The H&H case design came to be as a result of using long cordite stick powder. The long slopping case was not able to head space correctly with its slopping shoulder so the designers as an after thought put the belt on it to make it work. (That belt acts as a rim to keep the case head against the bolt face to prevent head separation.)
Kind of like jury rigging. The chamber case fit also ended up being sloppy which was to its benefit in a dirty african climate.
H&H was lucky to turn out as it did. It was not brilliance that originated it.
I wish the German or American designed cases without belts would have taken hold or caught on instead.
Is the H&H that much better or is it monkey see monkey do?
WW1 ended or stunted case and rifle progress by decades.
Newton coming to mind as well as german designs.
We ended up or were stuck with British design.
I've handled some very smooth actions and they functioned
with normal rimless/beltless cases just as well.
