.300 Holland and Holland, opinions and suggestions on how to feed one

[BruceS]

I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of a very special to me rifle. This is in .300 HH and I have never owned one before so I have no ammunition or reloading components for it aside from .30 cal bullets and primers.

So, the question is, do I acquire new or used brass or, should I buy loaded ammo and save the brass after the ammo is shot?

Naturally there are tons of nuances to either option. What are the opinions and suggestions of the group?

I only buy new brass. I enjoy load development and find i get about 5 loadings before case is discarded. Love woodleigh 220gr. Very deadly on plainsgame.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I only buy new brass. I enjoy load development and find i get about 5 loadings before case is discarded. Love woodleigh 220gr. Very deadly on plainsgame.

@BruceS
If you trat your brass well there's no reason not to get 10-20 reloads per case.
Neck size only until the brass gets hard to chamber, only them bump the shoulder back the minimum needed.

Check length and trim when needed
Re chamfer inside and outside of cas neck after trimming.
Anneal every 5 reloads.
Doing this cases should last a long long time.
Bob

 

[Razorback]

Adding my 2c here on the 300 H&H...

1. Case failure tends to happen above the belt (i.e. case head separation) and not neck cracking. I do anneal every reloading cycle and have yet to have a single neck crack. I partial full-length resize to try and index off the shoulder and minimise case stretch. It gives better case life than pure neck-sizing.
2. The hotter the load, the faster the onset of case head separation.
3. I used 200gr bullets for years - Accubonds, Peregrine monos, TSX and NOrma Oryx until supply constraints ruled the various options out. The flatbase TSX and Oryx were by far the most accurate.
4. I know use 180gr Partitions and these have been the most accurate in my rifle yet.
5. Reloder-26 gives the most/best performance if you want to run up to the pressure limit in pursuit of velocity.

What velocities are you getting with Reloder 26 and 180 gr? I would imagine close to 3100?

 

[BruceS]

@BruceS
If you trat your brass well there's no reason not to get 10-20 reloads per case.
Neck size only until the brass gets hard to chamber, only them bump the shoulder back the minimum needed.

Check length and trim when needed
Re chamfer inside and outside of cas neck after trimming.
Anneal every 5 reloads.
Doing this cases should last a long long time.
Bob

Thanks for the tip. I will give it a go

 

[MacJenkins]

I use to have neck size dies for every caliber. I have not used them in over a decade, problem is consistency. I don't like the idea of neck sizing until it does not fit. That means you are not making consistent ammo from batch to batch. I bump the shoulder 2 though now. I like full size bushing dies if available. Often times I remove the button and uniform the neck with a mandrel after sizing. Now with good annealing machines available my ammo consistency has greatly improved.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I use to have neck size dies for every caliber. I have not used them in over a decade, problem is consistency. I don't like the idea of neck sizing until it does not fit. That means you are not making consistent ammo from batch to batch. I bump the shoulder 2 though now. I like full size bushing dies if available. Often times I remove the button and uniform the neck with a mandrel after sizing. Now with good annealing machines available my ammo consistency has greatly improved.

@MacJenkins
If'n neck sizing doesn't produce consistently good ammo for accuracy why do the bench rest crowd swear by it .
My rifle only use neck sized brass as described previously and all shoot sub moa groups and a couple shoot sub half MOA .
So it will agree to disagree with you as all rifles are a law unti themselves.
Bob

 

[MacJenkins]

@MacJenkins
If'n neck sizing doesn't produce consistently good ammo for accuracy why do the bench rest crowd swear by it .
My rifle only use neck sized brass as described previously and all shoot sub moa groups and a couple shoot sub half MOA .
So it will agree to disagree with you as all rifles are a law unti themselves.
Bob

Hello Bob, I don’t follow much on the benches crowd. I do follow F-Class a bit and follow a couple of those top shooters. They say they bump shoulders ever firing.

I agree, what works for some don’t for others.

 

[ve7poi]

@BruceS
If you trat your brass well there's no reason not to get 10-20 reloads per case.
Neck size only until the brass gets hard to chamber, only them bump the shoulder back the minimum needed.

Check length and trim when needed
Re chamfer inside and outside of cas neck after trimming.
Anneal every 5 reloads.
Doing this cases should last a long long time.
Bob

Very good advice

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

The key result from neck sizing or even better, partial neck sizing is that it ensures cartridge perfect centric alignment with that specific rifle chamber and bore. The neck sized brass should be kept with the specific rifle in which it was fired. Bumping the shoulder back at such time when bolt closure has resistance optimizes cartridge-chamber-bore alignment, hence full rifle accuracy potential.

 

[Schüler Jumbo]

The classic .300 H&H brass failure is separation of the case in front of the head spacing belt. This occurs because of the shallow 8 degrees shoulder angle which allows excessive case stretching. Partial neck sizing goes a long way to increasing .300 H&H brass life along with case annealing. I anneal after two firings.

 

[quandary]

Hello Bob, I don’t follow much on the benches crowd. I do follow F-Class a bit and follow a couple of those top shooters. They say they bump shoulders ever firing.

I agree, what works for some don’t for others.

Eric Cortina being one of the most successful F-Class shooters who fully believes in FL sizing every time. I also tend to anneal every reload. If you call and chat with the brass makers, in this case Peterson, they will tell you annealing can only help. It also helps to have an induction annealer so annealing is a very simple step in the process for me.

 

[MacJenkins]

Eric Cortina being one of the most successful F-Class shooters who fully believes in FL sizing every time. I also tend to anneal every reload. If you call and chat with the brass makers, in this case Peterson, they will tell you annealing can only help. It also helps to have an induction annealer so annealing is a very simple step in the process for me.

Yes I have an AMP annealer an I use it ever time.

 

[LimbNoMo]

I have a mechanic’s inductor. This seems like a good place to thank @Bob Nelson 35Whelen for getting me to use it for annealing brass.

 

[HWL]

Bought this at egun.
DWM ammunition from the late 60s. Shot two boxes at the range without any malfunction.

HWL