The .300 Sherwood, also known as the .300 Extra Long and the .300 Westley, is an obsolete centerfire rifle cartridge developed by

Westley Richards Westley Richards is a British manufacturer of guns and rifles and also a well established gunsmith. The company was founded in 1812 by William Westley Richards, who was responsible for the early innovation of many rifles used in wars featuring ...

Design

The .300 Sherwood is a straight, rimmed cartridge that fires a bullet, driven by of cordite, at a listed speed of . The bullet calibre is as opposed to the more common . The cartridge was available in both solid lead and the then revolutionary LT-capped bullets were available.

History

The .300 Sherwood was introduced by Westley Richards in 1901 in response to W.W. Greener's

.310 Cadet The .310 Cadet, also known as the .310 Greener, or the .310 Martini, is a centerfire rifle cartridge, introduced in 1900 by W.W. Greener as a target round for the Martini Cadet rifle. Firing a 120 grain heeled lead projectile at 1350 ft/s the ...

cartridge. The cartridge was created by lengthening the much milder

.300 Rook The .300 Rook, also known as the .295 Rook (by Holland & Holland only), is an obsolete centerfire rifle cartridge. Overview The .300 Rook is a rimmed cartridge originally designed for use in rook rifles for hunting small game and target shootin ...

. As expected, the first rifles chambered for it were made by Westley Richards both in a miniature Martini actioned single-shot rifle and the "Sherwood" target rifle, a modified takedown Martini actioned rifle with an easily removable barrel and a detachable lock mechanism held in place by a thumb screw. Later other manufacturers produced rifles in the caliber including BSA,

Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

and

Francotte Auguste Francotte&Comp. () was a privately owned firearms manufacturer based in Liège, Belgium. It was founded between 1805. and 1810, and was still in operation after 1948. History The company was founded in 1805 by August Francotte in Liè ...

, whilst high end

double rifle The double rifle, also known as a double-barreled rifle, is a rifle with two barrels mounted parallel to each other. Synonymous with big game hunting found primarily in Africa and India, the double rifle is a purely sporting weapon with no militar ...

s were produced by

Holland & Holland Holland & Holland is a British gunmaker and clothing retailer based in London, England, which offers handmade sporting rifles and shotguns. The company holds two royal warrants. History Holland & Holland was founded by Harris Holland (1806� ...

and Westley Richards. As recently as 2002, Westley Richards produced a double rifle in the .300 Sherwood. The .300 Sherwood was a notably accurate target round, but arrived at the point when miniature rifle shooting was moving towards the

.22 Long Rifle The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...

, shorter ranges and more indoor competition.

Use

Whilst a noted target round, the .300 Sherwood was also used for hunting, it was considered more suited for small deer than for small game. Henry Sharp, in his 1906 book ''Modern Sporting Gunnery'', quotes hunters in British Columbia who used the .300 Sherwood to kill

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspec ...

, and one verified

caribou Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...

at .

Notes

References

External links

Ammo-One, "300 Sherwood", ''ammo-one.com''
retrieved 19 April 2017.
Cartridgecollector, "300 Sherwood", ''cartridgecollector.net''
retrieved 19 April 2017.

, retrieved 19 April 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:300 Pistol and rifle cartridges British firearm cartridges Rook rifle cartridges Westley Richards cartridges

Design

History

Use

Notes

See also

References

External links