The .338 Ruger Compact Magnum or .338 RCM is a rimless, short-length

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with b ...

cartridge based on the

.375 Ruger The .375 Ruger (9.5×65.5mm) is a rimless, standard-length rifle cartridge designed for the hunting of large, dangerous game. It is designed to provide an increase in performance over the .375 H&H cartridge, yet to be chambered in a standard-len ...

case.

Sturm Ruger Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., better known by the shortened name Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company based in Southport, Connecticut, with production facilities also in Newport, New Hampshire; Mayodan, North Carolina; and Pre ...

and

Hornady Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition cartridges, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska. History The company is currently run by Joyce Hornady's son, Steve Hornady, who took ove ...

jointly developed the round, which was released in 2008 and chambered in various Ruger rifles. The goal of the project was to produce a .338 caliber cartridge with magnum level performance that would fit in a compact, short action rifle. The .338 RCM is conceptually similar to the WSM cartridge family, but is somewhat smaller dimensionally. This often allows for a higher magazine capacity than the WSM equivalent. Like the .338 caliber cartridges which predated it, the round is designed for hunting medium to large sized North American game.

Design & Specifications

The .338 Ruger Compact Magnum is based on the

cartridge, which originated with Hornady and Ruger. The case is of rimless design, having a base and rim diameter of , the same diameter as the belt on belted magnum cases derived from the .300 H&H Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum. This design offers greater case capacity than a belted magnum case of equal length. As Ruger intended the cartridge to be chambered in short length bolt-action rifles, they shortened the .375 Ruger parent case to to ensure a comparable cartridge overall length to the

.308 Winchester The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

. Unlike the Winchester Short Magnum cartridges, the Ruger Compact Magnums share the same diameter from case head to body. This allowed Ruger to chamber the cartridge without extensively redesigning their M77 rifle.

References

C.I.P. TDCC (Tables of Dimensions of Cartridges and Chambers) .338 RCM

External links

Hornady Press Release
Short but Sweet
RifleShooter Article
338 RCM: Big Power – Small Package

Realguns.com {{DEFAULTSORT:338 Ruger Compact Magnum Sturm, Ruger & Company Pistol and rifle cartridges

Design & Specifications

See also

References

External links