Hawk Cartridges were developed in the latter part of 1988 by Bob Fulton (designer of the famous Hawk hunting projectiles) who had an idea to build a rifle that was suitable for dangerous game, as well as anything in North American with lower re-coil in an 8 pound rifle.
Each of the first seven Hawk cartridges (240, 257, 264, 270, 280, 300, 3200) are based on the 280 Remington case which is slightly longer than the 30-06.
The other 4 Hawk cartridges (338, 358, 375, and 411) were developed by Bob Fulton and Fred Zeglin (well known Wildcat developer and author). The big four Hawk cases (338, 358, 375 and 411) are based upon the 30-06 case and have a powder capacity approximately 9% greater than the parent (30-06) cartridge by moving the case shoulder forward and straightening the body taper. Bob and Fred’s goal was to increase velocity to 2600 fps with a 250 grain projectile, but they did even better in reality, as they achieved 2700 feet per second. The Hawk cartridges are considered "Proprietary" cartridges. |