Mitchell Reel Forum

I was looking through some of my parts and came across a face plate marked 300 C. I know they made them but I’m not finding the reason for the C. Does anyone know about them?
Thanks Syd

Hello Syd,
The 300C means the reel has bearings in the handle side plate and I believe something different inside. I never really pursued the difference because I never looked to buy them.
Kim

Thanks. As far as I know is that I only have the side plate. With all the parts I have maybe I will look at putting a real together and mixing side cover, body, and rotor colors

Thanks. As far as I know is that I only have the side plate. With all the parts I have maybe I will look at putting a real together and mixing side cover, body, and rotor colors

Syd wrote: ↑Sat Apr 27, 2024 11:22 pm I was looking through some of my parts and came across a face plate marked 300 C. I know they made them but I’m not finding the reason for the C. Does anyone know about them?
Thanks Syd

Syd,
Sorry for my delayed response.

The best way I can think of to describe the Mitchell 300C model is it's the 300 with roller bearings.
Around 1969 Garcia Mitchell decided to try and market the ever popular Mitchell 300 with an upgrade that Garcia wrote had: "...two sets of precision roller bearings...".

By this time, there already was a high speed version of the Mitchell 300 named the Mitchell 410 which featured a high speed 5 to 1 retrieve ratio to the Mitchell 300’s 3 1/2 to one retrieve ratio although no roller bearings.

Other versions of the 300 were also around at this time as well, such as the automatic-bail 330 and 440. The 330 had 3 ½ to one retrieve ratio, like the 300, only with auto-bail, and the 440 had high speed 5 to 1 retrieve ratio with auto-bail and 2 sets of roller bearings.

If you are wondering why add the 300C with 3 ½ retrieve and roller bearings when they already had the 410 and 440 with roller bearings, we don’t know at this time. Perhaps someone, somewhere, said we need a 300 with roller bearings and so the 300C was born.

Here is a photo from the old MRM which shows what the first version (circa 1969) of the 300C looked like. Like all Mitchell 300 reels, the 300C evolved over time. I won’t cover all of the various other 300C changes here.

Below I have posted a photo of a 1977 Mitchell 300C from my collection. Note the changes which have occurred during this time span.
The Mitchell 300C like the 300 had what many consider to have been a very interesting history. You can find some very informative pages on the 300C in Wallace's book titled: THE MITCHELL CLASSIC 300 SPINNING REEL.
Also, if interested try a search of the MRM to find other posts on the 300C
Kind Regards,
Bill

Thanks for the info