In the book Pronghorn Hunting, I came across this info:

"Most wildcat cartridge designers fail to ever be as widely recognized as Weatherby for their efforts. One such shooter is Henry Ball of Greensboro, North Carolina. In his local area, and among a small group of "in" long-range benchrest shooters, he's known for his super-accurate, high-velocity wildcat calibers. For instance, take his 7mm H&B Magnum, which gets a 140-grain spire-point bullet out of the muzzle at an earth-shattering 3680 f.p.s. Zeroed dead-on at 200 yards, this flat-shooting 7mm wildcat prints less than 1 inch high at 100 yards and less than 2 inches low at 300 yards. At 400 yards the 140-grain bullet hits only about 8 inches low and, for the record, is still travelling along at 2760 f.p.s.

Ball's .257 B&B Magnum takes a 100-grain spire-point to 4022 f.p.s. at the muzzle, and if the shooter sights in dead-on at 400 yards, the bullet would impact just 2.9 inches high at 100 yards, 4.9 inches high at 200 yards, and 4.2 inches high at 300 yards. In other words, the pronghorn hunter could hold dead center all the way out to 450 yards, where the bullet impacts just 3.5 inches low, and still put the speedy 100-grain bullet squarely through the animal's chest cavity."

Does anyone know anything about Henry Ball and these cartridges? What are they based on, what kinds of pressures he runs, how long a barrel is needed, etc? I wonder if the .257 B&B Magnum is entered as a typo, since the 7mm cartridge is called the H&B Magnum? These kinds of speeds have to be tough on a barrel, but I bet they would be great to shoot while it lasted.

There is/was a Mr. Ball involved with the Savage 10 ML.

There have always been extreme cartridges. Ball would have to done what Roy Weatherby did to be known. Weatherby took someone else's poor cartridge design and put in in a rifle with zig zag inlays and tiny locking lugs and created a market all by himself. A great marketing effort it was.

captain

What is the time period of the book? Could it be that the H&B cartridges are from many years ago and have since faded into history? I am an old guy who also shoots long range Benchrest and have never heard the name Henry Ball.

Those are certainly impressive ballistics but I wonder if they are like many from the days when chronographs weren't widely available, i.e., optimistic guesses only? On the other hand, I'm sure you could obtain the velocities with cases such as the 378 Weatherby but the barrel life would be so short that load development and sighting in would use up most of it. And best accuracy is usually obtained with velocities far less than the ones quoted.

Don't get me wrong. I am a certifiable wildcatter myself and would never discount others, as long as the claims can be backed up. I'd like to know more about the H&B magnums too.

Ray

Sorry - the book is copyright 2001 from Creative Publishing International (ISBN: 0-86573-157-8), so I would hope they had a chrono available.

If this is the same Henry Ball that designed the Savage ML, I would have to assume that these speeds were verified by direct chrono measurements. From my readings on THAT Henry Ball (and his son Bill), he was quite meticulus in his work.

Maybe someone will be able to chime in with more information??

EDITED TO ADD: I just did some more searching and came up with this interview with William Ball that mentions the 257 B&B Mag, so I would say that yes, the Henry Ball that worked on the Savage ML was also the designer of these cartridges. Here's a small snip of it:

"There is one civilian sniper match that sticks out, because they would not let me shoot the 20" x 36" pop-up targets that the other competitors were shooting. Instead I had to shoot 6" x 9" steel plates all the way out to 600 yards. They said I had to shoot those targets because my rifle was not a .308 Win., but a .257 B&B Mag (which pushes a 100 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip at 4,020 FPS) and would not knock over the pop-up silhouette targets. Everyone else was shooting .22-250's and .308 Win's. But that was alright, because I just blew 1" holes through their steel plates out to 300 yards, and out to 600 yards I shot the plates off their welded-on chains. I wrecked havoc on their range, tore up the targets, took their trophy, and left laughing."

As I said, I'm sure he can get the velocities he claims using a case like the 378 Weatherby. But, again as I said, his barrels ain't going to last long.

He sounds like he has an ego as big as his cartridges. Assuming he didn't embellish the story, WHY would somebody brag about going to a match and "wreak havoc on their range." I'll bet he was never invited back. Certainly not the kind of guy I'd care to be around.

Ray

okay.. i'll bit..
the 7x338 lapua is kind of the same thing..

in a 32inch barrel, at 63k psi, it will take a matchking to 3680.

at a 200 yard zero it is .7 high at 100, and -4.1 at 300, -12.1 at 400 and 2401 fps... per quicktarget...

i don't mind fellas beating their drums on their rounds, but the matchking is a high high bc bullet...

or, yeah, it might go that fast, but you must shoot it to be certain

jeffe

Those velocities sure do seem high. All I know is what I pasted above. I'm just trying to fish for some more info. I thought the 7mmRUM was too much, then I read about this one...

The .257 with a Nosler ballistic tip sure does appear to be a laser, though. I do wonder how many matches a guy could win before the accuracy went down the crapper? It sure would be interesting to shoot one until then!