Desert Dog
AH enthusiast
My Grandpa was a huge fan of the Super 30. He was a 30-06 guy through and through, but his dream hunts were for sheep in the Rockies, and he was convinced that the 300 H&H was the ultimate rifle for that. Grampa never got his sheep, but he did get some fantastic Elk with his trusty 1960 Model 70 chambered in 300 H&H. In those days, the H&H was actually a pretty popular gun in Idaho. Basically anytime he needed to make a long shot, or just wanted to impress others, he would pull out that beautiful Super 30. I think he did more target shooting and bragging than hunting with that rifle.
Gramps got rid of most of his guns in the 1990s, and my father ended up with this rifle. I tried to talk my dad into parting with that gun for years. After using it a few times and sitting dormant in his safe for a decade, Dad finally gave it to me. The stock was in bad shape; it had several failing repairs and new cracks developing. Even though the barrel wasn’t in the best condition, I put a new crown on it and could get the rifle to shoot MOA under perfect conditions after load development, but it hated anything with velocity much over 30-06 levels and had issues with most monolithic bullets. Gramps didn’t believe in having “safe queens”; he used his guns, and this awesome rifle was begging to get used again. So purists be damned, I put a new barrel and stock on it.
Since rebarreling a pre-64 is a HUGE PITA for the home gunsmith, I sent my barreled action over to Pac-Nor to get a stainless match #3 contour barrel installed. I kept the factory 26” length and had it Cerakoted in gloss black.
I then ordered my favorite pre-64 stock in my favorite color; the McMillan Pre-64 Monte Carlo Hunter with the “McWoody” finish. I inletted the stock for the pre-64 magnum action and bedded it with Devcon. I then worked in a crisp 3# trigger, installed a new firing pin spring, added Warne rings and bases, and topped it with a Leupold VX-6.
Since I live in California, I load every hunting rifle with monolithic bullets, so I really needed one of those loads to work. Also, I have grown to prefer monolithic bullets over their lead counterparts.
After trying GMXs, TTSXs, and the newer LRXs in this rifle; the 175gr LRX proved to be the most accurate. I started playing with several powders and although H4350 did pretty good, I eventually found that H4831SC was by far the best power to use for bullets this weight out of my new barrel. With exactly 70.0 grains, I could get 5-shot groups down in the 0.3”s. Better yet, my accuracy node of 70gr was tossing the bullet out of the barrel at 3000fps with no pressure signs and this is not a compressed load at my ideal COAL of 3.604” (0.045 jump). This rifle also feeds and ejects smoother than any I have ever owned.
With load development complete, this rifle will almost one hole 5-shot groups at 100 yards all day, and reliably ping the center of my steel at 500 yards.
This is no surprise, as I have also ended up switching over to the LRX bullets in 30-06 and 6.5CM. All of my kills with the LRX have been 1-shot affairs. I have only recovered 1 LRX (from the spine of a big boar) and it displayed perfect performance and 99% weight retention.
I can’t wait to take this baby on my fall hunts here in the states and to Africa next year. I think I have a “new favorite” rifle. Hopefully, one day, grandpa’s “sheep rifle” will actually get a sheep.
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