Gun Digest – August 2019

(^52) | GunDigest the magazine AUGUST 2019 gundigest.com
Three factory loads were available
early on: a 150-grain load at 3,000
fps; a 180-grain load at 2,700 fps; and
a 220-grain load at 2,350 fps. As time
progressed and powders improved,
velocities increased. Hunters loved it;
target shooters loved it.
So, what happened to the popularity
of Holland’s Super .30?
THE DOWNHILL SLIDE
Even with affordable American-made
rifl es and reliable ammunition—readily
available from two of the biggest mak-
ers—the cost of producing magnum-
length rifl es continued to increase.
The .375 H&H required a magnum-
length action, but as the 1950s saw
the defi nite move to the long-action
(.30-06 length) receiver, Winchester’s
trio of 1950s belted magnums based
on the H&H case (the .264 Win-
chester Magnum, .338 Winchester
Magnum and .458 Winchester Mag-
num) all gave excellent performance
from a long-action receiver.
The .308 Norma Magnum, introduced in 1960, showed that the ballistics of
the .300 H&H Magnum could be reproduced in a long-action rifl e, and Win-
chester’s 1963 release of the .300 Winchester Magnum spelled serious trouble
for the .300 Holland & Holland.
It had a great reputation among African hunters, because it pairs very well with
its “big brother,” the .375; but the simple fact is that the .300 H&H Magnum
never did achieve the popularity of the .30-06 Springfi eld,
the 7x57 and 8x57 Mauser, or the .303 British. Couple that
with the accuracy and affordability of the .300 Winchester
Magnum, and you can easily see the reason for the decline
of the .300 H&H.
’OLD’ IS NOT ’DEAD’
Despite being “pronounced dead” by more than one writer
over the last two decades, the .300 Holland & Holland still
clings to life. Let me make this perfectly clear: From the
standpoint of practicality, anything a hunter can do with a
.300 Holland can be done with a .300 Winchester Magnum.
They are so close in performance that no game animal could
ever tell the difference.
People have often criticized the .300 Winchester’s neck
length (less than 1 caliber at 0.264 inch), but it has never
posed a problem for me. And although it uses the H&H
belt, the .300 Winchester headspaces off the shoulder. The
older Super .30 design might not be on the
cusp of modern cartridge design, but there
is something unique, nostalgic and attrac-
tive about the .300 H&H. In fact, I will be
the fi rst to admit I have a weakness and a
penchant for vintage British cartridges; and
the .300 H&H is high on the list.
I feel comfortable saying that there are
few cartridges that will feed and extract as
easily or as smoothly as the .300 Holland
& Holland; it feeds as if the cartridges were
greased, and that makes keeping the rifl e
on the shoulder for the follow-up shot that
much easier. I will also say that the cartridge has proven
relatively simple to handload for, and although there are
some good factory loads available from Federal, Hornady
and Nosler, it will be through handloading that your .300
H&H will come into its own.
The .300 H&H still makes a great all-around choice, whether for deer, elk and bear in the
United States ... or for tough African plains game such as this blue wildebeest.
Author Phil Massaro went
on safari in Namibia with a
1959 Colt rifl e chambered
for .300 Holland & Holland
Magnum. Good glass and
a fl at-shooting rifl e are the
safari hunter’s friends. A
good rangefi nder, such as
the Bushnell Nitro 1800,
makes getting the bullet on
target that much easier.