I'm considering barrelling a Mauser belted mag action with one of the RUM calibers , just for the heckuva it. No particular goal other than a nice rifle, useable for hunting or targets. The RUM calibers are interesting and I was just wondering if one seems to be a standout for accuracy over the others. The 375 has been recommended as has the 338. Any thoughts on these, vs. the other RUM calibers?

I've shot all of them but the .375 and really like them. I own the 7mm Ultra Mag in a Sendero, but the most popular one seems to be the .300 and it may just be the best .300 magnum ever. It seems fashionable in some quarters to bash the Ultras but the fact remains they are all no nonsense accurate killers. I've heard people bash them that I know for a fact never pulled the trigger on one. Anyway, I would build on the .300. If you don't reload Remington has ammunition at three performance levels and if you do you can easily duplicate the factory offerings. If you reload, the 7mm can perform wonders but if you don't then forget the 7. I have two friends that use the .338 Ultra and both really like it, saying it is very accurate and easy to load for. Hope this helps.

I have a 7MMUM in a Sako rifle that I won some years ago. This is definitely a specialty caliber for long range use. A 140G & 175G. factory load is available if you don't handload. The 300RUM seems far more versatile to me. Again, if you don't handload there are three levels of performance with factory ammo. The 338 & 375RUM doesn't seem to get much play so I have no experience with them. I look at the RUM's as something for the true marksman to use for 400+ yards. My limit is just over 400 yards so I have little need for something with this potential. A 257 Weatherby, 300 Win. Mag, 30-06, 35 Whelen, & 280 seem to be all I need for non dangerous game.

g5m - I had one in .300 Ultra and all I can say is that it was "impressive".. The hunting trip I had planned to use it on fell through so I sold it here.. Nice long range round!

The more I read about them the more appealing the 300 WinMag is as I really don't expect to go hunting again and don't really need the recoil of these even bigger bruisers.
But, long range shooting is a lot of fun.
I'll look at a magnum length action and 300 Win mag and seat the bullets out maybe. (The action is an Interarms Mark X with long mag box for 300/375 H&H length rounds).
Thanks very much for the comments. Gotta love this Board.

g5m - I was looking at a used .300 Weatherby when I saw this new Rem 700 SS BDL .300 Ultra for 100 bucks less than the Weatherby! I think I'd go with the .300 WBY instead of the .300 Win. but that's just me!

Keeping that option open, too.

I've always thought that a mauser action in 338 RUM would be the ideal big bear rifle. I might even get enough cash together to make one for myself someday.

I have 2 RUM's a 300 and a 338. Both are on Sako actions. I did put brakes on them just because I really like shooting them. I like them because the country I've been hunting lately affords a lot of long shots and very few close ones.

The 300 is a little newer and has only one kill.

The 338 has taken 4 or 5 elk and can be devastating. I just like cranking it a few inches high at 100 yds and being deadly out to almost 500 yds with them.

The longest kill for the 338 was a bull at 390 yds, shot in the head as it was looking at me. Granted a 243 might have done it in that circumstance, but the 338 did it well.

I really like my 300 RUM, M700. I mainly got it because it was different from everyone else in my hunting group. I have heard a lot of guys say the 338 was very good shooter. I haven't heard much about the 375. I would definately buy another 300rum.

I shoot a 375rum and love it except when I have to buy ammo. Factory 300gr A-frames are over $100/box in some places. I need to take my rifle out of the gun safe and store the ammo inside - its worth more.

I would probably get an H&H if I had to do it again.

did somebody say "ULTRA-MAGNUM!!" bwoo-haa-haa-haa!!

Everyone is different. I believe I could manage the .375 RUM with iron sights, but not scoped without a brake.

I had a .338 RUM in the 700 XCR. Nice rifle. Recoil was up there, but my shoulder was managing. My forehead was not. 1-2 times out of 10 rounds that scum sucker would clock me in the noggin with the scope. I tried several scopes with good eye relief including a Loopy 2.5-8X, changed mounts to try to optimize scope location for eye relief, and just could not get a success out of it.

I had 3 options left ... muzzle brake, scout scope, or (the one I chose) consign the gun and buy something I could handle.

The consignment is all messed up, long story, but I might wind up with the gun back. If I do, I'm going to use that action and build something. Might well be a Sendero-like package, stick with .338 RUM, and put a _good_ muzzle brake on it.

T_O_M - I had my .300 RUM Mag-Na-Ported and it did help control the muzzle rise.

For me this is definately the way to go! I won't do a brake, not even a Vais....

Dober

Don't waste your time with the win mag as a reloader. You mentioned seating the bullets further out. Be very careful with the 300 win. That short neck drove me crazy when tring to develop loads and then try to have the small neck grip the bullet well enough when under recoil in the magazine. How many cartridges do you know of where the length of the neck is less then the diameter of the bullet. That was at one time a strong standard for developing wildcats. "never have the neck shorter then the diameter of the bullet". Well Winchester did it with successful results using some loads, and with factory loading equipment.

Once fired brass was good, but after 3-5 firings they were bad to unusable. The neck stretch and splitting was excessive. On the other hand I loaded for my 300 weatherby and my buddies for many years too. That long neck is simply a dream to reload with. 15-20 loads per shell was the norm.

For a factory load shooter the 300 Win is fine, for a reloader there are far better options to get the most from such a versatile bullet selection.

JJ-your experiences are totally different from mine in a big time way.

I've had no none zero issues with loading a 300 Winnie, brass life has been good 4 me as well.

Accuracy is superb, and speed is normally within 100-125 fps of the Wby.

As far as you getting 15-20 loads out of the Wby case, I spect something isn't totally right there. If one is getting that kind of case life out of the 300 Wby, or about most any other round for that matter then there is some serious underloading going on.

As for the short neck, IMO this is another example of cutting the ends off the roast...

Dober

Thanks for that. Will look much harder at the 300 Weatherby. Have owned several over the years but they were factory rifles.

Mark, That is very interesting. When I was struggling with the reloads for the 300 win mag, I questioned what my skills were as I could not get what I was hoping for with that cartridge.

This was "pre internet" so I was stuck with asking around for guidance and help to make this work. During that time I was doing some research work for Hornady for the then New XTP handgun bullets. I asked one of the the engineer I was working with at Hornady about the problems I was experiencing with the 300 Win mag. I still remember him laughing about the question and saying to me "join the club". He was the one who told me about the short neck being the cause of the case life and sometimes difficult loading.

There is a very short section on a bullet, especially with a boat tail that will allow a tight grip between the flat of the case and the flat of the bullet. Seating depth becomes more or less non-adjustable with this. Heavy bullets (no longer an issue with the TSX) had to be seated deeply taking up case capacity. Short bullets had to be seated out too far to get the neck to have something to grab. Boat tails like NBT's or others were simply out of the formula to load with.

As far as the Weatherby ( going from memory)I was loading 84grains of RL15 for minimum 3100fps with the 180 grain bullets. Not a hot load but If memory serves me right it was within book standards. 15 reloads was easy with that rifle. The 300 Weatherby case is one of my favorite all time reloadable cases. Plenty of powder capacity, the longest neck in the business, and at least with the weatherby cases, very long life. My 300 weatherby was built on a Pre64 Winchester action.

I do recall my friend once telling me that they were getting limited reloads with remington cases, Maybe they were lighter constructed? The actual head stamped Weatherby cases last a hella long time.

JJ-I've never experienced any challenges with the "short neck" of the 300 winnie. I've loaded 110 Sierras on up to 200 Sierras and a boat load in between, no issues for me. I just never had any troubles with the case being the neck too short or the too short neck and long bullets protruding into the case too far.

As for the number of loadings out of a case, the most I've ever experienced was with my 1st .340. With the first 2 boxes of Wby brass I got 13 loadings out of one and 12 out of the other b4 I tossed them. I for the life of me just can't imagine getting 15-20 out of a case let alone a maggie.

Oh and about your 300 Wby info, you might wanna check it but I have a sneaking suspicion that you weren't using R15...<g>

Have a good day!
Dober

Mark, what effect does magna-porting have on noise?
I am in the no troubles with the win mag camp as well.
FWIW the 300 wsm has a short neck too.

I've worked with and had several that were ported, I could tell they were a bit louder but absolutely nothing compared to a brake!

Personally, I am a huge fan of magnaporting and have no issues with it.

Oh now, the short mags have short necks, there goes the sale growth...<g>

Dober

The 300 Ultra is an awesome round,used one to drive a nice 6x6 Utah elk into the dirt,but the recoil is more than I really like so I let mine go.

Now I shoot 300 win mags in regular and unleaded(WSM) types. I have never had any issues with the plain old 300 win mag or it's vertically challenged other brother Darrel. These kill elk just fine,killed three or four with em and are more pleasant to shoot.

If I still had my 300 ultra,I'd try some of the milder tastes great less filling loads in it.


Britt

Mark, your right buddy, it was 7828

Wow never reload with data I post!

Hmm-thx for the heads up JJ....<g>

By the way I about totally love 7828 for certain apps.

Have a good day!

Dober

I agree with Mark and have tried it on a few of my rifles. Currently I have a .340 Weatherby that is Magnaported and it makes it extremely controlable with a greatly reduced muzzle rise.

I have also used it up to .416 Weatherby where it starts to limit in effectivness, as there is a lot more powder and recoil to deal with. I also tried triple magnaporting whereby I had a third pair of vents added.

JW

Likewise, no problems with the cartridge. I've had some hassle with it specific to some truly '06 length actions that had too much freebore, but that's not the cartridge's fault.

I really like my .300 Win. Mag. and have no problems loading for it. While I won't be running out to trade it, if I were in the market for a general purpose .30 cal. I think I would get a .300 Ultra. In fact, it would make a good answer to the "If limited to one gun one caliber" question. It can be loaded to perform like either a 30-06 or 300 Win mag. if necessary. That is what I call versatility. My 7mm Ultra might lend itself to loading down but I haven't tried it and probably won't. I have always looked upon the 7mm Ultra as a specialty long range killer and load mine to the absolute max for every shot. If I need less power I use less rifle... this has got me to thinking(always dangerous) I could get a 300 Ultra and unload a BUNCH of rifles using the money saved to finance more hunting...Hummmm

Mark - I'm a great fan of Magnaporting! I've had 2 rifles done by them with great results and had been considering sending them my .375 Ruger RSM but the extra weight of te RSM helps me control the rise.. I have a ported guide gun and while it doesn't bother me that much I wish Marlin had sent them to Magnaport instead..

I have had several rifles mag-na-ported and honestly, I could not tell any real differenc in recoil reduction. the last was a 300 win mag and I sold it. I had them port my wife's 20 ga O/U but I dont shoot that gun so I really can not tell if it works or not.

There is no recoil reduction at all, it will limit the lift of the muzzle, but any reduction in felt recoil is in your noggin!

Both my buddy and I had 100% identical 300 weatherbies (win model 70 manufacture) He sent his to magnaport. Some time later we were at the range and watched eah other shoot both guns. Sure enough it will reduce muzzle lift, but neither of us could tell any difference in recoil. A couple fellas were watching us and listening to the conversation. We offered to let them have a try to see the difference. Scott wrapped the muzzles with black tape. Each shot the guns and could not tell which rifle was which.

Addmittedly this is a small and very low resolution group to make any comment as fact. However four guys shooting 300 weatherby rifles and none could tell? these 300 weatherby cartridges have a bit of recoil, if there was something noticable somebody would have had an opinion.

As far as muzzle lift we are not talking about much. The difference off the bags was about 3" less lift with the magnaport rifle. I'm not certain that a 3inch reduction in muzzle lift on a rifle of this recoil level means anything.

Regarding handguns. I bought a 44mag SW mountian gun. It was beautiful and very functional. Sometime later I decided I wanted to buy another one to leave in RSA at the lodge. The search took a while but I located another one which had the magnaported barrel.Shooting these side by side there was a more noticable difference in muzzle lift, still absolutely nothing in the way of felt recoil reduction. The real down side to this gun was shooting hard case lead bullets. The magnaport would shave a sliver of lead from the bullet which ejected out the port on the right side of the gun. I was hit in the face with that lead splatter several times.

Needless to say that gun was sold off with the stipulation that jacketed bullets should only be used. There was never any issue with the jacketed bullets.

A lot of crap comes out of the magnaport vents. On the weatherby the end of the barrel would often be black from powder and the 44mag was also covered in powder and residue. There is no doubt that gasses escape from these vents in a big way, they also take with it what ever is blown down the tube with that gas.

With the experiences I have had with it......I would not deface any gun I own with this process.

Mzl lift is the only reason why I like the magnaport thing. I tend to hold a rifle very freely and without magnaporting I find myself getting the scope between the running lights quite often, and that tends to challenge my ability to concentrate.

IME if you have two rifles the same and one's ported and one's not then they'll still come back at you with the same amount of recoil (although I really do feel that porting does reduce the bump by 10-15% but that is just gut feel, or should I say shoulder feel...<g>). The non ported gun will jump on the bags or in field positions and that 3" that JJ speaks of does mean a big diff to me. That 3" is the diff between wearing a scope or not IME. Now the non ported gun will come straight back at me but it will not be reaching off the bags to hit me between the running lights. And that my friends is worth it a lot to me, as I like to shoot my main guns 500-1K rounds a year.

Oh and add to this that I am a nortorious stock crawler, thus the porting helps me to stay away from the scope here as well!

Bottom line, I like the magnaporting as it keeps me from taking it between the eyes.

Use what you like gang and I'll do the same.

Dober

I had a grizzly encounter once where my .300 Winchester magnum's neck sure made thing interesting.

I was going to vacate an area after spotting a momma grizzly and three big cubs, and as I went to unload the round in the chamber (as I was to be meeting up with my Dad soon - and at that time, he didn't like me carrying a round in the chamber) before going wandering off to locate my Dad on the other side of the mountain.

The short neck didn't have enough grip (on my admittedly long loaded bullet) and so the bullet stayed in the barrel as the cartridge was ejected - leaving me in a heck of a pickle.

Alone on my side of a mountain, as a young teenager, with four grizzlies and a fancy walnut and steel "walking stick".

Believe me - that experience defined the word "naked" - and in a way that only a big game hunter could ever truly appreciate!

I've never cared for short necks - on women, or rifle cartridges since then!

With all dues respect Brian, the short neck of the 300 winnie had nothing to do with that challenge, and you could of had the same issues with any other round out there.

A bit of homework would of solved that and kept you from an interesting afternoon!

Oh and by the way, when you spot the bruins that is the time to have a round in the hole not taking one out....<g>

Glad it all worked out for you though.

Dober

Brian, One (just one) reason this happened is that the bullet was seated out too long for the throat and the lands had it and did not want to give it up

Gdv

You got it bud, run them thru after loading and b4 heading to the hill and you'll be fine. I had the same thing happen once when I was yote hunting....no doubt frustrating with yotes it would be big time frustrating with long claws around. But, it wasn't the rounds fault.

Dober

I have had the same thing happen with a .280 rem. Twasnt the rounds fault.

Cleaning powder out of the chamber, action and bolt areas sucks.