.375 Holland & Holland Magnum

.375 Holland & Holland Magnum

The .375 Holland & Holland Magnum is a medium-bore rifle cartridge. The .375 H&H was only the second cartridge ever to feature a belt, now common among magnum rounds. The belt is for headspace, due to the narrow shoulder. The belt replaced the rim in function on these new rimless cartridges.

It was introduced by the British company Holland & Holland in 1912 as the .375 Belted Rimless Nitro-Express. It initially used cordite propellant which was made in long strands – hence the tapered shape of this cartridge, which was also to ensure smooth chambering and extraction from a rifle's breech.

The .375 H&H is often cited as one of the most useful all-round rifle cartridges, especially where large and dangerous game are found. With relatively light bullets in the region of 235 to 270 grains (15 to 17 g), it is a flat-shooting, fairly long-range cartridge ideal for use on light to medium game. With heavy bullets of 300 grains (19 g) and greater, it has the punch necessary for large, thick-skinned dangerous game. In many regions with thick-skinned dangerous game animals, the .375 H&H is seen as the minimum acceptable caliber, and in many places (in Africa, primarily) it is now the legal minimum for hunting such game. African game guides, professional hunters, and dangerous game cullers have repeatedly voted the .375 H&H as their clear preference for an all-round caliber if they could only have one rifle. A similar preference has been expressed by Alaskan game guides for brown bear and polar bear country

Unlike what is seen in most calibers, many .375 H&H rifles also achieve nearly the same point of impact over a wide range of bullet weights at all commonly used distances, further simplifying a professional hunter's choice in selecting different grain bullets based upon the game hunted. This requires less scope or sight adjustments, which further serves to popularize the .375 H&H Magnum among professional hunters (PHs).