Ruger Compact Magnums

[sbtennex]

Anyone heard much about the new .300 and .338 RCM? In a 20" barreled M77 built for these cartridges, the .338 RCM looks real interesting - way more punch than a .338 Win Mag! I'm waiting for the Tikka Boar gun to come out in .338 Federal, but this might fit the bill real nicely, though I'm not particularly a huge Ruger fan....

[roger]

thats is just too wild...
less than 24hours ago I just bought one from Pud
in lam and blue ruger frontier in 300wsm (and PS the bbl is 16.5" not 22)
dick284 and i just went to Admonton and got a Loopy for it, ive only shooted it once and killt a peice of wood. the recoil pad could be a little larger to increase surface area.
Pud has one left in 300wsm and less than $700 down from $800. (all his rugers are on sale)
ive only had it for a while but here goes:

the good:
-research tells me that a 180gr 300wsm out of a 16" pipe is equal to a 3006
-wicked fast target aquisition,
-it small and lite and a little nose heavy,
-$29.00 a box for spammo
-a regular scope can be placed over receiver or an intermediate eye relief scope on forward mount.
the bad:
-the recoil pad is as hard as a piece of bias ply 3/4 ton tire
-im not real sure i like the ruger safety, it seems real awkward to grab in a hurry...although i like the 2 position choices
-no selection for scope choices, 2.5 power loopy $350 and a one power burris on sale for $150.
-purpose built and has little use outside its design
-requires you to shoot with both eyes open and has a very small veiw

[Scott N]

Originally Posted by sbtennex

Anyone heard much about the new .300 and .338 RCM? In a 20" barreled M77 built for these cartridges, the .338 RCM looks real interesting - way more punch than a .338 Win Mag! I'm waiting for the Tikka Boar gun to come out in .338 Federal, but this might fit the bill real nicely, though I'm not particularly a huge Ruger fan....

There's an article in Jan. / Feb. 2008 edition of RifleShooter about these two new cartridges. The 300 and 338 RCM (Ruger Compact Magnums) are designed to give the performance of a WSM cartridge with a 24" barrel out of a 20" barrel according to Hornady, the only company loading ammo for them. Apparently they achieve this with a special powder not available to hand loaders, kind of like their so called "Light Magnum" line of factory ammo.

They chrony both loads out of 20" Ruger rifles. The 300 RCM shot 180 grain bullets from 2800 -2850 fps, and the 338 RCM shot 225 grain bullets at 2650 - 2700 fps. Both give pretty good velocity for a 20" barrel, but both your standard 300 Win. and 338 Win. magnums would give more velocity out of a standard 24" barrel. To me they seem like an interesting concept, but I'm not sure how long they will last. There seems to have been so many new cartridges designed in the last 5 years or so that I wonder how many will be around in a few years.

Roger, I think sbtennex is talking about something different than your Frontier rifle. As you probably already know, Ruger isn't currently chambering rifles in the WSM line because of a law suite from Rick Jamison. He claims to have helped design the WSMs. These new RCM cartridges have probably be introduced so that Ruger can chamber rifles in "short mags" again, but they are a little different than the WSMs. By the way, it sounds like you picked yourself up a nice new rifle for Christmas.

[Donny Bear]

Yes in deed nice little rifle saw that last one in puds day before yesterday very nice like you said limited uses but still high on cool factor!

[roger]

Originally Posted by Donny Bear

Yes in deed nice little rifle saw that last one in puds day before yesterday very nice like you said limited uses but still high on cool factor!

yes it sleeps at my house now!!!
offhand shots are comfy...bench and sandbags are not so user friendly

[Donny Bear]

Originally Posted by roger

yes it sleeps at my house now!!!
offhand shots are comfy...bench and sandbags are not so user friendly

Now you see em and now you dont Good buy enjoy!

[decker]

Just wondering what everyone thinks about these calibers. I was thinking of getting a new .338RCM for my next purchase.

I think like all the new calibres that hit the market each year, they'll do the job but certainly nothing revolutionary and you are stuck to buying factory ammo which could be very difficult to track down. Same thing happened when the .30TC hit the market. I had the gun for 6 months before I could get ammo. My guess is that they'll have a short life span.

.338RCM, 325WSM, .338WM and countless others all do pretty well the same job.

[Rusty P. Bucket]

I have a buddy who just bought the .338 RCM. Hasn't fired it, but the shells are $45.00 a box. I dunno how much reloading data there is out there for it either.

I think I will stick with the classics myself.

[decker]

I have a Ruger .338 Win Mag now and was just wanting to get something a little lighter to carry while sheep hunting. I like my .338 and the ballistics but it does weigh alot.