I have mentioned this before. When the 338 RCM first came out I purchased a reamer and made one. Used a SA Ruger tanger in a McMillan Ultralight stock. Rick Bin sold me that stock and painted it ASAT camo. The box magazine was lengthened to 3.050". It has a #2 profile 22" SS 1 in 10 twist Lijla. Friend cerrakoted the barrel. Current scope is a 3-9 x 40 Trijicon Accupoint. Weight 7 1/4 lbs.
Have used it for a three cow elk using 225 gr accubond @ 2730 fps using 54 gr of Varget. OAL with 225 accubond is 2.980" Distances were 250 yd or less. Very lethal, never found a bullet.
I tried other bullets but the ones listed below are worth mentioning:
As a lark I tried 300 gr sierras seated kissing the rifling, OAL was too long for magazine.
Much to my surprise during testing two touched at 200 yds with RL-17/ 2350 fps.I also tried the Berger 300 OTMs with same accuracy.
This fired up an idea I had often thought about. I always thought a high BC bullet with that much weight from a smaller case using a small amount of powder would be able to fired repeatedly without excessive barrel wear and shouldn't heat up quickly yet perform down range with plenty of energy and minimal wind drift. Ended up making a second 338 RCM but had it long throated so the Sierra boattail/body junction was even with the case's shoulder/body junction and kiss the rifling. It is in a Joel Russo stocked Interarms Mark X. The barrel is a #5 lilja profile 30", 1 in 9 twist. I had Dan Pederson rebore/re-rifle this barrel which was originally an ill fated 1 in 7 twist 7mm lilja. This package shoots the 300 gr sierra at 2520 fps with 57.5 gr of RL-17. To date it has taken 2 coues wt at around 500 yds.
There was a great deal on the 185 fusion bullet a while back. I bought several hundred and put together a load using 54.5 gr of IMR 8208 XBR for 2785 fps. It ended up with the same POI at 100 yds as the 225 accubonds. It will be used on this year's javelina hunt.
A sidenote: Both rifles had mild clicker issues with once fired brass. After reading several threads on the subject, I pulled each barrel and sanded the web area a bit larger. Clickers are gone!
