375 JDJ Carbine

[contender hunter]

Is anyone shooting the 375 JDJ in a carbine , I have a 12 1/2 ssk and the long eye relief scope is giving my old eyes a little trouble and was wondering about going with a carbine bbl. since I have the dies and the stuff to reload , what I am wondering is how is the recoil and especially without any kind of muzzle brake , is it manageable ?? what would it compare to in recoil ??

   Also is there anyone making a composite stock for the regular contender carbine in a camo leaf pattern without the thumb-hole .

[Lone Star]

I don't own one but I did shoot one that a buddy owned.  It had a 22" barrel and no brake, but I don't remember if it had a full bull or tapered barrel.  He was shooting 235-grain bullets and the recoil was similar to my .338-06 M7600 - not terrible but you knew you'd touched it off.  You could certainly use different loads to manage recoil.


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[contender hunter]

Its kind of hard to no what the recoil is going to be like untill you shoot it yourself I guess , my 375 JDJ handgun packs a pretty good kick and that is ported and your arms take alot of the recoil , so I'm not sure what to expect from a carbine , I use the hornaday 220 gr. FN , ITS A killer on deer !! And the 270 gr. hornaday for bigger stuff like elk.

[huntinhick]

Hey guys,

Contender Hunter I hope you don't mind if I ride this one too,
  I have a G2 and have asked a question like this in the past and narrowed my choice down to the 375 JDJ and 309JDJ and I am looking for people who have shoot and hunted with both to give me there input. 

Thanks
Carl

[jason280]

I can tell you right now that the recoil is going to be stout, especially in a Contender.  I had a 21" Carbine in .375 Winchester, and set up with a Rynite stock set and compact 4x Burris, the total package was just over 5lbs.  I handloaded some 200gr soft points, and there was no doubt the gun went off when you pulled the trigger.  Its not so bad that you don't want to shoot it again, but you definitely don't want to do any extended shooting with it over a bench. 

[contender hunter]

Huntinhick , I think if your only interest is in deer sized game that the 309 JDJ would be perfect , the only reason I am looking into the 375 JDJ is because I  already have  the bullets brass and dies for the 375 and if I ever get out west again I would be ready for bigger game  , the 375 JDJ is avail through T/C  fairly cheap, THE 309 JDJ would have to come from SSK or a rechamber through them also, there barrels are probably the best out there , but would be quite a bit more than a stock t/c bbl.

[huntinhick]

contender hunter,

I am looking for an Elk round with a 200-300 range 300 being the extreme only if a perfect shot type of deal.  I live in western washington so I get to hunt deer, black bear and elk and if I ever get luckly big horns.  I have a 204 for small stuff and a 30/30 for deer size stuff the problem is I love the G2 so much that I want to carry it for elk.  The members here have helped me narrow it down to those two and the 375 is in the lead as I can buy a factor barrel and save a ton.  just worried about the recoil and if it will do what I want. 

huntinhick

[contender hunter]

Huntinhick , it will definately do the job , power wise no problem !! A  muzzle-brake of some kind would really help but I don't think its a absolute must with the 23 '' bull bbl. like it is with the pistol barrels , just for comparison my 12  1/2 '' pistol bbl. with magnaport is all I want when shooting the 270 gr. for elk but the 220 gr for deer isn't bad at all , the other day I took the 12 1/2 bbl and mounted a butt stock on it just see about the recoil  , it was kind of awkward with the long eye relief scope , but with 220 gr it was very manageable  . I would rather the 375 for game the size of elk over the 309 , and like you said the 375 is avail. in a factory bbl.

[huntinhick]

Contender Hunter,

before I got into the contender I hunted with a 30.06 and a 7mm mag so as long as the recoil is not to much more that that I should be fine.  I plan on installing one of the simms recoil pads for the contender, hopefully that will help some too.  I do love how light the G2 is, carring it all day is not an issue and so far it shoots like a dream.  I was thinking of getting an encore but if I can get a 375 JDJ and it is manageable and shoots as well as the 30/30 and 204 I have now I will not need it.  is it easy to reload the 375?

Huntinhick

[contender hunter]

I would think if you have been using  the o6 and 7mm you will be ok ,and you can always get a muzzle brake later on if you want. Loading the 375 JDJ IS fun!! and man are they ever accurate , I was loading  AND SHOOTING  groups for the 6.5 JDJ and the 375 JDJ and you would think the big caliber hard kicker wouldn't group as good as a mild recoil round with spitzer bullets  , BUT at 100 yds THE groups from the 375 were as good as the groups from the 6.5 !!!  As far as reloading its a simple step of running the 444 marlin straight wall case into the 375 JDJ full length die and your ready to go , It necks it right down to .375 CAL. JUST LOAD IT UP AND SHOOT ,its a much easier process than the 309 JDJ , My brother had a little trouble forming cases for the 309  , But some of the poblem was poor quality brass  , but in the case of the 309 your going all the down to 30 cal .from .444 ,where with the 375 your not necking down as far and its very easy step.

[boneguru]

I have one on my encore, 26" heavy and to give you an honest comparison, I had a similar 30-06 and it hit alot harder, with similar weight bullets, gotta say LOVE the 375, Its now one of my Favorite calibers!!!!!
could shoot it most of the morning....R