An odd but interesting thought popped into my head today after reading some articles and talking to my dad a bit. He’s been out of the target rifle game for all of my lifetime but grew up among some pretty serious guys who shot .300 H&H’s from the 40’s to at least the late 60’s or so for long range target and hunting. He’s been interested to see me get into reloading and such for a while but not gone all the way into getting back into it himself. It was really cool having some time to spend with him this past Christmas reloading some rifle rounds and him telling me of how he and his dad then stepdad and their neighborhood friends who were basically uncles to him would work on loads together. He even remembered the charges and powders they’d use, even having not seen any of the stuff in 40 years. One of the people who did that helped him out in a profound way: when his dad died, the neighbor helped pay the gunsmith bill for a rifle built for him as a child, a last gift from his father. He’s retired now and could use a little more interest in things to perk up a bit, and I was thinking of possibly building a rifle for him that would interest him enough to want to shoot regularly again.
Could it be worthwhile to build a contemporary precision bolt gun, i.e. in a chassis and good barrel makers of today, chambered in .300 Holland and Holland, which brings plenty of performance to the table (right at what a Win Mag does) but speaks his language so to speak? Is anyone doing this, or other than less commonly available brass, any reason especially not to? So often I’ll offer him something and he’ll say “No no, that’s for you not for me”-- making something in this, something not commonly found, clearly and indisputably IS for him. Is it the same bolt face as a Win mag? Same length? I can figure out the reloading data on it no problem, and getting a barrel chambered for it should be straightforward, right? What else should I know about this?
If it can’t be done reasonably I’ll do something else like just build him an AR, but would like to at least explore this idea first.
I cannot help on the tech info, but it is a very cool thing…I seem to remember one of my friends father having an old model 70 bull-gun in 300 H&H…not sure if it was factory, but it was accurate. Good luck on your project.
certainly possible and no doubt cool, but if he’s old enough to shoot in the 40s, will he really want the recoil of an H&H? Would you want to put him in a position where he felt obliged to shoot it even though it’s painful?
If it has a brake or a can on it, the stock adjustable, and the barrel a heavy contour which plus optic, stock, and bipod has a good bit of weight, I expect recoil to not be an issue. To clarify on age: he was a kid in the late 40’s and 50’s so the H&H was the gun his mentors reloaded for, not that he himself shot much until later if at all. He would shoot his .243 while they shot the bigger stuff, but the reloading was all done together.
I applaud your effort. This is one of those times where there is only one right choice for which comparisons do not exist. Everything you need is available if not more expensive however.
First, I am going off of memory here so if I err, someone can point it out.
The H&H uses a .540" bolt face, magnum long action. Same as .300 wm or .300 wby. IIRC, Rem made a m700 classic one year in the H&H in 1983. Those may still be found on the market.
The H&H with long tapered case feeds and extracts like it’s oiled it is so slick. That is what necessitated the belt for headspacing.
It is very versatile with slightly less kick than the win mag (more on par with the short action mags) for comparable bullet size.
While it may be difficult to find what you want off the shelf, you can certainly get a win mag rifle and just have it rebarreled easy enough. Again, off the top of my head and no other research, the same bolt and everything else can be used.
In doing a bit of research myself, it appears the H&H has a longer cartridge OAL-- 3.655 vs. 3.430 for the Win Mag for the same 190-220gr stuff that makes it worthwhile to do. Is this within the operable length of standard long actions? I see AI mags listed as 3.71 length, so does that indicate it’s a go still?