Range day - Security-9, Scout, Marlin 375 and others

Help Support Ruger Forum:

Coyote Hunter

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
265
Location
6491 feet above sea level
OK, this is NOT about Ruger rifles specifically, but I did shoot a new Ruger Security-9 for the first time – along my Ruger Scout and with some antiques.

Headed to the range yesterday to shoot my birthday present, a Ruger Security-9, a new to me 1961 S&W Model 10-3 .38SPL, check out Aguila .22 Shorts in Granddad's old High Standard Model C and Remington Model 24, my Ruger Scout and Aero-build AR10 both in .308 Win, and my Marlin 375 which is chambered for .375 Winchester.

The Ruger Security-9 was very pleasant to shoot and reasonably accurate, especially with Barnes 115g TAC-MPD +P ammo. That was good because that I what I use for my carry weapons. Enough so that after another range trip it will probably become my EDC weapon. The 57 year-old S&W shot exceptionally well and will become a house gun my wife can handle. Hornady 110g FTX Critical Defense loads shot the best and I didn't detect much difference in recoil between those and the 90g 'Lite' loads.

The Aguila .22 Short ammo shot very well in the HS Model C pistol and the Remington Model 24 rifle, a licensed copy of JM Browning's .22 semi-auto. I found the Model C didn't care for more than 7 rounds in the mag, so the Aguila appears to be somewhat lower power than Remington's .22 Shorts. The Remington Model 24 shot them with no problems whatsoever – so well that with irons I smacked two clay pigeons at 100 with the first three shots. (My average went down after that…)

The AR10 didn't seem to like WW Deerfield 150g ammo but when I switched to my 150g BT loads the group size shank to about 1". The Ruger Scout was shot only with my handloads and also printed about 1". Winds had kicked up considerably by then so I wasn't surprised groups were not tighter.

Finally got around to shooting my Marlin 375 (.375 Winchester) with more of the Speer 235g bullets, loaded to 2.595", which is just barely short enough to cycle through my Marlin 375. I had fired some of these back in January, working up to 35.0g. The goal is to find a suitable replacement for the now discontinued Hornady 1220g FP bullets.

It looks like I could go higher, but accuracy with 35.0g and 35.5g Reloder 7 was very good, 1.60" and 1.67" at 100, respectively. Velocity was very consistent as well. 35.5g ran 2088, 2048 and 2078fps, 35.5 ran 2074, 20091 and 2087fps. WW brass, Rem 9-1.2 primers, Lee crimp. Accuracy fell off at 36.0g but that could be because the wind kicked into high gear. Velocities for 36.0 are unknown as my chrono went wonky and started throwing errors – probably due to a low battery. It will be a while before I can get to the range again but I may try some still heavier loads. SAAMI MAP is 52,000 CUP.

Out to 300 yards, with MPBR zeros for a 6" target and 2084fps, the 235g Speer trajectory is virtually identical to Hornady 220g @ 2230fps. The difference in drop at 300 calculates out to an extra 1.2" for the 235g bullet, but with 4" less drift and an additional 64fps and 177fps.

Have to say I am very happy with the results. With these loads the .375 Winchester is still limited to 300 yards for my purposes, but that is an extra 50 yards over the Hornady load (1556fps/1264fpe for the Speer @ 300 vs 1600fps/1250fpe @ 250 for the Hornady). My 200g Sierra load runs 2396fps and the 235g Speer is a twin at 300 yards as far as retained fps but adds about 200fpe (1556fps/1264fpe for the Speer vs. 1544fps/1059fpe for the Sierra).

I currently have 150 Hornady 220g loaded up and several hundred Sierra and Volmer bullets on hand. Still, I plan to get a bunch of the Speers 235g in case they get discontinued like the Hornady 220s.

So far all I've taken with the .375 Winchester is a coyote or two and an antelope at 167 lasered yards. The antelope took a death leap and collapsed, 220g Hornady pass-thru.

If anyone has killed game with the Speer 235g and a .375 Winchester, I'd like to hear about it.
 

rangerbob

Buckeye
Joined
Jan 9, 2011
Messages
1,240
The good news for those of use that reload for the 375 Winchester is that Starline announced that they would have 375 brass in the very near future. WW brass is almost non-existent and I've looked at every source. I too lamented the discontinuation of the 220 grain Hornady bullet, did recently find some Sierra's. I wish Hornady would bring back the 220 and the 235 Spire point for my 375 Ruger Mossberg patriot. Bob!! :wink:
 
Top