Originally Posted by Grizzly1
A buddy of mine is thinking about picking one up as his go-to Alaskan rifle but has a couple of ?'s.

First is recoil, he has a bad jaw and his old 338WM had to much recoil, how does the 338 RCM compare in the recoil dept?

Is the 338 RCM here to stay?

How does it handle the larger bullet weight's (reload's)?

Thank's


I haven't read many of the articles, so I'm not up to speed on what everyone else is saying about it. I did buy one and have been shooting it, so I can offer a little experience, however.

It is not, nor will it ever be, the ballistic match of a .338 Winchester Magnum, regardless of barrel length, magic pixie dust powders, advertising claims, or contorted comparisons. The case doesn't hold as much powder, ergo, it cannot match .338 WM ballistics. What it is, though, is an extremely handy rifle chambered for a very useful cartridge. If you think of it as a short-action .338-06 you will be closer to the mark -- and that is very very good company. If I can run 210 TSX's at 2700-2750 fps, I will feel no need for a bigger gun. 185's should run over 2900, which will provide the ability to reach out as far as I want to shoot. At some point I do want to try some 250's, just for fun.

Mine seems like it is going to shoot well; with 35 rounds down the tube. Tomorrow will be another range day with more loads, so we will see. I'm also taking it to Texas pig hunting in a couple of weeks, so I should be able to provide some actual bullet-on-flesh results to go with the chronograph and target results.

It does not kick all that much, either. My rifle weighs just a hair over eight lbs with a 4x Leupold in Warne QD mounts and nylon sling -- it's wood/blue, and I expect the stainless/synthetics are lighter.

I certainly hope the .338 RCM is "here to stay", though given that I have dies and 200 pieces of brass I'm not terribly concerned. The only real issue I see with it is that Hornady so far has seen fit to only issue factory ammunition with fairly stupid bullets for a medium-bore cartridge. I do not know what lapse of marketing sense has lead to that aberration, but there
it is.

Overall, I like my .338 RCM real well so far.

Best group from first range test...
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Dennis

"The more you run over a dead cat, the flatter it gets."

"If you're asking me something technical, you may be looking for My Other Brother Darrell."

"It ain't foot-pounds that kills stuff -- it's broken body parts."