338 RCM pkg.

Good elk rifle......

I wish I would have killed an elk with it. It will be a couple of years till I get back to CO.

Nice cartridge for elk.

Ran into a used walnut/blue Ruger .338RCM at Cabelas in Sidney a couple months back, beautiful rifle in perfect condition, $500. My rifle budget was blown, but if I hadn't built a .338WM with a 22" barrel last year it would have come home with me anyway. I wanted it badly...

I set up a wood stock / blued Hawkeye 338RCM as my aspen forest and dark timber gun with a 2-7 Weaver scope. Very nice, light and handy; I was getting tired of catching on trees with a long Weatherby. Factory rounds kick a bit but shoot ok; reloads with a 225 gr TTSX don't kick nearly as much and group under an inch at 100 yards. I didn't end up using it last year but had it as a backup gun; hope to take a cow this year with it.

Here's my "compact" .338, built from parts:

Ruger MKII action
22" fluted barrel from Bear Paw Jack (I'm the 3rd owner)
Ruger "boat paddle" stock
Burris Fullfield II 3-9x with Ballistic Plex reticle
Bead blasted finish
.338 Win Mag



Two shot scope check with 225g SSTs:


2011 field check with 225g AccuBonds:

I like the fact that a lot of different powders run well through the RCM. The round is super easy to load and really there are a ton of medium grade bullets that do well.

+1 on that blackmouth.
I didn't experiment with light bullets though. All of mine are fairly heavy, 200-225 gr. I might try to develop a light bullet load for plinking or hog hunting if I ever get a chance to do that.