I thought I would begin posting about a different sort of .300 H&H rifle I am having assembled. Once finished, I will plan on doing some different things with the cartridge as well and I will post those too.

I really like the .300 H&H cartridge. I like it so much that I had H&H make a very special single shot rifle to my specifications. It has classic lines, Turkish walnut, and fine engraving. It is the sort of rifle most people think of when they think of a rifle chambered in .300 H&H. But this time I thought I would do something different.

You'll see where I am headed as the project is completed. I will add components to the list below as they go into the rifle.

I started with an FN commercial Mauser action in the white. It was already set up for the long H&H cartridges from the factory. It has the adjustable SAKO trigger that FN was using for a time and I like that enough to keep it.



I found an unused Parker-Hale .308 caliber barrel. It is made of chrome molybdenum steel and was cold hammer forged by Kongsberg Vapenfabrikk, Norway for Parker-Hale. It was factory chambered in 7.62 NATO. It is what Parker-Hale used for their M-82 and M-85 Sniper rifles. The barrel came 27.75 inches long with the last 1.315 inches reduced to a stub 0.590" in diameter for mounting of the Parker-Hale front sight. Rifling is 1:12" turn ratio with 4 right hand twists.





The rifle will have a flash hider compatible with installation of a sound suppressor. I chose the SureFire SOCOM SF3P-762-5/8-24 Flash Hider/Suppressor Adapter.



Here is the barreled action put together. This part of the work was done by our own AR poster, dpcd. The action was barreled and rechambered to .300 H&H. The barrel stub was cut off and the muzzle crowned and threaded for the flash hider. Barrel length is now 26-1/2" or just a smidgen over 28" if you count the flash hider.



Next, the barreled action goes off for the stock. It won't be a wood stock.

Tagging along to watch this build....

dpcd does excellent work.

The 1:12" twist, are you thinking primarily 180gr bullets for it?

Looks good from here.

That 1:12" barrel was made to shoot 155 grain bullets from 7.62 NATO ammunition. By going to the .300 H&H it will be just right for 168, 175, 180, 185, and some 190 grain bullets. I'll start off by shooting factory 180 grain ammo. After that, well we'll see. Two bullets I will be trying with great expectations are the Berger 175 grain VLD (in both Match and Hunting versions) and the Berger 185 grain Match Juggernaut OTM Tactical. The .300 H&H should have no trouble firing those fast enough to stay supersonic long past 1000 yards.

J,
I shouldn't ask, but did your barrel source have any more of those laying around?

I sent you a PM.

I love the idea of a specialty .300 H$H for long range shooting. My favorite cartridge as well. Looking forward to range reports on that one.

I like thinking outside the box! Using the velocity advantage of the magnum to overcome the twist limitations is something that I had not considered. Several years ago, I bought 5 of these barrels, lightly used, from Sarco, for the grand sum of $100! I barreled them up in their standard 308 chambering on Mauser 98's as they are threaded for. Each one of them has been a tackdriver! Since I am waiting on my suppressor stamp, you have got me thinking about threading the muzzle of one of them for my new suppressor! Please follow up with your upcoming experiences with the heavier bullets, many of us will be waiting! What are you using for your stock? Lee.

I decided to wait till I get the bottom metal before I get it stocked so everything will be properly inlet and bedded. It is a bottom metal with a removable box magazine. The box holds ammo 3.6" long. It should be here Tuesday and I'll post a picture before I send it all to McMillan.

I am considering two stocks. One is McMillan's M40A-1 HTG. The other is their A-2. The A-2 makes more sense for prone and bench shooting. The M40-A1 HTG is a little more versatile and I like the classic M40 look. The M40A1 HTG also has a little longer LOP and 3/8" more drop.

If you are not getting am adjustable comb, I would get the McMillan McHale stock.

Its made for Mauser actions, and has the highest comb of nearly all McMillan stocks.

With an adjustable comb, I would choose the A3-5 Adjustable.

New bottom metal.



I decided I should add this before sending it out for a stock. The magazine is a standard Accuracy International AICS 5-round. The ammunition is held in a single column. It is a 300 Win Mag magazine but it holds the H&H ammo just fine. They also come in 10-round versions but those would stick way out below. The magazine well is a bit too tight. I had to jam the magazine in and it was difficult to remove. I'll use some emery cloth to take a few thousandths off the front and rear of the well so the magazine will slide in as it should.

Look at 155 grain Scenar bullets.

People are using those in 308 Win, and shooting bull elks at 5-600 yards, with pass throughs.

Maybe not what you want to do, but the 155 grains Scenars are very good in 308 Win. Should be great in 300 H&H.

Didn't Ben E Comfort win the Wimbledon Cup back in 1935 with a 300 H&H?

quote:

Originally posted by kiwiwildcat:
Didn't Ben E Comfort win the Wimbledon Cup back in 1935 with a 300 H&H?

I was going to say that the 300 H&H has a history of long range shooting but the Kiwi beat me to it.

Any updates on this project??

I am waiting for McMillan to return it to me stocked. They have had it for four months.

And I am still waiting on my stamp from ATF !

It's still at McMillan getting stocked. It's been with them a year. I called a couple of months ago and I was told they were just finishing it up.

quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
It's still at McMillan getting stocked. It's been with them a year. I called a couple of months ago and I was told they were just finishing it up.

Ouch

What a one of a kind rifle!
Suppressed, mag fed 300 H&H

I love the caliber, used it a lot on game over the years..I recently sold my old pre war mod. 70 and kept my old Rem 721..MOst would suggest just the opposite and I can't argue that, but the Rem was my first magnum some ions ago as a very young man indeed, it shoots tiny groups with any load, it was a nostalgic move on my part and the 70 fetched me bigger bucks by a bunch..Both had low combs and low powered scopes but I made some fantastic shots with both. A 200 gr bullet at 2900 FPS is deadly on anything. Great caliber and that long sloping case recoils less IMO and extraction is slicker n snot and so is the feeding..

Will McMillan bed it for you? I had them stock a Mauser for me last winter. They wouldn't do the bedding. I live in Az. in the winter not far from them. After four months I just about camped out at their place. Got them to finish it in a week.

That will be a great rifle, good keeping the traditional but updated style of it . Looking forward to see choice of stock you have added for it .

McMillan just called. The rifle is shipping next week so I should have it the week after that. I've been waiting over a year. I'll soon get to see if it was worth the wait.

All together and ready for the range. Here are some pictures.

COOl!!

Great looking rig! Let us know how she shoots, please.

I have some preliminary loads made with different weights of powder using IMR 4831 and Reloader 19. I think Reloader 22 and 25 would be better choices but I'm using powders I already have on hand.

My goal is to get 190gr Sierra Matchking bullets exiting at ~2887 fps. I don't think I'll have trouble doing that, especially with a 26-1/2" barrel. The reason I want to get around 2887 fps is because of the scope. It is a Kahles ZF95 and I installed the cam calibrated for the 190gr SMK @ 2887 fps.

The weather isn't cooperating. I don't much mind shooting in snow or rain but I can't get the chronograph to work in those conditions. Things should clear up in a few days.

Well, today didn't go as planned. I had several different loads to try out as well as a few factory loads.

It was goods news and bad news.

First the Good news:

I got these velocity averages with five shots of each factory load shooting at 350' ASL and 39°F.

Federal 180 grain Trophy Bonded Tip -- 2880 fps. The advertised velocity is exactly the same, 2880 fps.

Federal 180 grain Nosler Partition -- 2841 fps. The advertised velocity is 2880 fps.

Winchester 180gr Silvertip, old style X300H2 -- 2715 fps. I don't remember the advertised velocity of these cartridges.

I am very pleased with the velocities above. My experience is that factory loads seldom if ever reach their advertised velocities. But the Federal loads did so in my rifle and did it while shooting in 39°F weather. Muzzle velocity varies about 2.5 to 4.0 fps per 1.8°F change in temperature. Which means I should see another 40-64 fps increase in the above chronograph velocities shooting those same cartridges at 68°F.


Now the Bad news:

My handloads wouldn't chamber! It looks like they didn't get fully sized. I don't know how that happened. I'll figure it out. But, now I've got to pull bullets from the test loads and start all over again. I'll also have to resize, as in re-resize, another 50 primed cases.

.

quote:

Originally posted by Grenadier:
Well, today didn't go as planned. I had several different loads to try out as well as a few factory loads.

It was goods news and bad news.

First the Good news:

I got these velocity averages with five shots of each factory load shooting at 350' ASL and 39°F.

Federal 180 grain Trophy Bonded Tip -- 2880 fps. The advertised velocity is exactly the same, 2880 fps.

Federal 180 grain Nosler Partition -- 2841 fps. The advertised velocity is 2880 fps.

Winchester 180gr Silvertip, old style X300H2 -- 2715 fps. I don't remember the advertised velocity of these cartridges.

I am very pleased with the velocities above. My experience is that factory loads seldom if ever reach their advertised velocities. But the Federal loads did so in my rifle and did it while shooting in 39°F weather. Muzzle velocity varies about 2.5 to 4.0 fps per 1.8°F change in temperature. Which means I should see another 40-64 fps increase in the above chronograph velocities shooting those same cartridges at 68°F.


Now the Bad news:

My handloads wouldn't chamber! It looks like they didn't get fully sized. I don't know how that happened. I'll figure it out. But, now I've got to pull bullets from the test loads and start all over again. I'll also have to resize, as in re-resize, another 50 primed cases.

I hate resizing primed cases!

I got mine back from dpcd last week. It is eerily similar to yours, in that it is a true magnum FN commercial action, from the mid-1950's. It came to me with a 375 IMP barrel installed. dpcd pulled the barrel when I stopped at his shop this summer enroute to Bartleins to pick up an OM 70 they fit a new barrel to in 6,5-284. They took the 375 barrel and made a 308 caliber barrel for me with the same profile. They were kind enough to ship it to dpcd and he just finished the switch barrel system he designed for me and shipped it home.

His system is unique, and this was the test pilot for his idea.

My stock is finely figured walnut, and I made my own double square bridge bases for the action a couple years ago.

I had eleven rounds left of the old Silvertip 300gr ammunition from selling my OM 70 300 H&H. Took 3 to zero it at 200 yards. Four rounds went in a group about 1.4" vertical by .9" horizontal. I took the scope and barrel off and left the range at a balmy 23-degrees. I will take it back in a couple days, reassemble it, and see how it holds zero.

Congratulations on a fine build!

Rich

Actually, I am pretty surprised that the velocities were that close.
I was always under the impression that the domestic ammo was loaded down like the 303 is. I have one unmounted barrel left out of the original five, I think I will turn the O.D. down just a bit
past the forearm as these are quite muzzle heavy! I may go with the Win mag as I already have the reamer, but the H&H is mighty tempting! Keep us informed on your progress!

Looks like it could give an M2010 a run for its money! Retro-mod sniper outfit!