The .243 Catbird was originally conceived to be an ultra-long range 6mm varmint round, but will work quite well for a deer cartridge also. It is a .270 Winchester case necked down to .243 and blown out with a 35 degree shoulder. This case is delivering some impressive velocities. Our original goal was to get 4000 fps with a 68-70 grain bullet. However, we surpassed this goal with 4100 fps. This cartridge will pack plenty of punch for either long range varmint hunting or medium range deer hunting. Cases for this chambering are quite easy to form. You simply run a .270 Win. case through a Catbird full length sizing die, load it with a reduced load and fire-form it by simply shooting it through your gun. There are two versions of this cartridge. One of them has a tight neck and the other has a standard neck. The cases for the tight necked version must be neck turned before they can be loaded and fired. Once cases have been fire-formed for either version they can be simply reloaded as any other cartridge. While this cartridge may not be for everybody, many people will love the high velocity and the accompanying flat trajectories that can be achieved. This round is quite possibly the fastest 6mm cartridge ever developed. Of course, you have to give something to get something. She is a “barrel eater” expect about 1500 rounds of good accuracy.

The 7mm-08 Ackley Improved has been very popular with us for many years. The main reason is it will give you high end .280 Remington performance in a short action receiver. Most of our 7mm-08 Imp. Rifles have a fairly short barrel, usually no longer than 20", yet we get an honest 3050 fps with a 140 gr. bullet, and 3150 feet per second with a 120 gr. The original .308 case has been transformed into many kinds of nice cartridges. I believe that the 7mm-08 Ackley Improved is at the top of the heap. We have tuned several for 160 gr. Nosler partitions for African hunts. We hear nothing but praise for their performance. An animal hit at 100 or 200 yards with 7mm-08 Ackley Improved velocities will give perfect bullet performance every time. For Whitetail hunting it is a perfect choice. It is one wildcat that deserved to be born. I like it because of the performance. All of this is with a 20" barrel.

The .280 Remington is one of the greatest cartridges to ever come down the pipe. The .280 will generate impressive velocities while maintaining excellent accuracy in a good rifle. The .280 got a slow start at its inspection because it wasn't loaded up to its potential. It also suffered through a name change in 1979 from .280 Remington to 7mm Express Remington. As in any 7mm it has great appeal because of the tremendous assortment of bullets available. It is often referred to as the “Ultimate Deer Cartridge”.

If I had to lay my finger on one thing that really brought Jarrett Rifles to the dance it would be the .280 Improved. We have made over 400 rifles in this caliber and probably rebarreled at least that many. For me to say I’ve had more experience with this cartridge than anyone has ever had is a safe bet. After several long discussions with P.O. Ackley I decided that this was a cartridge that I wanted to work with. Even though Mr. Ackley would not take credit for its creation, it bears all the markings of Ackleys work. He did a 7mm-06 version which is slightly shorter and has a little less capacity than the .280 version. Mr. Ackley was very complimentary of the .280 Improved. He once told me that he felt its capacity bore about the maximum usable powder capacity for 7mm. Ackley had a lot of influence on me in the earlier days and out of respect for his help, most of my .280 Imp. rifles still bear his name. Several things make the .280 Improved such a wonderful cartridge. One is factory ammo can be used in the improved chamber, second, brass life is good, and third, versatility of use created by its high degree of accuracy with bullet weights ranging from 120gr. To 160gr. One can see that there is very little difference if any between the magnum 7mm’s and the .280 Improved. Mr. Ackley had a strong opinion that a belted case was not needed in 7mm. Below are average velocities for the .280 Improved and I say average because rifles are individuals. In fact, the tight bore barrels dimensionally speaking produces the best accuracy but not the best velocity.

On the light bullet end, you have a set up that will beat a 25-06 all to pieces. Conversely speaking the heavy end bullets will out do a 30-06 velocity wise. Because of the higher ballistic co-efficient of the 160 gr. 7mm bullets, compared to the 160gr. 30 caliber bullet, it will retain its down range velocity better.

If you only want one custom rifle, then the versatility should be your prime consideration. The .280 Improved has that. Totally adequate on small African game or Antelope with the 120's. Perfect for larger deer with the 140's and a real elk and moose buster with the 160's. Also, the bullet selection is tremendous on 7mm. The .280 Improved has been our best seller for 8 years. Unless you are really recoil shy, a muzzle brake is not necessary on a .280 Improved. We have continued to sell them through the years because they work extremely well. I did alter the throat angle where they would really “stick ‘um in there.” We made them work and shoot and still do. Thousands upon thousands of animals have been taken world wide with the Jarrett Rifle in .280 Imp. That many dead animals couldn't’t be wrong. For more information on the .280 Improved please see it in the Nosler No.4 reloading manual.

The 7mm Remington Magnum is one of the most popular cartridges in America today. Its popularity is similar to the .280 in that the 7mm bullet selection is so great. Because of its performance with the 160 and 175 grain bullets the 7mm Mag. has been accepted as a big game cartridge. If you compare the ballistics to the .280 Improved you will find they are almost identical. We can make a 7mm Remington Magnum shoot extremely well, so it helps us in a strange way. EXAMPLE: A customer wants a very accurate 7mm round with a lot of wallop. He is quick to say he wants to be able to shoot factory ammo in his rifle.  The 7mm Remington Magnum fits the bill.

We are amazed that the 300 Winchester Magnum had never been reduced to 7mm with enough success to be well known. The wheels really began to turn wondering what the exact volume of the case would be. We designed a different case taper than we’ve ever used, our traditional 35 degree shoulder along with a lead angle in the throat to accommodate 140 and 160 grain bullets. We had a reamer made and proceeded to build the .284 Jarrett! After the case fire forming was completed, we did analysis of comparisons to the other big sevens to see where ours fit in.

We checked all of the cased by water volume and this is what we came up with:
(Volume to base of neck)

7 mm Remington Magnum ..........73.5 gr. | 7 mm Weatherby Magnum ..........78.0 gr.
.284 Jarrett ................................85.5 gr. | 7 STW .......................................98.3 gr.

It’s interesting to note where we were volume wise, 12 grains greater than the Remington Magnum and 13 grains less than the 7 STW.

The next step was to shoot this thing. Foremost in our interest was how accurate it was. If it’s not accurate, the velocity doesn’t matter. The cartridge responded well to a variety of powders and without effort we were under our half minute accuracy with velocities we thought should be correct for this case capacity.

The 30-06 still lives today because it was good to start with. As an all around performer on game around the world, it carries a good reputation. This veteran cartridge has held its own in the velocity and accuracy department.  Just like the 7mm’s part of the magic in the 30-06 is bullet selection. We have made a lot of 30-06's through the years for customers that did not want anything else. The ‘06 has proven itself in target competition which has helped its popularity through the years.

Before I developed the .300 Jarrett, I did most of my big game hunting with a .300 Winchester Magnum. The .300 Win. Mag. has accuracy with power, two things that I like. In America today it’s the most popular magnum in 30 caliber. High power shooters, military snipers, and police sharpshooters all place great faith in the .300 Win. Mag. With a premium 180 grain bullet they’re impressive on big animals too. The .300 Win. Mag. is easy to load for and it is fuel efficient.

Since the conception of the .300 H&H Magnum hunters and target shooters alike have realized the potential of thirty caliber bullets at high velocities. The .300 Winchester Magnum and the .300 Weatherby just further validated in people’s minds how good they really were for long range shooting. Having produced a lot of Jarrett Rifles in the .300 Win Mag caliber we realized that we could consistently derive extremely good accuracy and performance from this cartridge. With the .300 Weatherby’s we could get the velocity, but the accuracy was erratic due to the free-bore design. The free-boring or clearance in front of the bullet before the rifling was a necessary design, when Mr. Weatherby created that cartridge, due to the powder selections that he had to work with at the time. At this point, our direction was to achieve the Weatherby ballistics, or better them if possible, combined with the inherent accuracy of the .300 Winchester Magnum

We chose the 8mm Remington Magnum case, because in a blown out improved configuration it would give us the case capacity we needed. The brass is very tough and inexpensive compared to Weatherby brass. A 35 degree shoulder angle was chosen for the new cartridge. We arrived at a lead angle in the throat area of the chamber (That is Classified Information). I’m sure similar cartridges have been developed and used, but our advantage was all of the new slow burning powders available today, and a larger variety of bullets and primers.

After all of the homework and reamers were finished, we made two test rifles. Our results with these two test rifles proved to be a good representative example of the .300 Jarrett’s potential. With the 165 grain Nosler Ballistic tip bullet, the velocities ran from 3350 fps to 3450 fps, with  minute, three shot accuracy at 100 yards from an 8 pound rifle. The 180 grain Partitions went from 3150 to 3250 fps. With identical powder charges used in the .300 Weatherby, we got increased velocities in the .300 Jarrett of 100 to 150 fps, proving it to be a more efficient case. It will consistently deliver a 200 grain Nosler Partition at 3000 fps average. At this point, I knew I had a winner with the cartridge that would be the ultimate long range deer rifle with 165 grain bullets. To add icing to the cake, at 250 yards, the .300 Jarrett with a 200 grain bullet (muzzle velocity 3000 fps) has more energy than a .338 Win. Mag. with a 250 grain bullet (muzzle velocity 2700 fps). This flatter trajectory and higher energy levels beyond 250 yards would make the .300 Jarrett a better long range elk rifle. For the one rifle advocate, this combo will come closer than anything I know of at the present time, especially with the unbelievable consistency in accuracy using different bullet weights.

The .323 Jarrett is the newest member of the Jarrett cartridge family. I guess we could say that this one was bred out of curiosity. After stripping countless Remington 8mm Mag. rifles, it was obvious something was wrong with them. A man never sells you his best coon dog, or lets you strip his best rifle for a receiver. I began to ask and what I got for an answer was quote “Worst shooting rifle I’ve ever had, been trying loads for a year and haven’t got a good one yet.” I didn’t understand why and decided to make one on our Jarrett case. Here we had a known process to make a good rifle, a known barrel quality and a perfect proven case. Well, we made one and broke it in. I guessed at a powder charge and loaded a 200 grain Nosler Partition. The first group was a .620. I knew at that point that we needed to investigate. The .323 is right between our .300 and .338 calibers so I wanted to get, hopefully, some good heavy bullet performance. I guess we just need something new to play with sometime. I suspected the barrel on the Remington 8mm Mags to be a tad big on the bore and groove and that created the step-child syndrome for the 8mm Mag. If you want something different, it sure ain’t no slouch with everything right. For African plains game to North American Elk, moose and bear it is a great all around caliber. Maybe the .323 Jarrett will help the black eye go away. This rifle does best with a 25" barrel.

The .300 was such a success, we tried necking up to .338 and leaving the case as it was. We also left the 35 degree shoulder angle. We were once again pleased with the results. Of course the great .338 bullet selection was very helpful too. There was a special happiness when we knew that we could make the .338 shoot well. This was really a sore spot because the .338 Win. Mag. was so popular. The real good news is the .338 Jarrett has as much energy at 200 yards as the .338 Win. Mag. has a foot in front of the muzzle. We have gotten good reports from our successful clients on .338 Jarrett kills. With swift A-frame bullets and Bear-Claw bullets, numerous Cape Buffalo and big bears have been victims of the big boom of the .338 Jarrett. The ballistics listed here will bear out my point.

Back in 1912 the .375 H&H was born and it was destined to achieve greatness. It has been said many times that it is the finest all around cartridge that the world has ever seen. That could be an opinion, but it is a very popular one. It has also been stated: The .375 H&H is one of the only cartridges ever designed that can be taken anywhere in the world and used on any game and few anywhere could call it unsuitable. Many people still take one rifle to Africa , it will invariably be the trusty .375 H&H.

A void was in the cartridge line up in the early fifties. What was needed was a big cartridge that shot as flat as the .375 H&H, but had the punch of the .458 Mag. That void wasn’t filled until 1988. I’m not sure, but I may have played a little part in its development. In early 1987 Layne Simpson and I were doing a lot of shooting and experimenting. We talked about doing a .416 and the next thing I knew, a reamer came from Clymer but was billed to Remington Arms Co. Next, two stainless .416 barrels materialized. We made a complete rifle with one, and rebarreled an existing rifle with the other one. Layne shot them a lot, and carried both of them with him. I suspect one went to Ilion , New York , but I am not sure. A year later I read in Shooting Times the “breaking” news of the new .416 Remington. It has proven to be a very good cartridge. It basically gives .416 Rigby performance in a .375 H&H package. It has gained respect on the Dark Continent as well as with the big stuff in North America.

Because of a trip to Africa in 1994, I was thinking about doing a good 45 caliber cartridge. I also thought the .458 to be slow and never really liked it. I wanted something with a little more zip. A friend that I was going to Africa with wanted to go through London and pick up a used Rigby double rifle in .470 nitro he had purchased. In conversation with Mr. Roberts (the owner of the rifle at the time) I mentioned the possibility of necking up the .416 Rigby to 45 caliber. Mr. Roberts said he had been doing some work along those lines and produced a reamer print. He had not done one yet, so he didn’t have any performance data. With his blessings to make the .450 Rigby, I changed the lead angle on the front and had a reamer made. The .450 Rigby has gone beyond our expectations in every category. The greatest surprise was the accuracy of such a massive cartridge. The field reports have been stellar from everyone that has used one in Africa . These folks have impressed me with their comments to the point that I will have one on my next trip to Africa . In one of our Professional Hunters this cartridge is the ultimate that we could offer to anyone. It’s a dandy, no question about it.