Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Who's been using the 338 RCM?

What barrel length you using, ammo, on what Game? Its been out awhile now ( almost faded away) but still a good round. If you handload for it, what bullets do you favor? Supposedly, its right there with the 338/06, maybe even the 338/06 Imp. ?

185 Barnes is what I used at the time.
God only knows how to find brass now.

If it was stainless composite I might have kept it. Blued walnut does not really do well with my uses. But glad Ruger did make the one model in LH

Thanks Ken, I have 3 boxes of factory ammo (225 SST) and new dies, etc on hand from a couple years ago ( I bought the 20" but it felt wrong in my big hands, long arms and long neck, ha. 22" is carbine length for me. I used the old 185 XLC loaded to about 3100 in a lwt 338WM for elk 20 yrs ago. Real killer. I will have to rustle up some factory rings as this one has none with it.

I looked at it and got as far as sourcing a rifle and trying some loads. My thinking was the only application I could see was a situation where bears were possible. Otherwise a smaller bore made sense. So the only bullets I looked at were the 250gr A-Frame and Weldcore. In the end I decided I didn't like the gun or brass situation and went with some 325 WSMs and then had a 375 WSM bored out. I think that's where I'm ending up for this class of gun.

I have two of them, a 20" RCM in a mcmillan classic and a 22" rock creek#3 also in a mcmillan classic. I have shot a pair of whitetails, a black bear and two moose with them. One with 185ttsx and one with 210NP. Its just slightly bigger in case capacity than a 338-06AI. If you want to throw .338 bullets at something and don't need 338WM velocity it works well enough. The 20" RCM in particular is a nice little package. If my moose hunt occurs this year it will be the 20" RCM that goes with me. Its easy to load, easy to get accurate loads in. I haven't bought brass in the recent shortage but before that it was easy enough to find and now I have ~500 cases enough to last my lifetime and more.

I just filled a 338 RCM and a Lapua 9.3x62 case to the neck with hodgdon lever evolution, which is the densest ball powder I have on hand.

9.3x62: 71.5 grains

338 RCM PRC LMNOP: 66.5 grains

This is a reasonable powder capacity comparison, as both my rifles have sufficiently long throats to allow a 225 grain 338 fusion loaded where the base of the bullet is even with the neck. Same with the ole Oberndorf sporting mauser in 9.3, can load a 300 grain swift A-frame till the bullet is flush with the bottom of the neck.

Anyhoo, the 338 RCM does not beat out the standard case in capacity.

I like the fact the 22" feels like an '06 but has a bit more thump to it. I am not a Long Range Hunter by no means, my average on 4 cow elk out here is around 175yds, mule deer is around 75yds, ha. I've shot antelope from 50 to 350 yds. For Mule Deer I do tend to hunt the edges of aspen/black timber mostly. Cow elk for me nowadays is private land, big hayfields, etc. I like my 300WM for that, but the 338 RCM will work also, nice to have a spare! I used the 180 NBT at 3500fps from a 338 RUM for a 250yd Aoudad down in Texas, man was it flat! My outfitter friend bought it from me! On Game I've never used more than 185 XLC in 338WM or 210 xbt in the 340Wby. I am going to start out with the 180NAB and 200 NBTs. That should round out any use I can have, even for big hogs in MO or Texas. Thanks guys for your input!

I have one of the stainless composite models, 20" barrel and I like it!! It came with a couple boxes of 185 GMX ammo which worked.
I've got handloads for 210 NPT & 250 NPT. They both are more accurate than the factory ammo. The 250 load is right at a 35 Whelen
load with the same bullet weight, ~2500fps. I'll keep mine.

Any additional info on how the bullets worked on the bear and moose? Any preference? What bullet will you use for the next moose hunt?

I built one on a tang safety M77 Ruger. 22" #2 profile. Own the reamer that has same specs that Hornady used. It is quite effective on cow elk with the 225 gr Accubond. Two to date as getting an Az tag is not easy anymore. Recently put a 3-9 trijicon accupoint on it for this year's cow elk hunt.
Load: 225 accubond, Fed 210M, 54 gr of varget, 2733 fps.

Owned the reamer and decided to make a second one. I had a 30" 7mm barrel rebored to 338 by Dan Pederson of Classic gun worksin Prescott lengthen the throat for 300 gr bullets. It is lots of fun to shoot and even in hot weather the barrel only gets warm with 10 shots through it. Very accurate and the high BC bullet does well downrange for going so slowly.
Load: 300 gr Berger OTM, 54 gr of RL-17, Fed 210M, 2349 fps

I got a 22" stainless and stocked up on brass. Then my retina specialist recommended that I not use anything with 20+ ft lb recoil, so it has been sitting. I got it because it was the equal of the venerable 333 OKH or 338-06 in a short action, and was commercially available. I have used various 338's over the years and felt they were a bit more effective than smaller diameters, especially if placement wasn't perfect.

Longbarrel,
You are spot on: Turnkey 338-06 ballistics in a lighter weight platform with zero gunsmithing or modifications.

I have been saying this since 2009:
The 338 RCM carbine is a top choice mountain rifle for Alaska where bears may be sniffing around your pack full o bloody sheep meat.. The proven, rugged reliability of the Ruger 77, good open sights and fairly lightweight.

Mine will print 1/4" groups with a cheap 2-7 scope.

Coupla things: If you like walnut, the Ruger hunter stock is a direct bolt swap. Just gotta open up the mag well for the wider RCM mag box.

If you reverse the mag follower, the rifle will have clearance for the ejector and allow you to fit fourth round down.

My 338 RCM is lighter with a scope, as any of the three 9.3x62 Mausers I've owned, without a scope!

beautiful rifle

A smidgen of wood taken out of the stock like a 70 featherweight and a smidgen of bevel on all the hard edges of the underside of the action, coming in at 7lbs 3 oz scoped in Ruger steel rings:

Little feisty with 225 grainers at almost 2680 fps, but no where near the bludgeoning of my 7.6 lb 416 Ruger with 400 grainers

I'm shooting a 22" Ruger. It's probably my favorite rifle.

My thinking is any bullet under 225, I might as well just shoot an '06.

225 AB's RL-17 61.5 averages 2,770 mv

250 AB's RL-16 61.0 averges 2,615 mv