I shot some original 375 H&H flanged ammo recently. Boxes are yellow and red and suspect it dates to late next 50's or early 60's . I wanted to see what velocity they measured at so I could duplicate with my reloads.
I fired 12 rounds of 300 grain metal covered soft nose bullets (non corrosive) through my Holland & Holland Dominion grade double rifle. Average velocity was 2340 fps with standard deviation of 28 which is pretty good considering the age of the ammo. Every round fired perfectly with no hang fires etc.
I did some research which indicated that rimless ammo of this type would give about 2400 fps and the rimmed version was loaded to an unspecified lesser velocity.
From an accuracy perspective it shot as well as my aging eyes would allow with open sights.
Anyway, I felt that I should share this information. I had second thoughts about firing this ammo but on the other hand collector value is limited and hunters would most likely not want to use old ammo. However, the ammo worked great and I have velocity values to use. I'm not sure how much velocity has been lost through deterioration but guess it to be no more than 50 fps.
My barrels were very dirty after 6 shots per barrel with both powder (presumably cordite) and copper. But they cleaned up nicely.
Anyone have comments etc?
