Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Is Ruger killing the 300 & 338 RCM's?

That is some expensive brass. For comparison, .348 Win brass is $47.49 for 50 as listed at MidwayUSA. For .338 RCM brass to be more expensive than .348 Win really says something about it.

I like the convenience of box magazines too, but mine are pretty much flush with my rifles (Winchester Model 88, Savage 99C, BLR). I also have a Remington 7600 with detachable magazine. While it isn't quite flush, it doesn't protrude much.

Have you checked prices for .270WSM brass? Midway has Norma for $40.99 for 20 cases, while the Nosler stuff goes for $66.99 for 25 cases. Now THAT is some expensive brass! I still like my .270WSM's and found some primed Federal nickel plated pulled brass for $210 for 500 cases, so my son and I are set for the lives of our rifles now.

Those cartridges were stillborn. No need to kill them.

Market saturation.

Pity really!

The 338 RCM in a Stainless Laminated 20" barrelled Hawkeyes, with open sights is near the top of my List of Loony Lusts

Resistance is Futile ...

Hey to everyone, new to the forum

I do have a few questions and points to make for the Ruger .300 RCM. I am a little surprised at how many slams and dislikes and cuts there are on the caliber and it's uses. I am a little surprised due to me being an avid gun lover and the fact, I see no bad caliber for any rifle when used for its purpose. Why would any of us not like to see the calibers continue to grow.

I add, I would love to know how many people here actually own an RCM in .300 or even the .338 and also, taken any game with it. Why would it be condemned by anyone who has never used it and only knows it by reports and articles written by range shooting. Now, I totally understand the one bad deal and that is; its not being able to duplicate the powder mix allowing its great ballistics. I never call anyone liars or even mistaken but, the ballistics are true as I have owned this caliber for a while, shoot pure factory ammunition and it keeps side by side, even slightly above, my .300 WSM and is even a good 100 F. per second faster and 80 such than my .300 WinMag.

I have over the years, very much appreciated light rifle and short barrels when hunting in timber or packing any type weight. We hunters all know the rifle seems to gain weight every step when hiking far and taking out quarters. Never the less, its an awesome caliber, shoots its factory ammo SUB-MOA and is a joy to carry. The rifle caliber drops Elk, Deer and Bear in its tracks with ease.

I will say Ruger dropped the ball in its promotion but this changes nothing to the fact, its an awesome caliber and is a very nice short light weight rifle. Love the 20" barrel. I love it as much as I love watching Wildcats become new calibers and so on. Not for the reloading shooter but if your a factory ammo shooter, this caliber rocks, just like its brother the .338 RCM.

I will add it is an awesome gun for Wild Boar and its open sights as well.

Good shooting all

If anyone is in need of 270WSM (Winchester headstamp) brass, drop me a line. There's a bunch of it available locally at a decent price.

I do like the short barrel, ease of carry, and it gets out of a saddle scabbard as quick as a lever gun. I have the 20 inch with sights. It wears a 2x7 Vortex Viper scope, and is in a McMillan. So far it has elk at 400 yards, and 15 yards in the timber. It handled both without a problem. It has become my go to gun. I intended to have a 338-06 built but picked up the RCM for $345.

But yes it is pretty much dead now. It may make an appearance once in a while. Get the components while you can.

Hornady seems to support their creations better than Win and Rem. You can still get brass and ammo for the 376 Steyr and it can't be as popular as the RCMs.

In 2007 when the RCM's came out people were saying they wouldn't be around in 10 years, and they are still here. You can find them on most gun sites, and you can find the ammunition on most gun sites too. The special powders are available now too, but from what I understand many reloaders are staying with normal powders to replicate the .300 h&h magnum instead of the special powders to replicate the .300 winmag. Also they are using the normal powders to replicate the .338-06 instead of the special powders to replicate the .338 winmag.

I have never understood the disappearing caliber fear. I have a SS .338 RCM as well with a "22 inch barrel, and I just love it! I will die owning this rifle! I bought 12 boxes of Hornady .225 SST's, and they are awesome! I am buying 3 more boxes to have an even 300 rounds. I use this rifle for hunting, and shoot it 6 or 7 times a year, and I may have to reload it in 40 years if I don't by 10 more boxes by then.

Ruger and Hornady put some thought into these calibers. They replicate some great previous calibers: .300 h&h magnum, and .338-06. They offer magnum performance in a .308 Winchester size cartridge with minimal recoil, and not to mention the performance when hunting!

I've never heard anything but positive comments about performance from RCM owners! In my opinion these are some of the most interesting, and brilliant calibers to come out in a very long time, and they were created by two highly respected company's in the sporting fields community!

The Failure of the RCM cartridges is not at all about any deficiency of the cartridges or of the guns. But solidly the blame is about business management.

As the former CEO of a bullet company, I have seen it before. You know the old saying about those that won’t learn from history?
As long ago as the 60s, Jeff Cooper (and several others) were saying that high priced guns firing low priced ammo would always be a success and the opposite will always be a failure.

That is the reason all military rounds have a good following in any nation that civilians are not subjugated into ‘livestock for the tax consumers”. We have had a number of very good all-around hunting cartridges in the USA that have had a super popular status until something replaced them, and then that status of top-seller fades because as the cheap ammo disappears, so does popularity. Some rounds have been super popular even in the face of mixed reports as to their usefulness, justified or not ( see 30 carbine, 223, and 9MM as examples)

Since Joyce Hornady died, the management of Hornady Inc. has pulled out the stops in their quest to gain profits, and in many cases they are taking it too far. Ruger got in bed with Hornady as the maker of the RCM rounds and THAT is the reason for the catastrophic failure of the rifles and sales of ammo.

Winchester made the magnums of its name and produced the ammo, higher priced then standard rounds, but in the 50s and 60s when it came out a box of 300 mag was only $1.75- $2.25 more than a box of 30-06. Remington did the same with their 7MM Mag. Super good sales with affordable ammo and “cheap to reasonable” brass.

Not Ruger!

Good price on a gun, that shot ammo that bent you over and “did the deed dry” when you needed to buy it, and ever shafted the public with pricing on empty brass------- when you could get it. (most of the time you couldn’t)

I expected the 375 RCM to really take off because of the fact that I and other gunsmiths could now give the customers 375H&H performance in a standard length action which means for any given budget more can be spent on a higher grade of wood, nice sights, better glass or just more ammo, rather than spending it on a magnum length (very expensive) action. You simply get a nicer gun with the standard action for a given price. I have done this many times in making 416 Taylors instead of 416 Rigbys. Far less to spend on brass, and far less on the action makes for a far better bargain in what you get for your dollar. And both the Rigby and the Taylor shoot the same bullet at the same speed.

But NO!

Hornady made it a problem to get the brass, charged out the nose for it, and just made the RCMs a logistical problem. So that prediction of mine didn’t happen. When I made my prediction I didn’t foresee the rip-off pricing of the ammo and brass.
Hornady killed the RCMs not Ruger.

Customers will not commit to making such a rifle because of Hornady’s pricing and policies, not Rugers. And no one else makes the brass so competition only exists in going to the WSM or Remington short mags,( which is what most everyone does.) If Ruger has any blame it is that they should have addressed this issue in their contract with Hornady in the 1st place.

As the former CEO of a bullet company and as a custom gunsmith I can tell you with no doubt at all that lots of people will buy an expensive gun they can feed, but few will buy a cheep gun that can’t feed. (or just can’t justify feeding at the cost)

It's tacticool, John.

No, they are dying on their own--

I just checked the Midway site and found ammo and brass for the .300, .338, and .375 available and at very competitive prices with other rounds in the same class. Brass for all three is about $.90 each, which is typical of all Hornady brass. Ammo for the .300 and .338 runs about $2 a pop; for the .375, about $3.

I don't have a dog in this fight one way or the other, but now at least, ammo and brass doesn't look to be a problem from either an availability or price standpoint.