300 H&H Military Match Ammo

[ammonut1938]

I would like to know when and how this was used. Thanks

Information

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[Cosine26]

As far as I know there never was any MILITARY 300 H&H match ammo loaded. Ben Comfort, using a custom built 300 H&H (on a M1917 action and a Winchester barrel) and Western 300 H&H Supermatch ammo won the Wimbledon match at the Nationals at Camp Perry in 1935 with a score of 100-14V’s. After that the 300 H&H became the standard round for long range shooting in the “any rifle” category. Now “any rifle” pertained to only the thirty caliber round. Many matches required the use of the “service rifle” and “service ammo”. It was only after the army adopted the 7.62 that the 308 W was allowed in the 1960’s. The army continued to buy Western Supermatch up into the 1960’s. The army did not reload the 300 H&H and gave the cases away. The problem was that from the beginning until sometime in the 1960’s the Supermatch was loaded with the 8 ½ G primer which ws both corrosive and mercuric. The mercuric primer ruined the case. In the mid 60’s thus was changed to the standard 8G primer which was non mercuric and non corrosive. Because the army ws giving the cases away there was a real search to determine if the 300 H&H WSM still used the 8 ½ G. It was determined that it did not so we all got some cases. I still have one of the boxes, though the cases are long gone. The AMU (Army Marksmanship Unit) began experimenting with and loading calibers other than the 300 H&H. One of the early one was the 308 Norma Magnum. This was followed by the 30-338. When Winchester introduced the 300 Winchester Magnum most converted to that.
The 300 H&H was not a bad cartridge but with is long sloping configuration had a tendency to grow longer. The 300 H&H was loaded to about 55K psi. It required trimming often and the flowing brass made the brass thin near the; case head separation was not uncommon.
As an aside, when Weatherby introduced the e300 Weatherby Magnum some of the shooters tried that caliber. The 300 H&H and other Magnum thirties gave about 3000 fps MV while the 300 W gave about 3200fps. The problem was that the available bullets were not meant for this velocity. The theory ws that the additional velocity caused bore friction to be so high that it softened the lead core. I once tried some 180 grain Remington match bullets in my 300 H&H and they were coming apart in the air. I contacted Remington and they indicated those bullets were only designed for 30-06 velocities.
Now that I have bored you to tears I shall close hope this helps.

[RCS]

Some of these early US Army Marksmanship Training Unit cartridges eventually selected were close to the Ackley Improved 300 Mag. Remington also made up cases except the H&H MAG was removed from the headstamp. Western Cartridge Co also made cases in 1960 too

The case on the left is Western Cartridge Co and headstamped WCC 60

the case on the right is Remington and headstamped REM-UMC 300Attachment 42935

[Cosine26]

The AMU managed to have some special manufacturing done. Winchester built some modified M70 actions for their long range guns. The actions had no magazine cut out and were rounded on top. There was only a small opening on the right side that permitted loading. The top of the action looked like a cylinder. I do not believe that it had an ejector. I do not know how many were built or the ultimate disposition was. I believe this came about the time the Army stopped supporting the National Matches so I do not know if these rifles were ever used.
The AMU also designed a “38 AMU” pistol cartridge which was a rimless 38 Special case. It was designed for wad cutters seated entirely in the case. They also converted some M1911’s to handle this round. This evidently did not meet with much success for later the practice was to build two pistols, one a “Wadcutter” and the other a “Hard ball” bun-both on M1911 pistols. The Wadcutter pistol ws designed for light loads and in a three gun match (RF, CF, and 45) the wadcutter gun was the center fire gun.

[RCS]

Also you had the S&W M52A chambered for the 38 AMU cartridge, believe there were some special bullet mould designs for the 38 AMU cartridge too. The Colt M1911 converted to use the 38 Special cartridge had "slight grooves" in the chamber because of the unlocked barrel - do not know about the 38 AMU chamber in the Colt.

I still turn off the rims and cut an extractor groove in 38 Special brass so I can load it for my Winchester Model 1905 rifle chambered for the 35 WSL cartridge