375 Ruger vs 338 Lapua for hunting?

[Fiftydriver]

Thanks all, I will stick the Lapua. Is the 260 hammer hunter good enough for Moose, bear, and bison?

The 260 gr Hammer would work great in a Lapua on all game you list and all other smaller game also. The 265 gr barnes LRX would also be a great choice for all around use in the Lapua.

 

[Fiftydriver]

Component quality, cost and availability favors the 375 Ruger, NOT the 338 Lapua. It seems that everyone is forgetting that 375 Ruger is the parent case for 300 PRC. Multiple premium brass manufacturers, including Lapua, make 300 PRC brass. If I owned a 375 Ruger, I would be necking up and fire forming premium 300 PRC brass, rather than using Hornady 375 Ruger brass. Premium 300 PRC brass is significantly less expensive than 338 Lapua brass.

Additional advantages of 375 Ruger:

1. Fits in any standard length (3.4"+) action with a magnum bolt face and retains standard magazine capacity.
2. Does not require a true magnum length action or the larger tenon diameter required to accommodate Rigby sized cartridges.
3. Works well with a broader range of faster burn rate powders than the Lapua.
4. Requires less barrel length than the 338 Lapua to reach maximum performance.
5. Is a more versatile cartridge than 338 Lapua.

The main challenge for the 375 Ruger is going to be bullet selection. Most 375 bullets have thicker jackets, made for safari use, that are less than ideal for most North American game. There are exceptions. Careful shopping is required.

As for long range loadings, bullets such as the Cutting Edge Lazer can be safely loaded to high enough velocity to significantly narrow the ballistic gap with the 338 Lapua.

With conventional bullets, the 338 Lapua won't show a tangible advantage inside 400 yards. With the right bullets and single loading, the long range performance gap between 375 Ruger and 338 Lapua is much smaller than most people think it is.

For the person who already owns a 375 Ruger, optimizing what you have is a better choice than switching to the 338 Lapua. That is, unless you just want something new and different.

You bring up decent points and agree with some of what your saying but other points i simply do not agree with.

Yes you can make brass out of 300 prc but there are complications with that as well. If you ever fly for a hunt to a foreign country, always best to have brass headstamp and rifle engraving identical when customs is inspecting everything.

As far as performance, inside 200 yards, maybe not dramatic difference but there still is a terminal difference. If you look at sectional density, 250 gr accubond 338 bullet has a SD of 0.313, 300 gr such as the 338 Accubond has a SD of 0.375.

260 gr accubond in 375 only has a SD of 0.264 so the 250 gr 338 will destroy it as far as penetration.

Even the 300 gr .375 only has a SD of 0.305, still less then that of the 250 gr 338 caliber so the 250 gr 338 will penetrate deeper then the 300 gr 375 cal using same bullet design. The 300 gr 338 would be at a totally different level of penetration compared to the 375.

This can certainly come into play at close range when shot angles on heavier game may not be ideal and you have to take a shot that is given to you, especially on followup shots.

Kenetic energy is far superior with the Lapua, correct headstamp.

Only disadvantage is initial brass cost and possibly one less round in the mag, that can be modified with most rifles though.

As far as using the Laser CR bullete, likely would exceed OAL for most standard length magazines even with the ruger. The lapua is not dramatically longer in case length then the Ruger.

Now if your looking to hunt african dangerous game, i would lean toward the 375 for sure but because of its TKO value and nothing else and because most african PHs will require shots well under 100 yards for most dangerous game. For all N. American hunting, the lapua is a far more flexible round for all around hunting. Not saying at all that the 375 ruger would not just work fine, just pointing out where and how the 338 will outperform the 375 in this finite question.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

..heck on those, for a defensive short range bear stopper, a 12ga slug fills the bill nicely..lol

 

[Fiftydriver]

..heck on those, for a defensive short range bear stopper, a 12ga slug fills the bill nicely..lol

For a bear STOPPER, you bet, 12 guage with federal 3" mag 1 1/4 oz slugs at 1600 fps would be my choice as well. Not for bear hunting though.