laser swarf would have to be ground off by the polished internal face of the die body in the first 10 or so operations. I imagine the die body to be harder, but the abrasive marriage of surfaces is avoidable: they could have laser etched the outside of the die body.
With some 240 water paper I gently polished the "INNOVATIVE" lettering flat such that neither fingertips nor micrometer could detect letters:
My fired .375 cases still pass the go/no-go test, so it may be a while before I have a batch to run through this tool in earnest.
