Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 338 RCM ???

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

You can go to the "Guns and Ammo Mag site, the "Shooting Times Mag" site and do a search for articles about the 338 RCM. There are a few in there.

Imo, as a 375 Ruger owner, when Hornady and Ruger team up and work on a project together, you can bet they know what they are doing and how to successfully market and advertise their new products. The 375 Ruger as an example, has gained more popularity in such a relatively short period of time, than any other cartridge in my memory.

The 375 Ruger, the RCMs, like the WSMs, are cartridges that perform extremely well from the shorter barrels. As such, they can duplicate the performance of longer barreled rifles chambered in the longer cartridges in rifles with longer OAL`s. That is what Ruger and Hornady offer. Great performers from the shorter rifles. They`ve done it with the 20" barreled 375 Ruger, the 20" RCMs and recently did the same thing with the 20" 416 Ruger.

The RCM`s imo, will be around for a very long time mainly because of the rifles chambered for them. If a 20" tubed 338 RCM can get the same ballistics as 24" 338 Win, then why not go the shorter rifle? That`s why the appeal for the 375-416 Rugers and RCMs that won`t be going anywhere. Their appeal is broadening.

I suspect that the recoil will be there with the 338 RCM, although not quite as much imo, as with the 338 Win. But your friend has the option to get a cushioned padded cheek piece should he find the recoil too great.

If he wants the power of a go to Alaska rifle, there will be the added price of additional recoil to be paid.

There is reloading data available, dies and brass are available as well as the factory ammo.

You can go to the "Guns and Ammo Mag site, the "Shooting Times Mag" site and do a search for articles about the 338 RCM. There are a few in there.

Imo, as a 375 Ruger owner, when Hornady and Ruger team up and work on a project together, you can bet they know what they are doing and how to successfully market and advertise their new products. The 375 Ruger as an example, has gained more popularity in such a relatively short period of time, than any other cartridge in my memory.

The 375 Ruger, the RCMs, like the WSMs, are cartridges that perform extremely well from the shorter barrels. As such, they can duplicate the performance of longer barreled rifles chambered in the longer cartridges in rifles with longer OAL`s. That is what Ruger and Hornady offer. Great performers from the shorter rifles. They`ve done it with the 20" barreled 375 Ruger, the 20" RCMs and recently did the same thing with the 20" 416 Ruger.

The RCM`s imo, will be around for a very long time mainly because of the rifles chambered for them. If a 20" tubed 338 RCM can get the same ballistics as 24" 338 Win, then why not go the shorter rifle? That`s why the appeal for the 375-416 Rugers and RCMs that won`t be going anywhere. Their appeal is broadening.

I suspect that the recoil will be there with the 338 RCM, although not quite as much imo, as with the 338 Win. But your friend has the option to get a cushioned padded cheek piece should he find the recoil too great.

If he wants the power of a go to Alaska rifle, there will be the added price of additional recoil to be paid.

There is reloading data available, dies and brass are available as well as the factory ammo.

Oooops I did clicked twice!

Thank's for the reply bigsqueeze. The appeal of the RCM for my friend is the excellent rifle configuration that Ruger has put together, as you pointed out. I think he can tolerate up to 300WM recoil levels and possibly more if not benched out, but he'd prefer not to get into another tooth rattler. After handleing the RCM's they seem to have enough heft to posssibly reduce the felt recoil, but not knowing anyone with an RCM we're just guessing. He might have to toss the dice and take a chance with it??

I've dredged up all the info (old article's, post's ect.) that I can on this cart., any personal experience folk's would like to share would be welcomed.

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...


Dennis

I think its a great cartridge, but...

1) How long the cartridge will last is unknown, especially if Ruger is the only one chambering it 5 years from now.

2) If factory ammo doesn't soon come with better bullets, it will only lead to the cartridges demise. The SST is one of the last bullets that I would be using for an "Alaskan All-Around" rifle.

So, if you're buddy is a reloader, and stocks up on brass and quality bullets like the TSX or Partition, then he can't really go wrong with the RCM...

What alot of people forget is that the loads can be reduced which reduces the felt recoil.

Tell him to go for the 338 RCM. It`s the same OAL as my 375 Ruger Alaskan with a little less weight. In bolt actions, the shorter Rugers in the RCM`s and discontinued WSM`s, are the best carrying rifle, handling, power combos available on the market.

Someone on here just picked up a new Ruger 338 RCM and posted some pics of that rifle along with a shooting report. He may see this thread........ Was it Mule Deer?...........Stay tuned!

I'm thinking that was me, not John... Though John did have a S/S .338 RCM that didn't shoot so well and had to go back to the factory, I believe.

Dennis

........Like the 375 Ruger, the RCM`s as far as I know, are not proprietary cartridges. As they become more popular and they will imo, other makers will chamber them. Why? Because makers, especially Ruger have trended, are trending, and will continue to trend, towards equally performing shorter rifles. Some makers now are following Ruger`s lead as the acceptance of the buying public is trending more in this area......I would certainly take that chance and gamble with Hornady and Ruger, rather than bet against them.

Yes he reload's and I agree with your take on the RCM.

muledeer, I've been following your excellent thread on the 338 RCM and appreciate your input on the subject and look forward to seeing some dead pig pic's .

Guess I'm kinda trolling here to see how many folk's have ponied up for the RCM and what their experience has been .

If I were to only have one rifle (excuse me a moment while I stave off the staggering shudders at the thought) in Alaska, I think I could do very well with a Ruger Hawkeye .338 RCM. In that dire exigency I would go with stainless/synthetic. but the range of great (handloaded) bullets at useful velocities would cover every need from Sitka blacktailed deer to brown bears. I certainly would have zero qualms about smacking a bear with a 210 or 225 TSx at 2600 +/- fps.

Dennis

md, I find myself trying to justify the purchase of an 338 RCM for myself, no hole in the battery there though..........................Yet

Does the load data in this article look to be close to what one could expect from the 338RCM?

http://www.realguns.com/archives/170.htm

I plan to find out tomorrow. I build some loads using their Reloder 15 data, and I'm planning to take them to the range to see how they work. I will be most pleased if Re 15 proves to be a good powder for the .338 RCM, as it seems to be the universal solution to about everything else I shoot.

I'll let you know...

Dennis

muledeer,

this is a little off the mark. I read above, that you run your .338 RCM with 4x Leupold on WARNE QD Rings.

I am curious about the Rings in the Ruger receiver. Have you ever looked how close you get back to Zero if de- and reattaching the scope?

Good shooting.

I was looking for other stuff yesterday and saw that Steyr has it listed in one of their bolt action models (also a 450 Marlin bolt gun btw).

That is another test I plan to run, as I'm also putting a Bushnell Elite 3200 1.5-4.5 Firefly scope on it, for night-shooting pigs. So I will have the opportunity to pull the Leupold scope with Warne rings, sight it in with the Bushnell, then put the Leupold back on and check the sight. I'm taking the Firefly strictly as backup, in case the pigs go nocturnal on us. There is a shooting range where we're staying, so changing scopes isn't a problem.

Eventually the 4X with German #1 reticle will live on my .375 Ruger African, so the question of return to zero is significant.

Dennis

Looking forward to your findings. I always try to get as many accounts as possible (similar circumstances). I have to hunters with Ruger rifles here. We are going to try them Warnes on them.

Wish you good pig hunting. Look forward to some pics.

Man all this talk about the 338 RCM makes me want to try one out. I just got off the phone with the gunsmith and will be dropping the doner action off today!!!

Dude,

what Smith are you using in Anchorage. I have a Marlin 1895 .45-70 in Wasilla that needs some work done this Winter.
I talked to WWG - they would accomodate me. Curious for other roads of approach.

What are you using for a doner on that .338 RCM?