For you 300win fans... Belted case???

shortpants

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
619
I asked this question in another topic recently but have not received any feedback. Would like to hear your thoughts. I emphasize I'm not against the belted case just not sure I understand it???



I don't own a belted magnum but in no way am I against them. I would like to be better educated about them so for the sake of me learning something I'm going to open this can of worms.

What's so right about a belted case? It seems that many if not most who reload them headspace off the shoulder and not the belt anyway so what's the point?

Commence firing!
 
I think the craze started with the 375 H&H that had very little shoulder to use for headspace and actually required the belt to properly headspace. When the 300 H&H was released the belt was left on for marketing purposes and people associated the belt with more power. A whole host of "magnum" cartridges were then introduced with the belt to appease the public's desire.

The craze continued up to the introduction of the Ultra Mag and Short Mags (Lazzeroni beat them both to the punch but never really grabbed the marketshare).

As you noted, most people reload to headspace off the shoulder and never seem to complain about the unnecessary belt on the bottom of their cartridge :)
 
The 300 wm is a very popular cartridge. And has been reloaded successfully for some time. My hunting bud just picked up a Sako finnlight and shot a 5/8 group with it at 100. That was with fireform brass which was about 5-6 thousand short.
 
Belted magnums were very popular way before the 60s, the initial firing is headspaced off of the belt, then the belt and shoulder can be used in conjunction to get the best accuracy. Belted magnums can be extremely accurate, as the 300wm and 300wby hold more records than all others combined. With good brass they are not inferior to beltless cartridges like some would lead you to believe. I have nothing against the WSMs or RUMs, with there rebated rim it is a good way to get a large case to fit a standard mag boltface, I have 2 WSMs and 2 338 variations off the the 300 RUM case but there drawback is feeding reliability unless your rifle is a controlled round feed. All cartridges have flaws but the belted cases have been around 100 years and I don't see them being tossed aside anytime soon. I single feed my rounds, but for consistent mag feeding the 300wm or 7mm rem mag are about as reliable as it gets, and both do just fine unless your hunt at 1 mile.
 
The belt has saved the lives of hundreds of millions of reloaders who do not know the proper way to set up their FL die so as to headspace off of the sholder. A bunch of the magnum guys I help were simply turning their FL dies all the way down th the shell holder. With the belted case, there is no danger of them blowing up thier gun due to excessive head space issues. It's when they switch to a beltless round that this practice becomes bad for your health.

Actually, browninglover is correct. I think that the 375 HH was the first case to use the belt, and it was soaly for headspace issues. Magnumitise came many years after.
 
Thanks for the replies. I will never disagree that the 300win is one of the greatest and most accurate cartridges ever. In fact I'm in the process of getting my first custom started here shortly. I'm trying to cover all the bases for the animals and distances I hunt and that led me to the 300win or 300wsm. Although I see no real disadvantage with the win I've chosen to go with the wsm built on a long action. On paper there are some small advantages to the wsm although I don't believe they matter much in the real world. I have hundreds of 300wsm brass already and I just gotta good feeling about running the 200-230's in the long action/Wyatts box. If I could own only one rifle this just might do it for me! Good thing I don't have to make that choice though!!!
 
Warning! This thread is more than 12 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.
Top