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.244 H & H Magnum
Sig220_Ruger77
Member Posts: 12,754 ✭✭✭
Nononsense or anybody else who may know. Do you know of some informative websites giving information or articles written about this cartridge? Is there a difference between this and the .240 h & h magnum or is it just renamed? Maybe even some with reloading data? Thanks in advance,
Jon
Jon
Comments
I don't have much time to write a bunch of stuff but I do have a couple of links with decent information. Maybe some of the other folks can add in to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.244_H&H_Magnum
http://www.chuckhawks.com/244H-H_Mag.htm
http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpage.asp?CaliberID=106
Cartridges of the World has a small writeup and some load data, I think.
I'll go through my reloading notes later to see if I have any new load data with some of the more modern powders.
I shoot the .240 Weatherby frequently and find it to be more efficient than the .244 H&H by quite a bit. But if you really want the biggest, this is it without getting completely insane like we do sometimes...
Kynoch has the .240 H&H Flanged but not the belted:
http://www.kynochammunition.co.uk/
Best.
Jon
Jon
Start at the beginning with a plan sheet. Detail out every facet of the rifle and the cartridge from basic materials up through the finished rifle, bullets, powder and cartridge.
Run some comparisons first:
.240 Weatherby
6mm Freres
6mm Rem. Ackley Improved
6 x 61 Sharpe & Hart Super Express
Decide if you really have to have the .244 H&H or if one of the other cartridges will do the same thing but more efficiently. I know this doesn't matter in some situations, BTDT and I've had to go through the process of making a rifle to shoot some rare (oddball) obsolete cartridge only to find out that I didn't really need to go that far. I could've saved lots of money and time by just doing an analysis first. Tooling costs can absolutely kill a project like this.
Figure you're going to stick with the idea of the .244 H&H but remember that the original used 0.245" diameter bullets not the 0.243" diameter bullets that we use here in the States today. I would order the reamer set up for using 0.243" bullets and save the effort of making your own bullets or trying to find the originals that will shoot in your rifle. This way you can order a standard 6mm barrel and not have to pay for rifling tooling also.
The action will have to be able to handle the H&H length cartridges with a magazine length of 3.640" approximately. They are not as common as the long actions that handle the 2.500" belted magnum cartridges and they aren't as cheap. Your best bet is too locate a Remington M700 or older M721 for this project. You can find used ones for about $350.00 if you look around.
Order a good barrel from a custom maker, preferably cut rifled since the metal is harder than the button rifled barrels and the throat may last a few shots longer. Stocks for these actions (Rem) are easy to find and there is a vast selection of styles to choose from. You should consider using a '5R' style rifling to save some stress on the bullets. Please take into account that you need to have a 28" barrel at least. Shorter barrels will be a waste of money for a cartridge like this. Mine run from 28" to 32" and the .244 H&H will need every inch you can get in order to achieve any efficiency at all. Do NOT listen to the uninformed that claim you will only lose 25 FPS. per inch of barrel that you shorten. This doesn't apply to these much larger overbore cartridges. You can't convert this amount of powder to plasma in shorter barrels. If you want a shorter barrel, go with a smaller cartridge.
Start with good brass or the best brass you can find anyway. The H&H cases are hard to find these days but Nosler makes them at a premium cost and Hornady makes a long basic case for making any of the H&H or Weatherby cases. Dieter Horneber and RWS are the best but the prices will put you into cardiac arrest. The better the brass, the better the case life especially when you consider the amount of powder being used for this cartridge. Remember, you will be operating at the top levels of pressure in order to get the velocities that this cartridge can yield.
Bullets will need to be the toughest that you can find to stand up to the velocities that this cartridge is capable of generating. Mono-metallics like the Barnes bullets would be best but you have to watch for the coppering in your barrel unless you use the Triple Shocks. I like the Berger and JLK VLD's for all applications including hunting.
Dies will have to be custom unfortunately since you want to have the dimensions set for the .243" bullets. Primers will be Magnum only. Powders will have to be the very slowest available:
V V 20N29
Hodgdon 50BMG
Accurate Arms 8700
Hodgdon US 869
Check with the surplus powder suppliers to see if there is a stock of slow powders available. Some of the surplus 50BMG is VERY reasonable.
In all sincerity, I shoot the .240 Weatherby for hunting and some competitions with no hesitation. It will perform at the level of the .244 H&H without the cost and trauma of reloading. The case capacity is less, the case is the standard '06' length and a has the '06' rim diameter as well. Using the same 28" barrel you can accomplish the same velocities as you might get from the .244 H&H without using huge amounts of slow powder but with a better selection of powders. My 50 cents...
Best.