I have been on the hunt for a shooter grade 300 H&H for a couple of years now. I did not want a collector gun, just a shooter. No luck! I was just about to spend the cash on the one current factory factory offering I could find, a Browning bolt gun. My local enabler called and said that she had a line on a Rem. 721 in my grail caliber.
The rifle was pretty sad. Barrel cut to 24" (came with a 26), replacement stock, an old Bishop that looks to have been shaped with a hoof rasp and inleted with a chain saw. (Well, maybe not that bad, but close, receiver inlet looks OK but may have to do something with the barrel channel after I test fire it). On the plus side, it came with nice Redfield base and rings and the barrel had been cut by someone that knew what they were doing (nice looking crown), also it has a very nice bore. The price was a little more than I thought I would like to / should have to pay BUT I have been looking for several years, so it came home with me. I have been working on the stock as well as checking out other stock option and rereading the articles and reloading manuals on the 300 H&H (it ain't like I needed a H&H as I have 2, 300 Win Mags and a 300 Weatherby(inherited from my Dad). So, this is an ongoing project but with a foot of snow on the ground and 6 foot drifts on the way to my desert range, I have some time. I already had a set of dies and some new Hornady cases (in anticipation) and many choices of 30 cal. bullets
Winter projects part TWO
Like I said, I have been reading.(a dangerous pastime for me) One of the things I have been reading about is the 7 MM Rem. Magnum. I have never been a huge fan of the big Rem. (although I shoot a 7x57 and a 280 Rem., both of which shoot better than I can/could, even when I had a younger man's eyes). I have been looking at rifles. I looked at and read about Mossberg (I like the look and the price point) Ruger Am. (OK price, not much of a looker), Savage (I own a couple of 110s and bought them years ago when they were just starting to build a rep. for accuracy and had a good price point), now, they are expensive and still butt ugly! I also have been looking over the used guns at the two places in my town that trade. Several Rem. 700s to be had but most were priced for more that I thought I would like to spend on a project and caliber that I have no particular affinity for. Used Savages can be had but again, a little high priced and still UUUgly. I also ran across a couple of Ruger 77s, in several variations, but nothing outstanding. Yesterday I was at one of the local shops and they had just put out an older Ruger 77 (first gen, tang safety) with a 3x10 Simmons scope (not the greatest but usable), price was reasonable. As I am looking, the counter gal says that the rifle had just pulled from layaway. (guy had it put back before Christmas and had come in to pick it up and while waiting had discovered a pristine 77 in 300 Win mag. (I really liked it also but as I said above: I already have 3) Made a comment about wishing he had seen the 300 before buying the 7. An accord was reached and he bought the 300 and left the 7) I was offered the 7 at a further discounted price (I AM WEAK) and it came home with me.
A couple of years ago, my, then, next door neighbor was just starting out in the reloading game and was trying to reload 7mm on a Lee press and having issues. I had an extra RCBS jr. and traded it to him. I also gave a half dozen boxes of misc. 7mag brass I had gathered over the years. (might as well get rid of this junk, I will never have a rifle in that caliber - - Ya Right!) So here I sit with a new to me rifle and a set of dies and not one single 7 mm Rem Mag case in sight! Well, I fixed that this morning. Ordered up a couple of bags of Federal brass (I know that not everyone likes Fed. brass but I do)
So, I have two projects to work on while I wait for the snow to melt and mud season (spring) to be over!
On the off chance that I stepped on some toes by stating my preferences in guns, brass and reloading gear ect., I offer an apology and the thought that if you like something and I don't, it doesn't make either of us wrong, just different.