H&R 300/301 Ultra Rifles From the 70's

[fyimo]

In the 80's I was talking to my gunsmith and I said I love Sako and FN Mauser rifles but that they were to expensive for my pocket book. So he tipped off on a little secret and that was on the H&R 300 and 301 Ultra Rifles built in the late 60's to sometime in the mid 70's. H&R wanted to compet in the high end market against the Browning Safari Model which at the time was an expensive rifle.

They imported actions from FN and Sako and had a Douglas Air-Gauged Barrel installed and put them in a custom stock made by Fagen. They made a very limited quantity of them during the time they sold them and I decided to hunt them down. I ended up finding 4 of them and I bought them all for less than $350 each and they are fantastic rifles. The rarest one I have is a Model 301 with Manlicher stock in 25-06 with the FN action . The others have the normal stock and I have a 243 with a Sako 579 action, A 30-06 in a FN action and a 270 in a FN action. I have given the 270 to my oldest son but I still own the other 3.

30-06 with the FN action and stock refinished

243 with the 579 Sako action and original finish

Model 301 in 25-06

 

[bishopm14]

Nice. I never knew H&R made those. Sounds like they put a lot of effort into that project. I always thought of H&R as a company that could make something of whatever quality demanded. Their Garands were arguably the best of any manufacturer, and they managed to crank out the most M14's of anyone.
But, they were seemingly content to ride cheap single shot shotguns and less than stellar revolvers straight into bankruptcy.

 

[fyimo]

I received this on another forum about these rifles that's sort of their history.

I was the H&R sales agent & ad manager back in the late 70's time span. Your Ultra Rifle sounds like it was one of the rifles built on an FN action with a Sako fully adjustable trigger & floor plate assembly. H&R bought the actions, used Fajen stocks (farmed out checkering to a couple of ladies who worked in the H&R Plant) and H&R Mated the Douglas air Gauge barrels into the Actions once they shipped in and orders were placed for them. I had a Sako Ultra Mannlicher-stocked 7 mm Remington Magnum on loan from the factory. Handsome gun if you like the extreme stock styling. Dumb chambering - gun was a 20" carbine. Shortly before I started working for them, the deal with Sako for their actions fell through, and H&R started using the Yugoslavian Zavasta Mauser (true '98 actions.) Your gun is far superior, at least as far as the action & Barrel is concerned, as you already Know Nothing Trump's a Belgium Made action made by FN Mated with an adjustable Sako Trigger assembly, & Douglas air Gauged custom sporter barrel. All these guns were virtually custom made at H&R, and total production of all Ultras was very, very low. They were built in small batches and usually sat in inventory until an order came in. Personally I never cared for the styling of the wood, and in 1980 - I think - they came out with an additional "Classic" model. These guns didn't last long because H&R went belly up in the early 80's. Hope this is of some help.

The H&R Ultra-Rifle. Made in 1967 in house at the H&R factory. The Gun has a Fagen Aristocrat stock on it that ladies in the H&R Plant hand checked. Its action was made by FN of Belgium and it is mated to a Sako fully adjustable trigger that adjusts for Creep and Tension. The Pencil sporter style barrel was made by Douglas custom barrels and is an air gauged barrel. This gun will shoot one ragged hole at the 100 Yard line if I do my part right when shooting it. I found a person on the Internet that used to be the sales guy for H&R and he shared with me about these very low Production high end rifles.

I think the supreme accuracy of the H&R Ultra rifle can be placed on the Douglas air gap Barrels that they used. There is little known information out there on these guns, and from what I have been told there were very few made up and sold. I am very Pleased with the one I got it shoots awesome. Another rifle that never grew famous but had wicked accuracy is the Ithaca LSA rifles. They were manufactured by Tikka of Finland a division of Sako, Then Imported to the U.S. I have had a half dozen of them in my life and should have kept one. I did have one in 6 MM that was one of my Favorites. The days of these High quality guns are long gone but if you keep your eyes open you can still find some out there. The gun shop that had my H&R Ultra had No Clue of what they really had and I wasn't about to educate them. For what I paid the Early Vintage Leupold scope was worth the sale of the gun. Regards,

They were built in small batches and usually sat in inventory until an order came in. Personally I never cared for the styling of the wood, and in 1980 - I think - they came out with an additional "Classic" model. These guns didn't last long because H&R went belly up in the early 80's. Hope this is of some help."

 

[shouldazagged]

Gorgeous rifles. They radiate class.

 

[TOM BECKWITH]

Not mentioned above and my favorite are the H&R 317 series. Made in .17 and .22 CF with 20" "Pencil" bbls with Sako 416 actions. Stocks were similar to the above but with a very fancy Oak Leaf pattern on their top line. .17 Rem, .17/223, .17 Mk 4, .223, and .222 as I recall. Earlier ones had the Sako style rear mount and later ones were "Round Top". None I am aware of had open sights. As noted above, they never caught on and now have become somewhat "collector" items. They are quality pieces and great shooters. A 317 in .17/223 is now listed on GB if you are interested.

 

[2152hq]

Nice rifles.
Others used the FN 98 Belgian mfg action and bbled them with assorted after market tubes, stocked them with Fajen and other's wood.
Marlin, Colt, Jefferson Arms, Kodiak, Western Field, High Standard & Sears/JC Higgins names will be found on them.
I think it was H/S that assembled guns for Sears w/the JC Higgins name on them, and Jefferson Arms that did the work for Colt.
Sako actions were also used. Some great buys in that bunch.

 

[Cocked & Locked]

H&R Ultra Rifle 301 .30-06

I have just this one and love it.

Mine is built on a Sako L61R action and is chambered in .30-06.

In these pics it has a 4X Burris scope. As of yesterday it is sporting a Leupold M8 6X scope.

The wood is darker and not as orange looking as it appears in these pics.

Plus it works! Or at least it did in October 2013.

 

[fyimo]

I have just this one and love it.

Mine is built on a Sako L61R action and is chambered in .30-06.

In these pics it has a 4X Burris scope. As of yesterday it is sporting a Leupold M8 6X scope.

The wood is darker and not as orange looking as it appears in these pics.

Plus it works! Or at least it did in October 2013.

Great looking Rifle and great Photo's and that is a wonderful Model 301 that you have. By the way that is an excellent buck you shot with it. According to the guy that was doing Marketing for H&R at the time the Model 301 is extremely rare as the whole H&R 300/301 is rare and he made it sound like they were almost made to order and there aren't many out there. I was hitting gun shows hard for nearly 30 years and I bought the only 4 I came across and fortunately they were in excellent condition. My Model 300 with the FN Mauser action in 30-06 had the stock refinished but the bluing was perfect. It's an excellent shooter and I may use it this deer season to shoot a deer.

 

[ColbyBruce]

I was offered one of these small action rifles in trade for my S&W 57. It was chambered in .17/.223 and he valued it at $1,100.00. I didn't bother to answer his email yet, but I will.

 

[TLflag]

Model 317

If you trade for the 317 be sure and get the dies as there are no factory loads and the dies sell retail for $36O.OO. I've had the rifle for many years along with several other rifles and full stock Sako weapons. They are my favorites

 

[ColbyBruce]

No dies, no scope, no iron sights, no brass or ammo. He claims it is NIB, along with some other vintage varmint rifles that belonged to his dad. It appears way over-priced to me, and that was my reply to him.

 

[olskool]

300 ultra

back in the early 90s i had a model 300 in 308, i was shocked at the accuracy. it was a one hole shooter with any bullet i put in it except for a boat tail. it would shoot any flat base bullet with extreme accuracy but for some reason it just would not shoot a bt. bullet. i loved the gun but one day the stocked developed a very large crack. i epoxy it but i finally sold it and have been sorry for it. i said if i ever found another i would buy it. well yesterday i found a model 301 manlicher stocked one in 243 it looks new in the photos. i can't wait to get it. now i will be looking for a model 300 with regular stock. here is my little ruger international in 243 made in 1984 with a vintage burris 1 3/4x 5 steel tube scope

 

[Cocked & Locked]

Nice looking Ruger!

 

[olskool]

[/IMG][/IMG][/IMG] here is my 243 model 301 ultra.

 

[fyimo]

That Model 301 is just beautiful and it's also rare.

 

[Drm50]

H&R Ultra Rifles

I bought 2 H&R Ultra rifles in late 70s at a shop going under. One
was the carbine in 17/223 the other was 300 Win mg. I got good
package deal because 17/223 was a sleeper at the time. I never
shot the gun before I traded it off. The 300Win. slick as butter
and accurate. Don't have it anymore. The thing I didn't see in
the other post was the mention of the special rifling in early
models invented by Herman Barb. These barrels are marked by
cal.stamp. I think it was B in a shield. The cult followers look for
this. Barb was a Ohio smith.

 

[weatherby]

Not quite the gems you guys are posting but this is an H&R also.
A Model 700 deluxe which is a semi auto 22 WMRF

BTW Fyimo....stop posting these rifles....The Green factor is high

 

[olskool]

i had 2 model 700 H&Rs but they were not the deluxe. i also had a model 300 ultra rifle in 308 it was a tack driver, i wish i had it back. those rifles have douglas premium air gauged barrels.

 

[model70hunter]

Friend of mine owned an LGS, he knew what these were. Didn't get many in but all became the action for a custom rifle.