In July of 1997, my Bitterroot Valley neighbor and new friend Ed Plummer came down from his magnificent aerie high on a mountain above Hamilton, Montana, with an attractive plan � a new company to produce quality hunting rifles and the special premium ammo for them. He wanted to chamber his rifles for a new line of superior cartridges and asked me to play around with the .30-06 case to design a new .338, a new .358, and a new .375 that would use all the possible potential of the ubiquitous .30-06 case. What an attractive and intriguing suggestion! I jumped on it right away, of course.
The basic ideas behind the new cartridges gave me the welcome and unprecedented new opportunity to engineer several new cartridge designs based on interior-ballistics principles and performance criteria that would be both more practical and more realistic than the all-too-familiar criterion, "velocity at any price," that for so long has been the tradition responsible for so many cartridge designs.
With a personal portfolio of well over a hundred original cartridge designs behind me, this was a truly inspiring special opportunity to design cartridges according to my best judgement rather than what someone else thought that they should be. I could � and should � make the best possible use of the principles of interior ballistics instead of ignoring them for the single purpose of producing maximum velocities and the costs be damned.
The new company had no name yet. Ed liked "Cougar Arms" (cougars often came to visit his high-mountain property), but I suggested that the company's name should give some idea of what it produced, and he adopted the name that I suggested � American Hunting Rifles (AHR). When Ed was puzzling over what title to put on my gun-show badge and AHR business card, I suggested "Plummer's Helper." It fit my role perfectly.
Ed's extensive experience in creating and operating manufacturing companies did not include any experience in the gun industry, so I gave him advice, counsel, and contacts (some of which he used), a good bit more than cartridge designs and a name suggestion. But at no point have I had any financial interest in the company and to date have not received a cent of pay, commission, royalty, or any other financial compensation from Ed or his American Hunting Rifles. AHR was Ed Plummer's company and his alone. I was just Plummer's Helper. This wasn't another instance of the familiar "title in lieu of salary," either. I was in no way part of or involved in Ed's company. I was just the guy who designed the cartridges that he chambered some of his rifles for and loaded in custom factory-made brass.
(PS � since I first ginned-up this article, Ed has sold AHR, which still has its old web site at www.hunting-rifles.com. I am in no way connected with AHR, in any suggestion of a relationship. No friction � just separate, independent ways.)So this article is about this family of Howell cartridges � not about me, nor about Ed Plummer, or AHR, or the AHR rifles, just the cartridges and how they came to be what they are.
The designs of new cartridges would be based on the .30-06 case. Since the AHR cases would be new, factory-made on specific contracts, the first obvious design opportunity was to have them made slightly longer than the 2.494 inches of the .30-06 case, longer even than the 2.540 inches of the .270 Winchester and .280 Remington. But not too long, of course � not as long as the Holland & Holland magnums. For all except the .220 Howell, I started with a case length of 2.600 inches, figuring that any factory that could make .270, .280, or .30-06 cases could just as easily make them just a bit longer. Handloaders who are content with slightly shorter necks can fire-form their cases for the longer Howell cartridges from any .30-06-based brass, and .220 Howell cases formed from .25-06 or .270 brass become shorter in the process.
Their bullets would be the heaviest premium big-game bullets in each caliber.
Their moderate peak chamber pressures would favor longer barrel life.
Their velocities would be adequate for their purposes but would not be the main reason for their existence.
These criteria are much more practical and realistic than may be immediately obvious to everyone. From the first, the goals for AHR's factory-loaded Howell cartridges were reasonable recoil, long barrel life, readily available economical brass, moderate velocities with heavy big-game or varmint bullets loaded to moderate pressures, maximum magazine capacity, and � above all � good performance on American big game and varmints. These cartridges should not exaggerate the backward thrust against the breech, and their traditional head diameter should give most rifle magazines their maximum capacity. For several reasons, new cartridge designs were necessary to provide the following levels of performance.
Killing power adequate for American big game does not require belted magnum cases, super-high velocities, or punishing recoil.
Most American big-game-hunting doesn't require long-range shooting, but most varmint-shooting does.
High peak chamber pressures erode barrels fast.
Heavy bullets at moderate velocities kill more reliably and tear up less meat than light bullets at high velocities.
Belted cases, at comparable peak chamber pressures, increase back-thrust force on breech lock-ups.
Belted cases reduce the capacity of the typical rifle magazine.
Belted cases cost more.
For simple consistency, I made all the necks 0.375 inch long. Plenty of friction here is vital to "bullet pull," which is so important to the interior ballistics of any cartridge.
The shoulder angles are all 25�, the steepest shoulder that the brass-makers like to produce.
These new Howell cartridges are decidedly
not intended or designed to produce higher velocities. My purpose was to provide enough powder capacity for a slightly lower loading density if necessary � certainly no compressed charge � for pressures no higher than 45,000 to 47,500 copper units of pressure (CUP). So the order of ballistic priority is this: heavy bullets and moderate pressures
primary, good groups
mandatory, and velocities whatever they turn out to be, as long as they're good enough to do their job on American big game and varmints.
All my new cartridges are just standardized and significantly improved versions of proven classic factory and wildcat cartridges, usually just extended versions of these classics.
The .220, .240, .250, .260, .270, .280, .300, .320, .340, .350, .380, and .400 Howell offer a number of substantial improvements over the interior and exterior ballistics of (respectively) the .220 Swift, the 6mm-06, the .25-06, the 6.5mm-06, the .270 Winchester, the .280 Remington, the .30-06, the 8mm-06, the .338-06, the .35 Whelen, the .375-06, and the .400 Whelen � all long-proven excellent cartridges in their own right.
The .220 Howell is a varmint cartridge, slightly shorter than its parent .25-06 case, designed to give the 75-grain and heavier .224 bullets the velocities they deserve for long-range wind resistance. I knew of course that a lot of hunters would use it for big game, and they have � with 'em all reporting deadly results, even on game as large as elk. (Using my .220 Howell on elk still strikes me as stretching it. I wouldn=t do it.)
Ed didn't plan to buy ordinary '06 cases for his ammo. From the first, he planned to have new brass factory-made to his specifications. This plan of course opened (wide!) the door to flexibility and freedom of cartridge design. My first new design idea was to have the '06 cases trimmed to a slightly longer over-all length at the factory � 2.600 inches instead of the 2.494 inches of the .30-06 or the 2.540 inches of the .270 Winchester.
Ed had a good bit of experience in hunting big game and in handloading his own hunting ammunition. His
caliber interest, however, was limited to only three � .338, .358, and .375. I knew, however, that once he introduced new cartridges in these three calibers, hunters and handloaders would immediately want other calibers on these cases. So, to anticipate this inevitable later demand, I added a .224 (more about each of these later), a .243, a .257, a .264, a .270, a .280, a .308, a .320, and a .400 to the three calibers that already interested Ed. Unlike the others, the .224 Howell would be
shorter than the .30-06, not longer. I designed this one around the 75-grain Hornady .224 A-Max bullet and IMR-7828 powder.
The basic design philosophy underlying all these new cartridges is simple � (a) long barrel life, through moderate rather than maximum peak chamber pressures, and (b) heavy premium bullets rather than light, inefficient bullets. This approach calls for long case necks and maximum body capacity � both made possible by the lengthening of the original .30-06 case.
The heavy premium bullets in each caliber are long, and long bullets need to be seated in long case necks if the case is to work well in its secondary but crucial role of alignment jig to position the bullet for accurate entry into the barrel when the cartridge is fired. I=ve coined the term
socket engagement for the concept of how much bullet shank the case neck grips. To appreciate the importance of socket engagement as it relates to the exposed length of the bullet, consider the parallel examples of a fence post, a telephone pole, and a flag pole.
You can get-by all right by seating a fence post no deeper than two or three feet in the ground. A telephone pole, because its exposed length is much more than the three to six above-ground feet of a fence post, has to be seated much deeper if it's to be acceptably stable. The much taller flag pole has to be seated even deeper still, or it won=t stay vertical very long. Sky-scraper buildings on Manhattan Island are seated storeys deep into bedrock. The socket engagement of the fence post would not be worth much for the telephone pole, the flag pole, or a tall building. Socket engagement that's adequate for the lightest, shortest bullets in each caliber would not be enough for the longest bullets.
Somewhat arbitrarily but with what I considered to be good reasons, I established the neck length at 0.375 inch for all twelve of the new Howell cartridges. If you look at the heaviest premium bullets in all these diameters, you'll see that they're all very nearly the same length. Therefore they all need about the same depth of socket engagement. The body length and powder capacity increase with the increase in caliber. The geometric reasons for all these work in our favor � as the caliber increases, so also do the body length and the powder capacity, in proportion, while the case length, the neck length, and the shoulder angle remain the same for all these new cases.
The increase in case length provides for this increase in the length of most necks but usually doesn't require that the cartridge be loaded to a much longer over-all length. (Longer, yes, but not much longer.) Mainly, the increases in case length and neck length allow the body to be longer for substantial increases in case capacity, while they also extend the necks forward to grasp more of the bullets' shanks. Cases for the Howell cartridges can be formed from any suitable .30-06-based cases, with all the increase in powder capacity of the Howell version but without the greater grip and alignment of the longer necks.
Manufacturers have trouble making cases with steep shoulders and prefer shoulder angles no steeper than 25�. Despite much unproven theorizing otherwise, slight variations in shoulder angles don't produce much difference in the interior or exterior ballistics of cartridges anyway, so my twelve new Howell cartridges all have 25� shoulders. Increasing this angle to 30� or even 40� would make very little difference in case capacity, no discernible difference in down-range performance, and unnecessary difficulty in the manufacture of the cases. Wildcatters can blow the shoulder of any Howell case out to 30�, 35�, or even 40� to their hearts' content without making any appreciable difference in the down-range performance of the cartridge.
Blind reliance on the all-too-well established bar-stool or barber-shop (BS) ballistics makes it hard for some shooters to understand or accept the effects of certain proven interior-ballistics principles that make these cartridges work as I've designed them to work. The toughest knot for some to swallow is the fact that by (a) making the case of a new cartridge a good bit more capacious than that of an older cartridge, then (b) loading it with a larger charge but (c) not to its maximum safe pressures, (d) the same bullet can be propelled faster but without peak chamber pressures as high as those in the smaller cartridge at its lower velocity. This phenomenon has been a solid part of interior ballistics as long as there've been cartridges and rifles. The loading manuals are full of examples.
Let's look at the loads for two cartridges, chosen pretty much at random from the 50th Anniversary edition of the Sierra rifle manual � the obviously smaller .300 Savage and the obviously larger .30-06, both loaded with the Sierra 165-grain hollow-point boat-tail bullets, using the same seven powders. As the load-manual tables show, you can load the .30-06 somewhat lighter than it can stand, with slightly more powder than the top high-pressure loads in the .300 Savage, and gain a respectable amount of velocity at milder pressures.
A few more grains of powder in the larger .30-06 case �
but not enough more powder to raise the .30-06's peak pressures to their maximum � propel the bullets faster than the smaller charges in the Savage at maximum peak pressures for the smaller cartridge. The italicized velocities are not only higher than the .300 Savage could safely produce � their pressures are lower than the maximum for the .30-06, which means they're easier on the barrel than top-velocity loads in either of the two cartridges would be.
Similarly, all the Howell cartridges can be loaded to hotter velocities and higher peak pressures than I designed them for. But that's for the individual handloaders of these cartridges to decide for themselves � whether a smidgen more muzzle velocity is worth more to them than longer barrel life. Longer accuracy life for the barrel is integral to the design philosophy behind these cartridges. It isn't the only purpose behind these designs, of course, but it=s important to many of us.
Some eagle-eyed soul is sure to notice in the Sierra manual that the test rifles had a 22-inch barrel on the .300 Savage and a 26-inch barrel on the .30-06. All right, duly noted � but that difference in barrel lengths is not enough to account for
all the velocity gains in the submaximum .30-06 loads (as much as 300 ft/sec gain in velocity with H-380).
The .220 Howell � Ed Plummer's only hunting interest is big game, so he knew nothing about the increasing popularity of varmint-shooting and had no idea of the market for good varmint rifles and cartridges. As an old varmint-shooter since the 1940s, I did indeed have a good sense of what he'd gain by adding a good varmint cartridge and rifle to his proposed line of big-game cartridges and rifles. So I campaigned hard for a .224 AHR rifle and super varmint cartridge. The general characteristics of a super .224 cartridge had been strong in my mind for a long, long time.
Ever since my introduction in 1951 or 1952 to Jerry Gebby's "Varminter," his trade-marked name for his .22-.250, his neat little cartridge has been one of my favorites for shooting varmints. I've owned several .22-.250s as well as other .224 center-fires through the years and used them on Pennsylvania and Virginia woodchucks and on prairie dogs and gophers in several western states. But I've always yearned for longer, heavier .224 bullets and slower powders that would make an even more muscular .224 varmint cartridge feasible. By the time I was knuckle-skulling the new Howell big-game cartridges, .224 bullets longer and heavier than the old 55-grain had become prominent on the market. Canister powders slower than the .22-.250's favorite propellants, very attractive for a new .224 varmint cartridge, had also become familiar choices for handloaders.
So the .220 Howell, my answer to my own long yearning, took shape around the Hornady 75-grain A-Max bullets (which, I do solemnly swear, look like they can do a hundred feet a second just sitting in a box on the shelf) and IMR-7828 powder. At that time, I had not heard or read of the Belgian powders imported by Western Powders and sold under their Ramshot label. The Ramshot powder formerly labeled Big Boy and now called Magnum appears to be as good as IMR-7828 in the .220 Howell and possibly a bit better. Alliant's Reloder 25 looks good, too, but I haven't tried it yet. And of course IMR-7828 does well in this cartridge.
The .220 Howell is my answer to my own long-time yearning for a .224 cartridge better suited than the .22-.250 or the .220 Swift for shooting varmints at long ranges on the windy northern plains, where the inevitable strong cross-winds handicap shooters as badly as the long distances that drain the velocities of the fastest bullets. Since my stroke in 2001 left me weak, wobbly, and partially paralyzed, I'm "out of it" as far as hunting big game is concerned. So I'm more than ever a varmint-shooter, and the .220 Howell � my long-time dream cartridge � has naturally become my favorite. By all field results so far, it does all that I had in mind for it to do when I designed it. More, even � although I didn't design it for use on anything bigger than a coyote and don't recommend it as a big-game cartridge, a number of hunters report great success with it on deer, antelope, and even elk. I still think that's stretching its capability, but their enthusiastic reports of success are certainly gratifying testimony to the power of the cartridge.
The deservedly famous and excellent .220 Swift is a good bit less roomy than my .220. Its gross case capacity (full to the mouth) is about 47 grains of water. My .220's gross case capacity is about 62 grains of water. The additional space in my .220 allows this cartridge to be loaded with a heavier bullet and a caseful of a slower powder, for a much more efficient long-range trajectory than the Swift can provide with its usually lighter bullets � and its lower peak chamber pressures make it easier on barrels.
Loads that propel the 75-grain Hornady A-Max at about 3,450 to 3,650 ft/sec from the .220 Howell start slower than the Swift's 50-grain factory load (about 3,850 ft/sec), but the much better ballistic coefficient of the 75-grain A-Max enables it to retain more of its velocity longer. The heavier bullet from the .220 Howell and the lighter one (also a Hornady) from the Swift slow to the same down-range velocity at or within 200 yards. Beyond that cross-over distance, the heavier bullet from my .220 flies increasingly faster than the Swift's lighter bullet. And right fresh from the muzzle, it delivers increasingly more energy.
This velocity edge is not so important as velocity itself but for the distinctly flatter trajectory, shorter time of flight, and resulting narrower cross-wind deflection. For long-range shooting, the A-Max's much longer flight at supersonic velocities is also an advantage. It doesn't drop to trans-sonic velocity until about 1,500 yards or more. Clearly, it's still doing its best at the longest practical varmint-shooting distances. In well made rifles, it also groups well enough for persnickety shooters who delight in long shots at small varmints.
Other good bullets for this cartridge are also available from Berger, Sierra, and Nosler, but I haven't tried those yet (don't have as many on hand!).
The .240 Howell � The .240 Howell is one of the cartridges that I added to the list because I knew that as soon as shooters got acquainted with the .300 Howell and its near-neighbors, there'd be a demand � probably small but none the less definite � for a 6mm version to give fans of the 6mm-06 a similarly improved cartridge. So I ginned it up to be ready for that demand when it comes, whether it comes from one shooter or from a crowd.
I have no experience with the .240 Howell, and AHR has not yet had any cases made for it. The best indication of its potential is probably the comparison of its case dimensions and gross capacity with those of the 6mm-06. The gross case capacity of the classic 6mm-06 is probably about 66 grains of water. I'd expect the .240 Howell case to hold about 75 grains of water, full to the mouth of the case.
The edge that this cartridge would offer over the 6mm-06 is the same as what the other long Howell cartridges offer over the proven performances of the classic oldies that inspired them � enough greater powder capacity to enable hunters to load heavier premium bullets with slower powders for lower peak chamber pressures and improved performance on game, without having to opt for a cartridge on a belted magnum case.
The .250 Howell � The classic .25-06 is a great long-range game cartridge just as it is. Before today's slower powders came along, it was the most muscle that you could press into service without unduly truncating the longevity of a good barrel. It's much better with heavier bullets than typical velocity freaks give it credit for. My .250 Howell is my way of increasing the classic .25-06's excellent performance with heavier premium .257 bullets C without hoisting peak chamber pressures to the dangerous, barrel-burning heights that would be necessary to reach this level of down-range performance from the shorter .25-06 case. The gross capacity of the .25-06 � about 66 grains of water � imposes pressure and velocity limits that the greater capacity of my .250 Howell � about 75 grains of water � neatly avoids.
The .260 Howell � Like the other cartridges in this family, compared with the classic oldies that inspired them, the .260 Howell more easily does anything that the capable and justly popular 6.5mm-06 can do, and does it better. The 6.5mm-06's gross case capacity of about 66 grains of water limits it a little, but the gross case capacity of the .260 Howell (about 75 grains of water) retains the typical magazine rifle's cartridge capacity and provides for the use of heavier 6.5mm premium bullets at the velocities that they deserve, without the need for either a belted magnum case or the very erosive higher chamber pressures.
The .270 Howell � The many decades of the classic .270 Winchester's popularity have led many fans of the .270 Winchester to wish for a .270 magnum. An old rumor said that Winchester built one but dropped it without announcing it or producing it. For those who want more oomph from .270 bullets but don't get lumps of longing in their throats for belted cases, I added the .270 Howell to the family. The gross case capacity of the .270 Winchester � about 68 grains of water � is easily increased to about 75 grains of water simply by going to the .270 Howell, without much increase in the over-all length of the cartridge. No belted case is necessary as far as interior ballistics is concerned. (Marketing hype and velocity mania are other considerations altogether!)
As the other mid-caliber Howell cartridges do, the .270 Howell offers the advantages of heavier premium bullets at barrel-friendly moderate peak chamber pressures without sacrificing any of the performance that relies on velocity. And the .270 Howell magazine holds as many rounds as the .270 Winchester magazine holds.
The .280 Howell � Ever since I learned that my friends Charlie O'Neil and Elmer Keith had created the .285 OKH and heard 'em extol its virtues, I've been fond of the 7mm-06 in its several similar forms. I own and cherish a very fine .280 RCBS Improved custom rifle and have long preferred the .280 Remington (the factory-pedigreed version of the original .285 OKH) to either the .270 Winchester or the .30-06 as a general-purpose cartridge for all but the biggest American big game. Now my .280 Howell makes this great cartridge even better. It increases the gross capacity of the factory .280 (about 67.5 grains of water) to about 75 grains, in almost identically the same case. Its performance approaches (some say "equals") that of the belted 7mm magnums. I don't make that claim, but I can tell you that it outshoots even my .280 RCBS Improved � heavy premium hunting bullets, moderate pressures, entirely satisfactory velocities, minimum meat loss.
The .300 Howell � Improving the standard, classic .30-06 without going to a magnum case is not all that easy to do. The late P O Ackley gave it a good try, but my old .30-06 Ackley Improved Springfield sporter didn't give me any discernible edge over my hunting partner's .30-06 Super Grade Model 70 Winchester. In fact, we loaded exactly the same powder charge under the same 220-grain Remington Core-Lokt bullets in both rifles � on my bench, with my powder measure and components, developed in my rifle. Merely increasing the shoulder diameter and steepening the shoulder angle didn't add as much powder capacity as the longer body of the .300 Howell does. My .300 increases the case capacity from about 68 grains to a bit more than 75 grains. That's real improvement!
The .320 Howell � I've never had anything to do with an 8mm-06 but knew of course that it had long been popular with enough hunters to make it worth my while to add the .320 Howell to the family line-up. So here you are, 8mm-06 fans � if you want to improve your 8mm-06 with its gross case capacity of about 70 grains of water, my .320 Howell offers a capacity increase to about 77 grains without having to go to the fatter, belted 8mm Remington Magnum.
The .340 Howell � Until I set forth on this design spree, my two favorites for general-purpose big-game cartridges were the .280 RCBS Improved and its near-twin, the .338-06 RCBS Improved. Back in 1955, deciding on the cartridge for the one big-game rifle that I assumed would be my only one ever, I seriously considered the .33 brainchild of my friends Charlie O'Neil and Elmer Keith (their .333 OKH) and dropped it in favor of the .35 Whelen only because there was just one jacketed bullet available for the .333 OKH. Then Winchester brought-out the .338 Winchester Magnum, and a good selection of .338 component bullets made the .338-06 a very satisfying descendant of the .333 OKH.
The gross case capacity of the 338-06 (about 69 grains of water) still makes it an excellent big-game cartridge, of course � but the .340 Howell's gross capacity of about 78 grains makes an even better .338 cartridge. One of my friends has used it to make an impressive number of one-shot kills on dangerous African game, including Cape buffalo. (Quite illegally, to be sure � but he died after his last trip to Africa, so he's beyond the reach of trouble for using "too small" a cartridge over there.) He said that its performance was indistinguishable from that of his .338 Winchester Magnum.
The .350 Howell � For several decades, my Iver Henriksen .35 Whelen Mauser was my king of big-game rifles. In time, I came to favor my .338 RCBS, but not because of any short-coming of the .35 Whelen. Its gross case capacity (a tad over 70 grains of water) still makes it one of the best cartridges for even the biggest American game, so the even greater gross capacity of my .350 Howell (about 79 grains of water) makes this member of my cartridge family hard to top without going to a much larger case.
The .380 Howell � Along with the .338 and the .358 calibers, the .375 was one of the calibers that Ed Plummer especially wanted me to design an "ultimate" '06-based cartridge for. I think it may have been his personal preference among the three. As a direct result of making the case a bit longer than the 2.494 inches of the .30-06, I was able to increase the gross case capacity of the .375 AWhelen@ (about 74 grains) to more than 80 grains (about 82 grains in some cases).
This cartridge is another member of my cartridge family that has delivered fully satisfactory performance on dangerous African game � which strikes me as an outstanding confirmation of the power of the cartridge, considering that its intended use was for American big game only.
The .400 Howell � Shooters' interest in recent years has shown that the old .400 Whelen is not as dead as most of us thought that it was. It has always been a good big-game cartridge and never deserved the bad name that evolved from early writers' false claim that it has too slight a shoulder for reliable headspacing. As Elmer Keith told me over half a century ago, the .400 Whelen headspaces very reliably if you fire-form your brass first and don't ruin the shoulder when you resize the case. Its intolerance for sloppy case-forming has never kept it from being an excellent cartridge for the biggest American game. Its huge bullet diameter and weight, however, cry out for more powder capacity than the standard-length .30-06 case can provide.
Recognizing that any demand for a .400 Howell would be very slight at best, I still wanted it to be there, ready and available to any .40 fan who wanted it. I urged Ed Plummer to make no brass and load no ammo for the .400 Howell but instead offer a .400 Howell rifle only as a special-order option, to be packaged with a box or two of basic cylindrical cases and a set of .400 Howell dies. By necking his own supply of Howell Basic cases down to form .400 Howell cases, the handloader would form a definite shoulder that would be fully adequate for reliable headspacing in his rifle.
I have no real idea what the gross capacity of either the .400 Whelen or the .400 Howell would be, but my version offers a good bit more powder capacity to make this .40 cartridge even more of a serious big-game cartridge than the field-tested and thoroughly proven .400 Whelen that Elmer Keith loved.
The Howell Basic Case � The Howell Basic case is essentially cylindrical, with no shoulder. My design specifies a total length of 2.600 inches, but the few early specimens that I have are a bit longer (2.700 inches). It's available for any handloader who wants to form any of this Howell family of cartridges. I haven't looked into the possibility, but it may make a pretty good .444 cartridge just as it is. Last time I checked, factory-new Howell Basic cases were available at
www.huntingtons.com. Which reminds me � anyone who wants a rimmed version of any of these Howell cartridges, for better functioning in a single-shot or lever-action rifle, can form his cases from .400-.350 Nitro Express brass.
You won't be the first if you wonder or ask what I'm getting out of all this, since I get neither any royalties on these cartridges nor any commissions from AHR � not a cent of income from any of it so far or foreseeable, and quite a bit of personal expense to get, equip, and feed my .220 Howell rifles. First of all, I haven't been doing this for monetary gain at any point along the way, so the lack of income from it is in no way disappointing to me. I designed these cartridges primarily to give my fellow hunters a few better options. I'm happy that they're out there for you if you hanker for any of them. If any of them makes your covet bone itch, scratch it with my sincere approval and blessing. I hope it will give you many years of satisfaction and pleasure.
I designed only one of these cartridges for myself, the hot .220 Howell, which I also intended for other varmint-shooters taking long shots at small targets on the windy northern plains.
Several of my friends and others now hunt with Howell cartridges � some with AHR rifles, some with custom rifles. The many enthusiastic reports of their satisfaction and success continue to make me feel mighty good about what I've done here. Some of my friends are shooters whom I've met through their interest in my cartridges. I have a very nice .220 Howell rifle myself. New and well satisfied friends. A nice varmint rifle. Who needs money to tell him that he's done something worth while? Not me.
I'm well paid.
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