Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30-06 vs 300 H&H

su, I have a rifle that if you are interested, on one of my trips up north i will bring it along to show you.
Built on a remington reciever/bolt, it is a single shooter with about a one inch thick barrel. Heavy sucker. It was built for 1000yard shooting with the .300H&H which in the 50's was "the bomb". The guy who owned it before me was a nationally ranked shooter at Camp Perry.
I Have neglected getting dies, so haven't shot it. No sights on it per se, but I have the LaPalma irons to screw on it with multiple sight posts that are available for the Lapalma. It would be interesting to load some up and shoot it at 1000yards.

You should see the bedding on this one - the barrel channel has been opened up and someone attempted to "splatter" on bedding compound. It looks like it was flung on with a stick - very uneven with lots of gaps/voids. The stock has what looks like water damage in a couple places where the finish has worn through and the checkering is almost gone from wear. Other than bluing wear on the bolt handle, all of the metal is in very good shape. As rough as it is, I can't help but want to do something with it, but as good as it shoots I always back up and ask myself why.

A couple of years ago I was cruising the gun shows looking for a clean pre-64 stock to replace this one. At a Helena show, a gunsmith had a custom for sale that was made by the late Jim Lewis of Butte (formerly Idaho). She was helping his widow sell off some of his stuff after he passed and this one looks like it was almost finsished - all of the metal had been bedded to the wood (but was missing) and the stock looks like it was in the process of having the last coats of oil rubbed in prior to checkering and final assembly. She told me it was for a pre-64 so I bought it, but the action screw spacing now looks to me like it's post-64. It's inlet for a Super Grade style rear sling swivel and has a rather short forend with a nice ebony tip set up for a barrel band front swivel. She also told me he made all his own metal and this one appears to be inlet for one piece bottom metal. Now I'm not sure what to do with it - I would like to finish it out someday but it's lookiong like a bigger project than I initially thought...

Bottom stock:


Anyway, I suppose I've hijacked this thread enough

i just gave my nephew a 300 H&H built on an m1917 remington enfield.it was an old conversion that was never finished.i had it checked out and was told to go for it.he;s going to finish it and use it for his elk rifle.the 300 h&h never seemed t kick as hard as my old 721 in 06,seemed like it pushed more than kick.

I bought one with a case of ammo and a Vari X III scope for $550 about 10 years ago to build a 375 H&H on. I made the mistake of shooting it.

From a practical standpoint the 30-06 is superior in every way. It requires a standard action, not a more expensive, harder to find and longer action. The ballistic advantage of the 300 H&H is small and virtually nonexistent if Superformance loads are used in the 30-06.

The real advantage of the 30-06 is availability. If someone makes a standard length rifle, they almost certainly make it in 30-06. Rifles in 300 H&H are few indeed.

By the same token if someplace sells ammo they'll have 30-06. 300 H&H? Not likely. Midway sells 120 different 30-06 loads, 16 for 300 H&H.

Points in the 300 H&H's favor? It does feed smoothly, although nobody could claim that the 30-06 has any problem in that regard.

However, when all is said and done, I can't deny that the 300 H&H is cool.

Superformance ammo shoots like chit in my 06's. However with newer powders the diff is more than the past. 06 will do all I need of any rifle in NA , however it's not as cool as my super thirties. I do have (3) 06's for your info. Amen brother.

I've had 3 pre 64 M70's in 300 H&H,not to mention a slew of 30/06's with 22-24" barrels. The 300 H&H's would start a 180 gr bullet very easily at 3050-3090,which is about 200-250 fps better than a very warm load from a 30/06,and about what we get from most 300 Win Mags for that matter.

It's very simple to start a 165 gr bullet from a H&H at 3150;again this is at least 200 fps faster than you can move the same bullet from most 30/06 rifles as a steady diet.

Enhanced performance 30/06 ammo with 165 gr bullets gave me about 2940 with a 165 in a 22" barreled M70.

Seems to me that day in and day out a 300 H&H will give about 200-250 fps more velocity than a 30/06 with about any bullet and is superior to the 30/06 from a velocity standpoint,especially with the heavier bullets.

There really isn't any way around this. Load them both to the same pressures and the H&H wins every time because it has more powder capacity.That 200-250 fps will show up at distance if good bullets are used.

It's true the H&H needs a longer mag box than a 30/06 but any Rem 700 or post 64 M70 action is long enough to accept a 300 H&H , so the shorter action argument is sort of untrue.If you own either of those rifles you are already carrying a H&H length action.

But there is no sense arguing about popularity....the 30/06 wins hands down.

It shoots like chit in every rifle and every caliber I have had the misfortune of trying it in.

30-06 for the win!

JJHACK,, right??

The reason I like .300 H&H rifles is that it's so easy to rechamber them to .300 Weatherby.

Phillistine!

Has anyone any experience with the .300 H&H and 168 grain TTSX, good or bad?

Barnes - 165 grain - 72.5 grs H4831 - 3118 fps

Hodgdon - 165 grain - 77 grs H4831 - 3099 fps

The Poobah has a soggy turd waiting for you for that. There's a special place for folks who commit such blasphemy.

Yep. Note: the 300 Weatherby is my favorite cartridge...IN a Weatherby...

No doubt it's a good cartridge, I've played with a couple, and they've been consistently accurate. But to do the conversion is like trading in a 67 Corvette with a 427 for a mid 80's vette. The new one is faster and flashier, but utterly lacks (IMHO) the class and, dare I say, panache of the elder. I just couldn't do it.

And there's only about 120 fps difference between the .300 H&H and .300 Weatherby with 180's when both are loaded to the same pressure.

Guessing that you figure "cool factor" differently than I do.
The 30-06 has oodles more history, and is associated with more of the coolest people than any brit round can lay claim to. Only the tweed coat/bwana crowd would ever attempt to debate the point.

I currently have an H&H in captivity, and hope to hunt with it this fall. It was the rifle package that drew my attention though, and not the chambering.

30-06 vs 300 H&H
You can not use or even own a 30-06 (Military cartridge) in France, however you can own & use 300 H&H.

That's the law. As Teg Nuggent always says you can't do that in France!

Yeah, probably...........guessing you wouldn't be cool if'n you were on ice.

MM