8mm Hodgdon Magnum ??

[FrankenMauser]

On page 537 of P.O. Ackley's Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders, there is a single entry of reloading data for a cartridge - the 8mm Hodgdon Magnum.
'8mm Hodgdon Magnum: 150gr Bullet - 69gr (H870) - 3302 fps'
This is the ONLY reference to the cartridge, I can find.
That single entry tells me it is roughly 06-class; but possibly blown out, or a shortened version of a belted cartridge (likely .300 H&H, if that's the case - no pun intended).

I have a simple, multi-faceted question, for you Wildcat junkies:

What is it?
What was it based on?
Was it designed around the .323" bore?
Where can I find a drawing?
Does anyone know of any other references to this cartridge?

I have dug through the self-assumingly omnipotent internet, without a single hit. I have dug through every cartridge book I own. I have exhausted the resource I know are available to me.

What can any of you tell me about it?

Anything is a start.
My family loves the true oddballs. The lack of information on this one really caught my attention. -Need input-

 

[steveno]

there are a lot of rounds that Ackley designed and tested. at least with the powders available at the time he probably felt it had nothing to offer. you could very well be looking at the only information on the round. you might check with RCBS or Huntington to see if they have any record of the dies ever being made. since they are a real oddball they will be expensive to have them made. in this day and age it probably is ballistically the same as a 8 mm remington mag which you also don't read about much anymore

 

[Shoney]

I have seen data on the 8mm-338WinMag, and of course the 8mm Rem Mag was the 375H&H modified to 8mm.

 

[Jim Watson]

That velocity is up in the range of the 8mm Remington Magnum, which is a full length H&H case without much taper. It is a higher velocity than I see listed for 8x338 or 8mm '06 Improved.

I conclude that the 8mm Hodgdon Magnum was likewise a full length belted magnum. Probably somebody at Hodgdon's idea of simulating the 8x68 with available brass.

I am not surprised you find nothing on the internet, when that book came out Al Gore was only 18 and had not yet invented the internet.

 

[steveno]

since "Hodgdon" is in the name you might send an e-mail to the Hodgdon Powder website and see if they have anymore information. maybe there is an old timer there that can give you more information.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Thanks for the replies. I had an email waiting for Hodgdon to reply, before I typed the original post.


A single (known) rifle was made. The cartridge was designed by Bruce Hodgdon, the barrel chambered by a guy in Kansas (Feemster; now deceased), and the dies made by Huntington's Die Specialties.

The previously listed load was the only load Bruce was known to have ever worked up for it.

Case head size was 0.473". (An indication that Bruce knew what he was doing. Efficient cartridges don't always have to be bigger cartridges. )

No further information is available for the cartridge, rifle, dies, or reamers.