The .338 Ruger Compact Magnum or .338 RCM is a rimless, short-length
rifle
A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...
cartridge based on the
.375 Ruger 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 P ...
and
Hornady
Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition cartridges, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska.
History
Joyce W. Hornady began manufacturing bullets in the spring of 1949 with a .30 cal ...
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
.375 Ruger cartridge, which originated through the cooperation of Hornady and Ruger. The case is of rimless design, having a base and rim diameter of , the same diameter as the belt on the
.300 H&H Magnum, the
.375 H&H Magnum, and their derivatives. This design offers greater case capacity than a belted magnum case of comparable length, such as the
350 Remington Magnum
35 or XXXV may refer to:
* 35 (number)
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* Bromine, a halogen in the periodic table
* 35 Leukothea, an asteroid in the asteroid belt
Music
* ''XXXV'' (album), a 2002 album by Fairport Convention
* ''35xxxv'', ...
. As Ruger intended the cartridge to be chambered in short bolt-action rifles,
they trimmed the .375 Ruger parent case to to ensure a comparable cartridge overall length to the
.308 Winchester. Unlike the rebated 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.
See also
*
.338 Lapua Magnum
*
.338 Marlin express
*
.338 Federal
*
.338 Remington Ultra Magnum
*
.338 Winchester Magnum
*
Table of handgun and rifle cartridges
This is a table of selected pistol/submachine gun and rifle/machine gun cartridges by common name. Data values are the highest found for the cartridge, and might not occur in the same load (e.g. the highest muzzle energy might not be in the same ...
References
C.I.P. TDCC (Tables of Dimensions of Cartridges and Chambers) .338 RCM
External links
Hornady Press Release
Short but SweetRifleShooter Article
338 RCM: Big Power – Small PackageRealguns.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:338 Ruger Compact Magnum
Sturm, Ruger & Co.
Pistol and rifle cartridges