.244 Halger

A photo of the .244 Halger H.V. Magnum, also known as ".244 Halger Magnum", or just ".244 Halger" for short. Also includes some case head markings. It is the smaller-caliber, higher velocity counterpart to the .280 Halger cartridge. The .244 is also the more obscure of the two offerings. Photo from CartridgeCollector.net. Note they claim the RWS-made case is a prototype, but we can't verify.

The .244 Halger High Velocity Magnum (also referred to as ".244 Halger H.V. Magnum", or simply ".244 Halger") was an early hyper-velocity rifle cartridge devloped in Northern Germany (in the city of Kiel?) by the "Halger" company. To paraphrase Elmer Keith in his American Rifleman article "The .250 O'Neil Magnum" (April 1937), this was a notoriously accurate cartridge and was inspiration for the O'Neil cartridge to live up to. According to our research, it seems the .244 cartridge is the more obscure of the two rounds created by Halger, the other being the .280 Halger Magnum.

"Halger", the name of the company (and their cartridges), appears to be a contraction of "Halbe" and "Gerlich". We assume these are the founders of the firm, but this requires verification.

Ballistic Performance

According to this auction listing at Morphy Auctions, The Halger firm advertised the cartridge as containing an 87-grain bullet, with a muzzle velocity of 3,770 feet per second (1149 meters per second) for a muzzle energy of 2,746 ft lbs of energy (3,723 Joules).

Bullet Weight	Velocity	Muzzle Energy
87 gr. (~ 5.64 G)	3,770 ft/s (1149 m/s)	2,746 ft lbs (3,723 J)

Halger Rifle Photo Gallery

Below is a gallery of photographs sourced from Morphy Auctions for a particular auction they held for a custom Halger-built Mauser, chambered in their .244 Halger cartridge. The page also contains good information on the rifle, and history of the Halger company.

Right-side view of a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Right-side view of a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Right-side close-up view of a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

An underside view of a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Left-side close-up view of a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Top-side close-up view of a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Left-side receiver markings on a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Right-side chamber / receiver markings on a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Top-side chamber markings on a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Top-side view of action markings (serial numbers etc) on a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions.

Top-side barrel markings on a Mauser-style rifle, chambered in .244 Halger, made by the Halger company of Germany in 1931. Photo from Morphy Auctions. "Halger-Waffen, Kiel" - basically "Halger Weapons, Kiel" (Kiel being a city in Northern Germany).

Other Information

• .280 Halger - The higher-caliber counterpart to the .244 Halger.

• .280 Halger Ultra - A high-powered squeeze-bore series of cartridges by the Halger company, intended to appeal to military use.

External Links

• Halger.dk - This appears to be a website & gallery of various firearms owned by the Gerlich family. It includes photos of firearms in ALL of the original Halger chamberings, including the very interesting squeeze bore .280 Halger Ultra.

• Morphy Auctions - Halger rifle sold at Morphy Auctions in April of 2019. Includes information on the rifle and company.

• CartridgeCollector.net - A brief page and small gallery of a .244 Halger cartridge.