I just picked up a 1950's M70 in 300 H&H. The rifle is in excellent condition. Anyone care to share their favorite loads and techniques for this grand old cartridge?

Any info is much appreciated.

Craig Boddington wrote an excellent article on the 300 H&H in Rifle Shooter a couple of months ago.
The new rifle sounds like a beauty, I am looking for a pre 64 in 300H&H myself, but they are as rare as rocking horse shit over here in Australia , Good luck!

A little more information on your intended use would be nice.

I guess I should have expounded on the use of the rifle a bit more. Sorry 'bout that.

The primary purpose of the rifle will be sheep hunting in big bear country, here in Alaska. So, I am leaning toward 180 NP's, NorthForks, and the like. Also looking to work up some 200 grain loads for use in Africa.

I don't have many problems with Winchester brass in my old 53 mod 70 in 300H/H....You just use a good lube...I like Imperial Die Wax and get it even on the sloping shoulder but not too heavy......check to see if you can get good chambering with the die backed off the shell holder a couple of turns and see where the neck is sized with the die that way......it will depend on how your die matchs your guns chamber......and not sizing normaly with the die on the shell holder seems to work well to make the brass fit the chamber and last...I use IMR 4350 for my loads with Federal mag primers....67-69grains with the 165 long range loads and 66-68 for the 180's.......and a couple less for the few times I used the 200's....the IMR 4350 did so well for me that I didn't use a different powder but a friend likes IMR/H 4831 in his 300H/H......I have RCBS dies for the H/H and I polished the expander down to make it smooth and smaller to give a good grip on the bullet with out a heavy crimp.........I just do my normal case prep with trimm to length and uniform the primer pockets to get good even primer seating and check the cases for seperation with a probe after several reloadings but they do not have a problem with that if your die and resizing for your chamber matchs well.....HTH.good luck and good shooting with that great old gun and the "SUPER 30".......

Like any cartridge you should check the web inside the case with a feeler wire for insipiant head separations. Also set the FL die with care.

Remove the firing pin from the bolt when trying FL sized brass while setting the lock ring and die postion to the shell holder.

I've got 2 300 H&H's that I load for. A fairly new model, and an old model. Both of them like 180 gr. Nosler Partitions with H-4831 (the soft nosed version, not the protected points). I think that H-4831 is probably the best powder out there for the 300 H&H. Check Hodgdon's website for the data. I'm able to get right at 3000 fps. with 180's using 4831 out of a 24 inch bbl. The only thing lighter than the 180's I've used are the 168 gr. Barnes XLC's. For those I used H-4350 and was able to get a little over 3100 fps.



As the others have said, you need to either neck size your cases or do a partial full length resize and keep an eye on the cases for thinning in the web area. The long slender H&H case is very prone to stretching and eventually, case head separations. If you use careful loading procedures and size the cases properly you should get decent life out of them.

65gr of IMR 4350 with 180gr Partitions give me one ragged hole with my 1941 vintage Model 70. MV is right at 3000 fps. Can't ask for much more than that! jorge

The .300 H&H is a very fine cartridge and mine likes the 200 grain Swift A-Frame at 2900'/sec...it's an awesome load.....and I think it could do more but I have no reason to push it.

I'm using IMR 4350 powder and with excellent success.....it kills Kudus very well.

D,
If you will email me, I have 98 new 300 H&H cases that I'm not using.

I use 200 gr. Noslers with Re22 in my 1948 M70. I get just over 2800 fps with great accuracy. Something you might check if you haven't already, pull the metal from the wood and look at the area behind the recoil lug. Mine looked like it had been cracked for years. I steel bedded it and have had no further problems. I wish I had another one as my son has decided that this one is his favorite elk rifle.
C.G.B.

Rusty,
An email was sent. Thank you.

CGB,
That was the first thing I did when I brought the rifle home. I don't think this rifle was shot enough to damage anything, but I did find that it was glassed at some point. Not the recoil lug, but forward of it.

Thanks again to everyone that has responded.

Here is my load test data for a new rifle I picked up in 2002.

With my limited testing, I found the Nosler Partition 180 gr. (moly), seated .005" off lands, RL 19, at 2890 fps to be the most accurate load (See test 5). By seating .005" closer to lands (as compared to Test 3 at .010" off lands), I gained accuracy and lost about 60 fps in velocity.

Rifle: Dakota 76 African
300 H&H
26� barrel
Chronograph: Oehler 35P
Distance: 100 yards
Weather: 70 degrees / calm

TEST # 1:

Bullet: Barnes 165 gr. XBT XCL
Case: Win. / new / primer pocket uniformed / flash hole deburred
Trim length: These new cases measured about 2.830� (.010� less than trim to length) and required no trimming.
Primer: Fed 215M
Powder: H 4350
Bullet seating: .010� off lands

POWDER CHARGE / VELOCITY

68.0 / 3077
69.0 / 3083
69.5 / 3126
70.0 / 3150

Comments: No pressure indicated. The best 5 shot group was the 70.0 grain load and measured 1.75�

TEST # 2:

Bullet: Nosler Partition 165 gr.
Case: Win. / new / primer pocket uniformed / flash hole deburred
Trim length: These new cases measured about 2.830� (.010� less than trim to length) and required no trimming.
Primer: Fed 215M
Powder: H 4350
Bullet seating: .010� off lands

POWDER CHARGE / VELOCITY

69.0 / 3117
69.5 / 3120
70.0 / 3126
70.5 / 3150

Comments: No pressure indicated. Best group was 2� with the 70.5 gr. Load.

TEST # 3:

Bullet: Nolser Partition 180 gr. (moly)
Case: Win. / new / primer pocket uniformed / flash hole deburred
Trim length: These new cases measured about 2.830� (.010� less than trim to length) and required no trimming.
Primer: Fed 215M
Powder: RL 19
Bullet seating: .010� off lands

POWDER CHARGE / VELOCITY

67.5 / 2866
68.0 / 2868
68.5 / 2870
69.0 / 2925
69.5 / 2950

Comments: No pressure indicated. Achieved 1.25� 5 shot groups with both the 69.0 and 69.5 charge.

TEST # 4:

Bullet: Nolser Partition 180 gr. (moly)
Case: Win. / new / primer pocket uniformed / flash hole deburred
Trim length: These new cases measured about 2.830� (.010� less than trim to length) and required no trimming.
Primer: Fed 215M
Powder: IMR 4350
Bullet seating: .010� off lands

POWDER CHARGE / VELOCITY

64.0 / 2890
64.5 / 2890
65.0 / 2920


Comments: No pressure indicated. Achieved 1.50� 5 shot groups with 65.0 gr. charge.

TEST # 5:

Bullet: Nolser Partition 180 gr. (moly)
Case: Win. / once fired / primer pocket uniformed / flash hole deburred
Trim length: These cases measured about 2.830� (.010� less than trim to length) and required no trimming.
Primer: Fed 215M
Powder: RL 19
Bullet seating: .005� off lands

POWDER CHARGE / VELOCITY

69.5 / 2890

Comments: This load produced 5 shot group at just under 1�. This load differs from TEST # 3 in that bullet was seated .005� off lands and cases were once fired. Interesting that it produced 60 fps less velocity that TEST # 3 and greater accuracy.

My rebarreled Classic M70 loves 200grn Nosler Partitions and 65 grains of RL22. It gets about 2850fps and shoots .8 MOA