When I decided to fire, it was with lots of hope and not very much confidence. I don't like to shoot that way, but this was one of those times that demands a shot.

The elk was looking at me, had been for awhile. I didn't know how long. I'd walked into the meadow at dusk and sat down and tried to see antlers on a spike bull that was forag- ing at timber's edge across the way. I didn't shoot because the antlers weren't all that visible, and my tag was for a bull only. It wasn't that I was fussy. I'd never killed an elk.

When the fading light at last compelled me to leave, I glanced about quickly out of habit and saw the other elk. He was 70 yards away and white and had six points. He didn't seem too alarmed, but I was pretty sure he would run if I moved, and I was all wrapped up in a sling, pointing my rifle the other way.

It took me a long time to pivot on my pants pockets, keeping the sling tight. But I did it, and when I peered into the Lyman Alaskan I knew I would shoot a bull that evening.

The dark firs and lodgepoles, though, had sucked all the light from the clearing, and the little Lee dot in the middle of what I could see I couldn't see. There was just the big white shoulder and black neck and shiny antler tips. There was every place to aim and nothing to aim with.

After a long, long time squinting, I lowered the Mauser and picked up the shadow of a dot in the bright yellow grass at the bull's feet. I stared at it, moved the scope up and promptly lost it in the elk. The next time I tried that I just kept my eye where I thought

the dot should be when it disappeared and pulled the trigger.

The elk fell down right away and never got back up.

I was pretty happy with the .300 Holland and Holland that night, though a .30 Remington would have cracked the neck too. I haven't hunted elk with a little dot reticle since, but the .300 has been a favorite cartridge for a long time;

It was born overseas in 1925, this round. Its parent was Holland and Holland's popular .375. Some folks called the necked-down version the Super .30. The case was left full length and, as was the custom then, with lots of taper. British cartridges of the day were designed for cordite powder: long spaghetti-like strands that were cut off at a given length for each charge. There was no advantage to straight cases with sharp shoulders.

Ten years after the .300 was announced, Ben Comfort used a Griffin and Howe rifle chambered for it to win the 1,000-yard Wimbledon Cup at Camp Perry. Though Com- fort's score was matched by the second- and third-place shooters using .30-06s, tie-breaking rules gave him the Cup -- and the .300 H&H a big boost.

But the cartridge had two major faults. First, its overall length of 3.655 inches was too great to work through standard bolt actions. Secondly, powders of the day weren't slow enough to draw the potential from that big case.

Winchester solved the first problem almost immediately by introducing, in late 1936, its fine Model 70 rifle. Here was an action built to swallow magnum-length cases. Holland's .300 was an original chambering in the Model 70 and remained in the catalog until 1963, when Winchester's short belted magnum supplanted it.

The powder problem would be solved later, by H4831 and other propellants designed for big cases and relatively small bullets. Though the .300 H&H was a much less efficient cartridge in the late thirties than the .30-06, it hurled bullets 150 fps faster. That was enough to satisfy most hunters enamored of the belted case and eager to test it on western big game.

The first effective bullets for this .300 were heavily jacketed softpoints made by Western Tool and Copper Works in 172-, 200-, and 225-grain weights. With available powders like No. 15 1/2 and Hi-Vel No. 2, these could be driven to velocities of 2800, 2600 and 2550 fps respectively -- without exceeding 54,000 CUP, a relatively high pressure for the day. Now you can add 100 fps easily to those figures. If, before the War, you wanted to get 2850 fps from a 180-grain bullet in your 26-inch .300, you'd load 64 grains of No. 15 1/2 -- and generate 56,000 CUP! Today it's no trick to push 180-grain bullets at 3,000 fps and build only 53,000 CUP.

In my Model 70.300 H&H, 71 grains H4831 gives a 180-grain Speer bullet 2944 fps with no discernible pressure problem. I've shot elk and kudu and sable --and an eland that weighed as much as a chest freezer full of elk -- with 180-grain Remington Core-Lokts in front of 69 grains H4831. Accuracy is one minute of angle.

An even better elk load would be Nosler's 200-grain Partition bullet in front of the same powder charge. My chronograph shows 2817 fps, again from a 26-inch Model 70 barrel. Pressure appears normal.

While lightweight bullets in any 30-caliber magnum aren't very practical for elk, you might consider them if your rifle doesn't shoot well with heavy ones. Most .300 H&H rifles I've owned have proven exceptionally accurate with 180- and 200-grain bullets. One that doesn't handle these well is still with me, though, because it shoots 150- grain Noslers much better. My load is 73 grains H4831, for 3179 fps.

It's a good idea, when loading this cartridge, to neck size only. The case stretches a lot in most chambers, and case life will be short if you set the shoulder back.

This .300's case holds 86 grains of water, about 24 more than the .30-06's. Recoil in rifles of the same weight, shooting the same bullet, is 42 percent greater for the magnum. The difference in felt recoil, however, is not that pronounced. A properly stocked .300 H&H is a pleasant rifle to shoot, even at the bench. The round seems much gentler than sharp-shouldered .300s that outperform it by small margins indeed..

One of the reasons this cartridge seems tame in the Model 70 is the Winchester's long barrel. Muzzle blast increases apparent recoil, and long barrels cut blast. While a lot of

,300 H&H rifles have been built with 24-inch barrels, the 26-inch is a better choice. The gently-sloping shoulder of the Holland case is less efficient than the sharp shoulder of short belted ,30s in keeping powder contained while the bullet accelerates. Whether this warrants a longer barrel I cannot say. It would seem to. Certainly all big cases that burn slow powders perform best in long barrels.

Most of the .300 H&H rifles still around are Model 70s. The only other commercial .300 that got much use here was the Remington 721. Browning chambered its Belgian bolt rifle for this cartridge, as did a few other firms; and it was moderately popular with British sportsmen traveling east. Its only practical application is in a bolt or single-shot rifle. Its case length precludes feeding in any other repeater, and it has much more range and accuracy potential than can be realized in a double gun.

Before the Model 70 was available, many Enfields and Mausers were rebarreled to .300 H&H, their bolt faces altered and magazine wells opened to accept the round. Generally this involved shortening the feed ramp behind the lower lug recess, weakening the lug abutment. My 98 Mauser had had that done. While everything usually worked fine, this was not a recommended trick. It was popular because military surplus rifles were cheap and magnum Mauser actions were expensive.

There aren't any .300 H&H rifles being made here now, though Remington built one on a 700 action as part of its classic series. Even ammunition can be hard to find. Winchester and Remington no longer list it; Federal alone offers it..

The .300 H&H began to die when Roy Weatherby announced his ,300 magnum in 1944. This huge case, with a water capacity of 98 grains, is nothing more than a blown-out Sqper .30. Ballistically it is superior, and Roy Weatherby sold it well. A lot of Model 70s in ,300 Holland were rechambered to accept this new cartridge with its tall, straight body and radiused shoulders.

But the Weatherby still was a full- length magnum, and you needed a full-length action to handle it. Wildcat rounds like the short Ackley and Mashburn magnums made more sense, and the later .30-338 made the most sense of all. A factory version of that number appeared in 1960, as the .308 Norma Magnum. Browning promptly chambered its Belgian bolt rifle for it.

But the cartridge that beat them all in sales was the .300 Winchester Magnum, introduced a year before Winchester's design staff decided the Model 70 needed changing. Currently chambered in more rifles than any other belted .30, the .300 Winchester was the third most popular elk round in a recent survey of RMEF members. Oddly, it's not as efficient a cartridge as the .308 Norma or .30-338. Ballistically, it’s a match, though, superior at least on paper to the .300 H&H.

Holland's Super .30 isn't of this generation. Its smooth-feeding, coke-bottle profile has been replaced by short, fat, sharp-shouldered forms. Still, nearly all these derive from the Holland and Holland case. It's been cut to work through short actions, and blown out to boost capacity; but it's no different at the head. Even the belt remains --though as a head- spacing device on steep-shouldered hulls it is hardly needed.

The .300 Holland and Holland is an elegant cartridge, among the most accurate of the big .30s and easy to control. With stout bullets of 180 to 200 grains driven just shy of 3000 fps, it is an ideal elk cartridge, flat- shooting and deep-penetrating. It works well in timber or on the flats, at times that demand a shot.