Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Thinking of drinkin' a little RUM

Been intrigued by this caliber as of late. Seems like a viable long range hunting rig. Know 4 guys who have 'em and they are all very confident with their rifles (all Rem. 700s) at 400+

My hunting rifles are '06 for now, but pushing a 180 grainer at 3200+ would definitely make this rifle capable at such distances.

Who has 'em? What dont you like about it? I've heard of some modest recoil.

Or, should I leave the 30 calibers behind and get something like a .375 ruger?

i have a couple 7 rums (sako, rem 700)... i like the cartridge well enough, but it does not offer enough over a 7 rem mag to justify the 25+ grains of extra powder. however, sending a 7mm 162 grain hornady downrange in excess of 3300 f/s makes for one flat shooting machine.

i set mine w/ a 250 yard zero. out to 300 yards, i am killing big game w/ a dead on hold. out to 475 yards, i am in the kill zone w/ the zeiss set at 14x and the point of the reticle subtention on 'the spot'.

if i didn't have a 7 rem mag, i would fully endorse the 7 rum. if i had a 7 rem mag, i would go w/ the 300 rum.

95-ish grains of powder is an awful lot of powder to try to get out the relatively small 7mm hole. however, when we have ignition... stand by!

i would describe recoil as 'sharp but tolerable' for a big game hunting weight rifle.

So if you had a 300 winny by your standards, the RUM wouldn't be justified either?

Packs a wallop compared to the '06 though...

couldn't tell ya... i have some 300's but not a rum - only a matter of time before i get the rum, and then i'll know.

i will say that of the rum cartridges i think the 300 makes the most sense, for whatever that is worth...

had a rem 700 lss in 7rum. it killed deer just fine, but no better than my 270 win. got tired of all the blast and recoil, so it's gone now. ymmv

I definitely agree with ya on that accord. There is no such thing as 'more dead'.

Just thinking of the viability of some medium-long range hunting/shooting.

food for thought... at 300 yards w/ my zeroes, there is 2" of drop difference between my 7 rum and 270 win...

i still like the rum better than the ol' 270, but do not believe 2" of drop is enough to get worked up about...

I have a 300RUM-a M700 LSS.
Love it-I shoot 200gr bullets at 3200fps with Retumbo.
Kicks a bit, but shoots very nice.

Not lookin' at any charts, but past that, I bet the 'ol 270 drops rapidly compared to the RUM...am I wrong?

The reading I've done and a limited amount exposure has me believing the 300 RUM is actually a pretty tractable cartridge given its boomer nature.

A friend's BIL won one in a drawing. It was some special edition* Model 700 stainless covered in trinyte with a synthetic stock. I mounted a Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x50 in Talley lightweights on it for my friend who was going to do the initial sight in for the BIL. He commented favorably on how the stock and recoil pad mitigated the recoil so the rifle wasn't bad to shoot from the bench using a firm hunting hold. This was with 180 grain factory ammo.

I didn't keep the targets, but I do remember being quite impressed with how nicely my friend did with the rifle right out of the gate with factory ammo.


* I believe it was an XCR RMEF edition.

...................If your hunting ranges for the kill shots average in the neighborhood of 450 yards and less, then I`d give careful thought about giving up the ghost on your 30-06.

The 300 RUM is a fine longer range round. But in most cases, if you take into account the "average" killing shot distances for deer, elk, etc., the 300 RUM`s extra power and energies aren`t needed to get the job done. 60%, 70% of dead, still equals dead. But many like the added insurance or assurance and feel they need it, or in some cases, wish to satisfy their higher egos in being able to propel a 180 grainer @ 3200+ fps. They may say; "what if I see a trophy elk and he`s 600 yards away and I cannot get closer?".........The `ol "what if this" and the "what if that`s",,,which in most cases don`t present themselves.

If you didn`t already have the 30s, then the 300 RUM is an excellent choice. But since you do, diversifying your inventory imo, makes more sense dollar wise assuming you don`t own a 375, but would like to have one.

My vote would be to keep your 30`s the way they are and add on a 375 Ruger. It is one fantastic cartridge.

I have a sako in 300 ultra. It is my go to gun and has been for the last ten years. Mine burns 96 grains of powder everytime I pull the trigger and sends 180 grain partitions or accubonds at 3347 fps average. It was my first true half inch rifle and when it was new it would average three quarters of inch at 200 yards. I have killed whitetails, muledeer, antelope, jack rabbits and praire dogs with mine. If you really like a fast .30 its has alot going for it. But I find that I have to dedicate myself to this rifle and shoot it often or I lose alot of the accuracy that is there. The recoil and blast are something to get used to. Now the recoil and blast are not unbearable but I don't think you can shoot it the day before deer season and get its potential out of it. The only other draw back is that only remington and nosler are making brass for it. Federal did a special run a few years ago that was really good but they sold $1 apiece.
In the ten years I have hunted with I have killed alot of animals with it but I don't think I killed any that could have not been killed with a 300 win mag or a plain ol 30-06.

I too just jumped on the 300 RUM - just picked up a Sako 75 in 300 RUM. Haven't shot it yet. I'm first going to pillar bed into a McMillan stock, tune the trigger & install a muzzle brake. Hopefully it shoots like most Sako 75's do - we'll see in about 6 mths (waiting for the McMillan).

Try it without the brake first.

I resisted getting a magnum chambering for many years, being content with the .308, 7mm-08 and .270 for the most part. With my rifles chambered as such, I've taken perhaps 200 head of deer/goats/pigs/sheep.

I'd just completed a Brown Precision custom rifle project when a friend finally convinced me to put in for the Montana non-res lottery. We were unsuccessful at first but were drawn in 2001.

From the start, I thought I'd use my custom .308 Brown, with its 24" Shilen barrel and chamber cut to a dummy round I provided. She was sending various loads at '06 velocities into tiny holes. However, when the .300 RUM was introduced in '99, I thought it would be cool to be one of the first proverbial kids on the block to get one.

The rest is history. Since then, I've enjoyed an unbroken streak of consecutive one-shot kills with this rifle. Oh yes I can and do miss or require follow-up shots on occasion with all of my other rifles, but the RUM's streak is unmatched among any rifle I've owned. Surely her streak will end someday, but it's been quite a ride!

Though relatively light at 8 pounds and small change field-ready, I've found my RUM to be very accurate and easy to shoot, thanks in part to a muzzle-brake and a good recoil pad. I've had the best results with 180 Partitions and Scirocco/Scirocco IIs over IMR-7828 and RL-25. Almost all of her kills have been with the Scirocco.

On the down-side, she eats up a lot of powder, so if you're like me and try to avoid lot to lot variance, you'll need to buy several pounds at a time. Also, even with the brake, the kick and now augmented muzzle blast can be too much for many shooters to handle properly.

Ego and desire alone do not equal ability, so if the shooter can�t honestly handle such a cartridge (or isn't willng to spend the time to do so), he or she would be much better served by a less intense chambering that is easier to shoot accurately. A "super magnum" is not an easy path to hunting success or a way to compensate for inadequate shooting skill.

All this said, my current (frustrating) project is a Kimber 8400 Montana in .270 WSM. I love my RUM enough that I wanted to save mileage on her via a lighter alternative with a similar trajectory. Alas, when it's crunch time or when the quarry is elk or larger, poor Kimmy will stay in the gun safe.

Best wishes!

I have a 7 RUM, a couple 300 RUM's and now a 338 RUM. The 300 RUM IMHO is the most overall usefull of the bunch. The 7 RUM is just a little too overbore for my tastes and my particular example hasn't shot quite as well as the 300 RUM's I've shot.

The 300 RUM just sings with 200gr bullets. I made my longest shot ever (a 1 shot bang-flop) with a 200gr Accubond & Retumbo out of a 300 RUM. It's a great Elk round and doesn't seem totally over the top for deer. I've shot several 300 RUM's and all were VERY accurate. They were all higher end and/or custom rifles so that might be part of the accuracy but I think that the round itself might be one condusive to good accuracy.

My 338 RUM is a great shooter but I really see it mainly as an Elk rifle. I don't know if I can bring myself to use it for deer even though a 225gr TSX is probably going to just drill straight through a deer without grenading and destroying too much meat. Fun round but more limited IMO than the 300 RUM.

I hate muzzle brakes so the rounds in my rifles aren't in lightweight rifles. They are all shootable for big game hunting but I'm not going to use them on prarie dogs. If you only are going to try one I think the 300 RUM is the one to start with...............................DJ

When I was looking into the RUMs and found out the 300 was a nice one I also found the 7mm was kind of a problem child, not nearly as nice to work with.

I own both a 7 and 300 Rum. Like them both. Both shoot accurately. My 7 has not been a problem child any moreso than the 300. With the load they like, they shoot well. If you look at it the 300 is marginally faster than a 300 wby just as the 7 is marginally faster than the 7STW. Both have an advantage over the 300 Win and the 7 RM though not as glaringly so in the field over normal hunting ranges as one might think. The 300 win and 7 RM do nicely out at 400 yds as do the Rums (only faster with a little less drop for the rums all else being equal) I think the real advantage of the rums is at longer ranges with heavy bullets. Ranges farther than most of us normal folk are comfortable shooting at game. If you practice and become proficient, you can put that use that advantage to its full potential. I don't use my Rums to their potential advantages but I like em anyway

I went with the .338 RUM and 210 TSX's and never looked back. Shoots flaaat, hits hard, and recoil is similar to the 300 RUM, when using the 210's.

+1
A 300RUM is not quite as bad as many say, even with 200gr bullets at full perk, IMO.