.300 Sherwood

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

Design
The .300 Sherwood is a straight, rimmed cartridge that fires a 140 gr bullet, driven by 8.5 gr of cordite, at a listed speed of 1400 ft/s. The bullet calibre is .300 in as opposed to the more common .308 in.

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 cartridge. The cartridge was created by lengthening the much milder .300 Rook.

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 and Francotte, whilst high end double rifles were produced by Holland & Holland 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, 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 bears, bighorn sheep, and one verified caribou at 220 yd.