.240 Apex

The .240 Holland and Holland Magnum (also known as the .240 Apex, .240 Belted Nitro Express, .240 Magnum Rimless, or .240 Super Express) is a centrefire sporting rifle cartridge developed in England in the 1920s, primarily for use in hunting deer and plains game. This round has always been closely associated with the firm of Holland and Holland, rifle and gun makers of London, England, which has built more magazine and double rifles in this calibre than anyone else. A rimmed variant of this cartridge, known as the .240 Magnum Flanged, was developed for use in double rifles.

Overview
A number of Lloyd rifles were made in the period 1930 - 1950 for the .240 H&H cartridge, and David Lloyd took it as the starting point in his development of his .244 H&H Magnum cartridge, which uses the same distinctive .245 in diameter bullet, (NOT the standard .243 bullet) but fired from a much larger case.

The ballistic performance of the .240 H&H in factory loads is very similar to that of the .243 Winchester, with a 100 gr bullet giving a muzzle velocity of approximately 2900 ft/s. When it is loaded at the same pressure as the .243 WSSM using modern powders, the .240 H&H has the potential for slightly better performance.

The case dimensions of the .240 are not unlike those of the wildcat 6mm-06 (the .30-06 Springfield cartridge case necked down to accept a 6mm/.244 bullet), but the .240 case has a fractionally, .002, larger diameter, and the case is distinctive in appearance owing to its long neck.

Most bolt-action rifles made for the .240 H&H will be amply strong enough to handle handloaded cartridges at high pressure.