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Ruger Compact Magnum
Alan Rushing
Member Posts: 8,805 ✭✭✭
Hello - posted a question regarding this over on ATE with no reponses as yet, so I'm posting it here as well and hope that someone familiar and experienced with the RCM, etc. will catch this post either here and/or there!
Are any of the folks working with the RCMs .300, .338 or any of the "Improves" or "Wildcats" based on or using this family of cases?
I'd be interested in determining what has and is being done with same. Thanks. [:)]
Are any of the folks working with the RCMs .300, .338 or any of the "Improves" or "Wildcats" based on or using this family of cases?
I'd be interested in determining what has and is being done with same. Thanks. [:)]
Comments
I've had and shot a 300 RCM for a couple of years now. Before I even shot the stainless Ruger 77, I had the trigger swapped for a timney and then the the muzzle re-crowned. After I got the rifle home from the gunsmith, I floated the barrel and filled in the hollow recess with pro-bed 2000, pillar bedded the stock and then finally, glass bedded the action. I took it to Colorado elk hunting 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the only shot I had was on the final day of my hunt, and it was a 450 yard shot. When I sighted the rifle in, it was dead nuts at 250 yards, and 16" low at 400, so I figured I would put the crosshairs about 6" over the back and the bullet would drop right in. The bullet went right over the back. I guess the difference between sighting the rifle in at 500 ft. elevation and 75 degrees and then hunting at 10,000 ft. elevation and 15 degrees made the POI different. The only complaint I had about the place I hunted was that there was no range to verify zero. Anyway, about the rifle. I've shot everything from 130 gr. speer flat points to 180 gr. swift scirocco's and my rifle shoots them all great. I tend to use H4350 and Ramshot Hunter powder with good results. The swift scirocco's I took elk hunting, and would group at .75 moa at 100 yards. Pretty much all the bullets I've shot would group at 1 moa and less. However, my rifle isn't even close to being an "out of box" rifle. I like the short barrel. It handles and carries well, however it is a bit heavier with the added bedding compound in the barrel channel. I've shot 1 deer with it at a bit over 200 yards with the 130 gr. speer flat point, and it did it's job very well. Complete pass through of both lungs, and the deer dropped after about a 50 yard death sprint or so. The stainless coating that ruger puts on the rifle may be a bit soft, as the rifle took a good beating out in Colorado after countless times of going in and out of the rifle scabbard. I'll say this, using the 180 grain bullets and 61 grains of Ramshot Hunter, the rifle has a kick equal to my 338 win mag. All in all, I like my 300 RCM quite well. I've also loaded it down to where it is about equal to a 308 win., or slightly less, and the accuracy with the 130's and 150's was still at moa or better. Once again, I've done alot of work to the rifle, so I can't really comment on how well the rifle would shoot straight out of the box. Good Luck. If you have any more questions, just ask, and I'll see if I have an answer.
( I have been gradually relocating over the past weeks and months. I've also had some unanticipated family matters to contend with along the way. Those may not be vforthwith, however they are some of the many excuses that I can use . . . ! And yes, I'm sticking to them all, and will list additonals if required or requested. )
I'd read of the RCMs previously, but had not followed through with anything other than the literature. I've not gotten myself anything chambered for any of the RCMS or modifieds as yet but have been following them for awhile.
I recall several folks here abouts make mention or reference to them and Wildcats derived from the RCMs. Do not recall anything specific and recent here abouts so thought it's make sense to through the question out there.
How long a barrel do you have on your rig? Is it the standard fare or have you something else?
Have you gone and gotten a custom barrel on that rig or another? Had you thought of or acted on that notion? It'd seem that one could salvage some serious benefits from doing so ... it velocity or knock down energy were of interest.
Had you ever thought of using that Mother case for anything else?
Regarding the Elk hunt, had you hunted them much in the past? Quite the animal, aren't they?
Thanks again for the info that you posted AND anything else that you come up with. Very useful and appreciated!
My 300 RCM is pretty much standard fare, except for the work I had done, and the work I did myself. The barrel is the standard 20" ruger barrel. I have been quite pleasantly surprised by the rifle. My latest challenge is working up a load with it and Speer 150 grain mag-tips. so far about the best I can get is 1 1/2" groups. this is the first bullet to actually make me work to get the stars to align. I'm comparing it with swift scirocco 150's, and with it I'm putting 3 shots at 5/8 to 3/4 inches center to center. 2 totally different bullets and personalities. On top of that, I bought a pound of RL-17 powder, which touts itself as designed for short magnums, however, I guess Alliant powder doesn't figure the RCM to be a short magnum because there is no data at all for it. Well, through some comparison to the 300 RSAUM and some calculations, I've come up with a load of 61.5 grains of the RL-17 pushing the swift bullet and the speer mag-tip. I seat the speer to the cannelure and the swift to an oal of 2.900". That's as long as I can get in the magazine. Checking for pressure signs, the primers are not flattened at all, and expansion above the case head is at .001" or less. My test loads have all been shot with the dang wind blowing 15 mph or so, so it's getting kind of frustrating, and I'm sure that isn't helping the speer mag-tips with the profile they have. Still, the groups are plenty good for deer hunting.
As far as the elk hunt, that was my coming home present from my 3rd deployment to Iraq/Afghanistan from my wife. It sure was a thrill. They are some awesome animals. The rest of the story is that I had been applying for a Maine moose tag for 6 years, and it just so happened that I also drew a tag in the lottery. Well, I couldn't afford to go on both hunts, and also, there was only 6 days between the day my elk hunted and the moose hunt in Maine, so it would've been a real time rush to drive home from Colorado and then turn around and drive all the way to Maine. It would've been fun though, had I had a ton of extra money to spend. Perhaps some day I'll win the lottery. LOL.
The 450 yard shot I did get on that elk was kind of a bum deal for me. My guide had been busting his butt trying to get me into some elk. The weather chased us off the mountain every day with the snow. The hunters that were in the outpost camp had to be rescued because the snow had gotten so deep, they just couldn't hardly get out of the tent. The next to last day, my guide told me that evening that he had found the elk and we would really be into them the next morning. Every night the guides would meet wth the outfitter to discuss their plans for the next day, and my guide had told the outfitter he had found the elk and he was taking his 2 hunters to them the next morning. Well, after my guide had left his meeting, the outfitter met with his no.1 guide who had the hunters with all the big money, and told them that my guide had found the elk, and he wanted the big money hunters to leave camp before and beat us to the herd, so the next morning, nobody would help my guide get the mules ready for the days hunt. They were told to get the big money hunters out of camp before us, so we were delayed by about an hour. Once we got in the saddle, we hauled butt, but the money hunters had busted the elk already and they were on the run. My guide was so mad, he took us right through the other hunters and and as we rounded a stand of trees, there must've been 200 elk out moving across the burn area. One big 5 x 5 stopped and looked at me long enough for me to jump off my mule and get into a hasty shooting position. I did a quick guess of about 400 yards and put the crosshairs about 6" over the top and squeezed, but alas, the bullet just went over the back. Dang it. I guess that's why they call it hunting and not shopping. My guide said he was going to have a serious "come to jesus meeting" with the outfitter, and if he didn't have a job at the end of the day, he didn't care. What he pulled was just crap. I have a few other interesting stories about the hunt, and to make them short, here's a digested version. One guy had a flat tire on the trail to the camp. He jacked up the truck and then the truck not only fell off the jack, it rolled about 1000 feet down into the ravine. Oops! 2 other guys from another camp came and asked the outfitter if they had a couple rifles they could borrow. They were on this same trail, and they were afraid with the jarring around that they would bust the back window out of their topper, so they opened the back door on the way up, but when they got to where they were camping, they discovered their rifles had bounced out of the back. They went back, but found no rifles anywhere on the 5 mile stretch. Oops! somebody got lucky. Another person came into the camp from down the road and said one of his partners was having a heart attack, and wanted our outfitter to call in a rescue crew. Don't know how that turned out, but it couldn't have been good. Well, I've ranted enough. Hope I've proved some answers and maybe a bit of enlightment. Best of luck.