22-3000 what is/was it?

[thejanitor]

A friend just gave me 20-30 22-3000 brass, does anyone know what this cartridge is now called or did it go extinct? I threw them in the tumbler to see them better cleaned up, but I didn't know if it is a case people wildcat from or not. Any info? Thanks -thejanitor

[mauser98us]

I beleive it was a wildcat based on the 250 Savage round. In it's original configuration it was called the 250-3000 Savage. 250 for the bore size,3000FPS with it's 87 grain bullet. I'll do some further reasearch.

[thejanitor]

The case is smaller than a 223 I believe. Kind of cool looking. Has a "G&H" on the headstamp - thejanitor

[thejanitor]

Found this on a website after googling it. Someone is selling one loaded case on the site....
It is believed to have been developed in 1937 by Harvey Donaldson from New York. It derived its name from the fact that the second chambering reamer (made by M.S. Risley, Earlville, NY) appeared to be correct in providing what the designer was striving to produce. It is actually an improved or blown out version of the original 22 Lovell or 22-3000 developed by Harvey Lovell about 1934. Both are based on the obsolete 25-20 single shot case necked down, itself a wildcat when it first appeared in 1882. The R-2 was so popular that the late J. Bushnell Smith of Middlebury, Vermont and Griffen & Howe of New York City custom loaded ammunition in large quantities; when the supply of 25-20 single shot cases was exhausted, Griffen & Howe arranged for the manufacture of R-2 cases. These are specimens of those cases. I consider the 22-3000 G&H head stamp not only a wildcat cartridge, but a proprietary cartridge, as they were created by a manufacturer of the day, not homemade from another cartridge, as a true wildcat.
 thejanitor

[thejanitor]

After cleaning them up I counted them and there are actually 50. I am going to post them on the reloading supply page. There are aprox 36 ok to use and the rest have some neck issues, but if anyone uses these cases as a starting point for a wildcat maybe they trim off the neck after altering the case?.? SO if anyone needs them please check out the reloading classifieds. thanks thejanitor

[mauser98us]

I did some research, you are absolutely correct.  G&H cases were stamped 22-3000,whilst J Bushnell Smith, who was primarily a custom loader, had his cases stamped JB Smith 2R.
All in all they are the are the R-2 Lowell.  This is a nice historical find,and the cases have been hard to come by for a long time.

[briannmilewis]

Thought I would round out the topic with some cartridge drawings from stevespages.com.





Enjoy!