short barrel 375 H&H 22" or 20"

[lefteyedon]

I am putting together a 375 H&H on a P14 Enfield action and am trying to decide what barrel length to go with. Does anyone here have an idea about what type of velocity would be possible using 275 and/or 300 grn bullets from 20" and or 22" barrels?
 The muzzle blast would be visible from the Space station! But this would not be a rifle for shoot varmints with ether.
 Thanks
Gary

[Thebear_78]

I think you will be surprised at how efficent the 20" barrel on the 375 H&H can be.  20-21" seems to be the magic number for the H&H barrel length.  I have a 20" barrel on my lightweight 375 and have noticed very little velosity loss over the 24" barrel. 

Check out my post under "bear rifle complete" in the alaska section to see some more numbers on short barreled 375 H&H.
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/smf/index.php/topic,91506.0.html

[lefteyedon]

 Bear, What you found with your 20" is about what I was hoping for. I have a 338 win mag Savage 116 with a 24" barrel and want the 375 to be a "handier" Elk, Moose, Mastodon, bear rifle.   Shooting for about 9 lbs and 40”-42” long with a 2-8 power scope.
Gary
Cheyenne

[waterrat]

Brown Bear hunting in Alaska involves spending a lot of time in the alder patches fighting your way forward " by ". You'd be surprised a how many rifles have had their barrels pruned to 20" or so. The killing power doesn't seem to diminish 1 iota.