Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger- .300 Ruger Compact Magnum

OK, I am just asking the followers here about all of our opinions. LOL I have had a .300 RCM for a while. Its an awesome shooter, so very accurte. I am not a re-loader and the factory ammunition is truly the mirror in Balistics to the .300 WSM and so on. I understand the re-loading with the over the counter powder can get a 30-06 balistics at best. I understand this.

My question is, why so many of us gun loving, hunters and shooters would ever condemn, cut on and slap the new caliber market. I love the fact new calibers come out, some make it, some don't. Marketing is huge. We as shooters and hunters should welcome any and all things in our shooting market.

I understand the negative points on the RCM, ammo available, one rifle maker etc... LOL Got that. Never the less, wow, its a shootier. Having the 20" barrel for me, getting older, is a help to not humping the extra pound or so. To have a rifle for Elk and Deer and anything else in the U.S., with a nice short barrel, being a classic nice Ruger, is awesome.

So, other than these few points I tried to make, anyone else here use this caliber. How does it shoot and what bullet do you use. Good hunting all

Bitching about new cartridges is one of the best ways to find out who agrees with you and who doesn't, and that's why a lot of us are here.


Okie John

A lot of it is marketing, the word magnum should have never been used on any of the short magnum cartridges names. Most guys looked at the published velocity, saw that it was slower than the established magnums and never figured out what it was supposed to be used for. In reality it beats 30-06 by a significant margin with less recoil than 300 WM and can be used in lighter more compact rifles. Which was exactly what the inventor wanted.

The 300WSM was initially called the 300 Jamison after the gunwriter who developed it. Winchester stole his idea and called it 300 WSM. Jamison sued Winchester and is now getting a royalty off every rifle and box of 300 WSM ammo sold. This means less profit on those rifles and ammo.

Ruger, Remington and others initially made rifles in 300 WSM, but after the lawsuit dropped them and developed the 300 RCM and 300 SAUM in order to avoid paying the royalty. While the concept is good, there were simply too many short mags for a smaller niche market.

The original 300 WSM is well enough established to meet demand. The 300 RCM, and 300 SAUM are good enough, but simply lost out in a small, but crowded market.

Interesting story, but wouldn't they have to pay a royalty to Ruger or Remington for the RCM or the SAUM?

This article says the 300 WSM "won" because it had first mover advantage: http://www.rifleshootermag.com/ammo/ammunition_rs_best300shortmag_122810/