What kind of crazy person would own a .375 H&H Magnum that, equipped with scope weighs 8.125 pounds AND shoots a 300-grain Barnes VorTX at 2400 feet per second? The reason I (and likely you) ask is because this is a very light rifle set up for a very stout recoiling rifle. Of course, the cartridge, first introduced by Holland and Holland in 1912, may be the single most famous and thought of round for African hunting. It is the minimum dangerous game cartridge required of nearly all African countries. Back to recoil, the above-mentioned cartridge in this rifle weight generates about 42-foot pounds of recoil energy, not enough to immediately break your shoulder but very definitely sufficient to gain your attention.
Some quick information about this rifle, shown below:
I had a plan to go to South Africa in late 2026 and absolutely wanted to take an iconic .375 H&H with me, although I was not committed to dangerous game hunting specifically. Dangerous game, or typically called the Big Five, includes lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo. As a fellow named Asher Watkins was killed in August of 2025 (about the time I commissioned this rifle to be built), my wife laid down some ground rules about what I was and wasn't going to do if she conceded me even going to South Africa. I rationalized that I could certainly use this gun on things like warthogs, wildebeest, and maybe even an Eland. In any event, I asked my friend and super custom gun builder and the best rifleman I know, Lloyd Hill of Genesis Rifles (https://www.genesisrifles.com) to build a perfect for me .375 of the H&H variety. There are other versions like the .375 Ruger, .375 RUM, .375 Weatherby, etc. But the original would be just right for me and my sense of nostalgia as regards hunting in Africa. So, we agreed on a Zermatt Ti action, Proof carbon fiber barrel, Manners stock, Trigger Tech Diamond trigger, and Swarovski Z8i 1,7 x 13.3 x 42 mm scope and rings (https://www.swarovskioptik.com/us/en/hunting/products/rifle-scopes/z8-i/z8i-plus/z8i-1-7-13-3x42-ii) .
There was no expense to be spared and there were no shortcuts or compromises. Not mentioned yet, but as can be seen in the photo, the most important part of this build was the titanium muzzle brake. It is designed by Mr. Hill and only available through Genesis Rifles. I don't have a means of measuring the exact percentage of recoil reduction it provides but I can tell you that I have .308's and 30-06's that are substantially harder recoiling than my now beloved .375! In fact, during my 4-day SAAM course at the FTW Ranch in April, I took two rifles—one for plains game hunting preparation and the .375, the latter of which I used daily at 50-60 rounds per day. No recoil pad, nothing but me, a light jacket and my rifle. It is a genuine pleasure to shoot and, although muzzle brakes are notoriously deafening, I used simple earplugs on a string for hearing protection and they (and my ears) were just fine. I short, I love shooting this gun. It is far less expensive than my .416 Rigby at $10 per round. The .375 ammo that I used and continue to use is Barnes 300 grain VorTX which today sells at right around $100 per box of 20.
So, how does it shoot? When I first took delivery from the aforementioned Mr. Hill, we shot to zero at 100 yards very quickly. The first shot was a little tentative as I expected to be beaten up by recoil but to my surprise, this rifle is a pussy cat! Don't get me wrong. You know when you've lit off a round but you can also see your impact, run the bolt in the butter smooth Zermatt action and be ready for a near instantaneous follow up shot if needed. Anyway, we got the zeroing done—group size was just a hair below an inch so we worked my kestrel and started validating its predictions at distances from 50 to 300. The rifle's ability to put the big 300 grainers in far less than a 6-inch circle at 300 made me very confident that this gun would have very high utility on my Africa hunt.
I'm going to conclude here because I've written a review of my Safari preparation and training experience at the FTW Ranch where, for four days, I had the most amazing and productive experience is more than 60 years of hunting, shooting, and learning all things related thereto. Check out the Review of the FTW Ranch SAAM Program.