Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Hawkeye 20" 338 RCM field accuracy?

For those who use this rifle, or similar, how far do you feel comfortable shooting it at game? I do pretty well in the woods with about anything, but sometimes I hunt elk on more open ranches, shots can be as long as you want, but for me, 350 is a stretch. How hard is this little rifle "to hold still" from hunting positions? Thanks.

I had a lefty. It has enough weight to steady quite nicely. I didn't ever shoot it more than 100 yards, and didn't do a whole lot of load workup for it. Would have preferred a stainless for what I was needing it for.

Like most rugers it has some weight. Never fired mine at long range either but holding steady doesn't seem to be a problem. One of my favorite rifles.

I have nothing to add really except that I was looking at those guide guns in 338 RCM. If I was wealthy, I would but one just for fun. If you are talking about the guide guns they have iron sights and are probably not intended for long range shooting but more for protection. With practice, though, I imagine you could shoot 300 yards with it but would probably need to scope it and that kind of defeats its purpose.

I shoot 250's out to 400-450 yards regularly.

Shooting 180's think of it as an '06.

SU- this is in a 20" Hawkeye 338 RCM? What is your load, if you don't mind? I will scope mine, but the irons are a nice touch for a backup. If I keep the scope small/light, I won't ruin the handling properties. I hunted with a 35 Whelan AI for 20yrs, killed a Black Wildebeast with the 200X at 347yds. I was laying over the top of the little Toyota PU. Every time you tried to get out and sneak up, the herd of 30+ would bolt. They would allow you to get 350yds or so and just stare at the truck, so I took the shot. I was pushing the 200X to 2970fps. Even though the case never showed "pressure signs", I was still crowding 72K, so I went another route. Seems I can get pretty close to that speed with a 200 AB or even 2950 with a 185 TTSX in the little RCM. But, I DO like to use 250gr bullets in the dark timber.

I feel VERY comfortable with it shooting at game. I shoot mine regularly at a gong at about 350 yards, and still get to see impact. Shot a little buck with mine this year and it was utter devastation. Blew a crater in the soil beyond him (from a treestand) and blood trail was short and copious. Little meat was ruined...I was extremely impressed.

250 AB's RL16 60-61 grains 2,600 mv

Jiminy Crickets! 2600fps is awesome, ha. I have some of those 250AB on hand, but no R16. I am going to start out with the 200 NBT just because I have more of them. I always like to use a lighter/faster bullet load and a heavy bullet load on the other end. Thanks for sharing your load data Pard. Thank all for the reply.

I have two of the 338 RCMs. One is the original 20" its in a McMillan Classic now. I have had loads for the 185TTSX and am working up a 210NP for a 2020 moose hunt. As folks have said its plenty heavy enough to hold steady for a 400yd shot and easy to carry. before I settled on the 210np I strongly considered working up the 200AB, I am sure it work well. I have only used it twice, on small whitetail buck and a 200lb black bear, the 185s worked great. hopefully a moose this fall.

I also have one rebarreled to 22" with Rock #3 also in a McMillan classic. I have used it on two moose, Once with the 185ttsx and once with the 210ttsx.

Recoil is manageable in both. I have used BCL 2, 2520 and big game and gotten reasonable results. might need to look at that RL-16 though.

I haven't reloaded for mine yet but nice to hear it is doing good with the heavier bullets. I was going to try the 250 NPs or maybe the 210s but thought maybe the case was too short for decent velocity of the heavier bullet. I think 225 is the heavy factory load. Only shot one whitetail buck but thinking of taking mine to Maine if I go for bear this year.

What velocities were you getting with the 185 and 210 TTSX, and how did the performance on game compare? I’m always teetering on the higher velocity of a lighter mono bullet vs. assured penetration of a heavier and any data points are welcomed.

The 185TTSX load was 61g of BCL(2) at 3006fps. I shot the moose 3 times at about 20 feet. I shot, waited maybe 2 seconds and realized it wasn't going to crash down so I shot it twice more as fast as I could work the bolt. ( mostly because my guide was yelling "shootem again, shootem again"). All three shots went through the near shoulder through the heart lungs and 2 of the three exited, the one recovered bullet looked just like a TTSX should. In reality the moose was dead after the first shot., it just needed a little time to figure it out.

It was really good performance out of the 185TTSX but because I did recover the bullet and i like to try new things, I decided to try the 210 TTSX

The 210 load was 55.6g of Accurate 2520 at 2750 ( I may have rounded off the velocity when I wrote it in my book, but its within 5 fps or so.). One shot about 60yds quartering towards me, through the shoulder, top of the heart and out. crashed down immediately.

As for the penetration question, its a crap shoot, all the TTSX's penetrate well, likely the 210 would be better with more weight and lower velocity, Its why I gave it a chance the second time with that rifle. For a dedicated moose rifle I will stick with the 210, if I were to do dual duty deer and elk/moose I would probably go 185

Thanks!