Over the years, the .35 Remington has been chambered in a variety of rifles by most firearms manufacturers, and continues in popularity today in the Marlin Model 336 lever-action and Henry Side Gate Lever Action. It is also a popular cartridge for single-shot hunting pistols like the Thompson/Center Contender and the Remington XP-100. For hunters looking for a medium-power rifle with moderate recoil, for short to medium ranges, the .35 Remington is popular alongside the .30-30 Winchester. It has a small but loyal following in the northeast and areas of the southern United States.
The cartridge uses a medium to heavy bullet and has moderate recoil based on a moderate pressure level of 33,500 CUP as set by SAAMI. The normal factory load consists of a 200 grain round-nosed bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2080 feet per second. This 200 grain bullet is nearly 18% heavier than the .30-30's 170 grain bullet, and has a 16% larger frontal area. This gives it a substantial increase in power over the .30-30, especially when used on larger game species.
Remington helped promote the advantage in power that the .35 Remington had over the .30-30 through a series of advertising campaigns in the early 1900s. One of their advertisements even publicized the ability of the .35 Remington to penetrate a 5/16″ steel plate, which the .30-30 Winchester could not do.
The .35 Remington is considered a fine round for deer, elk, black bear, and other medium and large game as long as ranges are reasonable. Hornady currently produces a .35 Remington load in their LEVERevolution line that features a rubber-tipped spitzer bullet which is safe to use in lever action or pump guns with tubular magazines.
The.375 Winchester is a modernized version of the.38-55 Winchester, which was first introduced in 1884 as a black powder cartridge. In 1978, the.375 Winchester cartridge and the Winchester Model 94 "Big Bore" lever-action rifle were launched. It was lauded at the time of its release as a cartridge capable of firing far larger bullets than the.30-30 Win. and in a rifle that weighed only 6.5 pounds.
It was designed by U.S gunmaker Charles H Ballard to be a modern take on Winchester's much older ammo variants. Only Winchester produces a.375 loadings, which is advertised as a 200-grain flat nose Powerpoint bullet that shoots at a realistic 2100fps. The Powerpoint bullet breaks 1800fps at just 80 yards from this velocity, beyond which this bullet design struggles to expand. It is feasible to outperform factory loads by up to 100fps when using manual loads.
The 375 Winchester produces muzzle velocities that are not as high as some of the more recent additions, including factory and hand loads. It can be a slow killer if shot placement isn't perfect. It's worth noting that the cartridge is designed to extend down to impact velocities of 1600fps. The.375" barrel is very broad, and the cartridge's hefty bullets are capable of producing relatively deep penetration. The.375 is able to deliver consistent results by combining a large bullet diameter with hefty flat pointed bullets. If you are looking to be hunting white-tailed deer in the timber, then the 375 Winchester is a good choice.
