Author Topic: 375 JDJ Who has one? (Read 838 times)

jrkrk · « **on:** January 15, 2006, 04:08:46 PM »

Hey guys just wondering who has an Encore in 375 JDJ. How is the recoil with this caliber, accuracy and how much for a box of ammo. Thanx John :grin:

Grumulkin · « **Reply #1 on:** January 16, 2006, 02:49:17 AM »

I have a Contender rifle barrel in 375 JDJ. If I remember correctly, I paid Thompson/Center about $35 for a 20 round box of ammo and got about 2 to 3 inch 100 yard groups off the bench with it. Once I start playing around with different loads, I'm confident it will do better. Shooting it with a wood thumbhole stock with a good buttpad, the recoil isn't bad (no worse than .308 Win. or .30/06).

I've never shot a handgun version of the 375 JDJ but extrapolating (with it's inherent limitations) from experience with rifle and handgun calibers in pistol barrels, I don't think it would be much different than a .30/30 or a .454 Casull.

JPH45 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 16, 2006, 05:38:57 PM »

I'm shooting it in a 26" Encore barrel. I've only shot cast in it at present (70 rounds) but find it to have plenty of accuracy potential. My alloy is currently on the soft side for the 1-12 twist, so I'm playing around with that. I'm considering either the Hornady 220 or the Barnes 255 Original for jacketed loads, as I got this for a heavy deer thumper, and figure anything else in 375 is going to be so heavily jacketed that the bullets will only pinhole deer, and even on heavy game the heavy bullets will be at the lower end of impact velocity requirements.

Performance wise, from a rifle one should get equal to and a bit better than 358 Winchester performance. Better as the bullet weight gets heavier. Will it do 35 Whelen? I doubt it, but it would be close. The most comparable cartridge to the 375 JDJ would be the old 9.3x57. JD says to add 10% to pistol velocities for carbine/rifle barrels.

Lawful Larry · « **Reply #3 on:** January 18, 2006, 05:05:40 AM »

Hey JRKRK,
I shoot the Contender in 14" barrel. To say that the ..375 JDJ is a hand cannon is an understatement. It is the hardest recoil shooting handgun I have had the experience to shoot. All that being said, I love it.

I started to load the 220 gr JSP first and get good results with it.

I used 45 grs. of IMR 4895 to get this result. This is my practice round. My hunting round is the same bullet with 48 grs. of IMR 4895 and get a slightly better group size of 1.146" at 50 yards. I have not yet worked up my loads for the 100 yard range.

I just got my hands on some heavier bullets and want to do some more experiments. You must remember that the recoil makes it a little hard to do too much work with this gun at one time. Work needs to be spread out over a longer time period. :wink:

Oh yeah almost forgot the average velocities. I get 1855fps with 45grs. and 2031fps with 48 grs.

JPH45 · « **Reply #4 on:** January 19, 2006, 12:05:59 PM »

Lawful Larry, is that the Hornady bullet?

Lawful Larry · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2006, 04:23:02 AM »

Quote from: JPH45

Lawful Larry, is that the Hornady bullet?

Yes it is and sorry I didn't get back sooner. I am really interested in the rifle version, myself. Would like to hear about the ballistics and any hunting reports.

I had the hand cannon in the woods this year, but no deer. I think they were really scared of the gun. :wink: