I purchased a 338 RCM last year, I figured it would be good for hogs in the thick stuff with the 20 in barrel, and it would pack enough punch for elk and larger plains game as well.

Has anyone used the 338 RCM and what are your thoughts on it or the factory ammo available (Hornady SST and they recently made the GMX avail in RCM)? What do you think of it for a plains game rifle?

I'd love opinions, I've only used it on "live" targets once and I was not happy with the results. I shot a buck at 100 yds this past fall right in the boiler room - he hit the ground but got up and ran... no blood trail. Shot a doe 5 minutes later and found her 50 yards away, but no blood trail with her either.

Please let me know what you think... I'd like to regain confidence in this rifle or I'll have to find it a new owner.

I can't see why it wouldn't work extremely well. The SST should have been perfect for deer so I'm not sure what happened. I have a 338 Federal and just bought some SSTs because they should open well and penetrate at about 2550 FPS which is about the max I can drive them out of my rifle.

I can't believe you didn't have a blood trail on either animal and even lost one. The 338 RCM pretty much splits the difference between a 338/06 and 338 win mag. It should be just as effective as either of those proven calibers.

Use a harder bullet like interbond or accubond. It might be a manufacuring problem with your SST bullets.

Unfortunately I don't reload, and don't really have the time to put the effort in to start that new hobby. The only factory ammo for the 338rcm is the hornady sst and gmx. The gmx was just recently released.

I can only guess that it was coming out so hot at short range, the bullet didn't have time to expand. I hit the doe at about 60 yards and the exit hole wasn't any larger than the entry.

Anyway, I'm just hoping someone else has had a positive experience with the factory loads. Maybe I shouldn't have believed the Boddington/Hornady advertising hype. Of course they wouldn't have posted a video on the website of a gemsbok running away after impact.

Opus, your experience mirrors my hunting partner. We are fortunate in that we get to harvest a lot of whitetails due to access to a farm that has depridation permits. He shot several different does, 4 or 5, and no blood trails on any--same ammo as you. These shots were all 100 y ards or further. There was decent internal damage, but not typical of an SST in other calibers. What we surmised, was that this bullet had been designed around power envelopes for the 338 Win Mag, or even more powerful 338 Cartridges. We are guessing that the bullets are TOO hard and not opening up with the impact velcity from the RCM. We do handload, but the problem with the RCM's is that they use powders we cannont get, and achieve velocities you can't get with the powders available to us as handloaders--this was confirmed to me by a tech at Hornady who sent me load data for the RCMs and TC cartridges, it equates to about 200 fps less for reloaded cartridges vs factory just FYI.

My partner only used factroy ammo, but we figure the 338 is just too stout for 100lb whitetails, and is not opening up quickly, as there is not much resistance and little time frankly, for the bullet to do it's thing--we have decided it is serious overkill for whitetails, and he is rebarreling to a longer barrel to allow reloading to decent velocities, and will relegate this rig to a larger game rig.

I can tell you that I have spent a lot of time considering appropriate caliber for intended game, and I truly think a 338 of almost any nature is to much for whitetail, and may not give optimum results. The 338 federal needs specialty bullets in my opinion to work well, and I have read far more negative about on game results with it than postive, again IMO due to the bullets that were primarily designed for higher velocities. Going to a 338 WM or more just seems like to much for whitetails to me, and although the 338 WM slays plenty of whitetails, without question, I think it more than is needed, and shooting a bullet that I feel is typically designed for bigger/tougher critters, you may have them just whistle through a whitetail and not open up so much.....

I was considering converting a rifle to 338-06m, but was enlightened by many here at AR that the 338 bullets would not be being driven hard enough to perform at 400 yards, which was a desire of mine on this project--I think this intel may relate to your experience, although, at the ranges you shot your deer, one would think there was plenty of velocity to open up the bullets, especially and SST.....I can simply say that I have seen the same occurence, and have chalked it up to the round being to much for whitetail sized game...

Hope this helps some

quote:

Originally posted by Fish30114:

My partner only used factroy ammo, but we figure the 338 is just too stout for 100lb whitetails, and is not opening up quickly, as there is not much resistance and little time frankly, for the bullet to do it's thing--we have decided it is serious overkill for whitetails, and he is rebarreling to a longer barrel to allow reloading to decent velocities, and will relegate this rig to a larger game rig.

I can tell you that I have spent a lot of time considering appropriate caliber for intended game, and I truly think a 338 of almost any nature is to much for whitetail, and may not give optimum results. The 338 federal needs specialty bullets in my opinion to work well, and I have read far more negative about on game results with it than postive, again IMO due to the bullets that were primarily designed for higher velocities. Going to a 338 WM or more just seems like to much for whitetails to me, and although the 338 WM slays plenty of whitetails, without question, I think it more than is needed, and shooting a bullet that I feel is typically designed for bigger/tougher critters, you may have them just whistle through a whitetail and not open up so much.....



Hope this helps some

I think he may be on to something about 338 bullets in general with smaller whitetails. You won't get the violent expansion/explosion of smaller calibers on small whitetails. You get two holes, less meat damage, and usually a dead deer.

I bought my 338 Federal primarily for CXP3 game. At moderate velocity and hitting bigger animals with thicker hides, more muscle and bigger bones, it should open fine and penetrate well at ranges under 300 yards.

Still, the 200 SST should open enough to drop even a small whitetail. It makes me thing that Hornady may have produced some defective bullets. The 200 SST is a new bullet that was introduced in the 338 RCM. Maybe there were some issues with the early bullets.

Thanks Fish. I've got a friend that's going to work up some handloads for me with Barnes TSX's. That should make it useable around home at least. I'm still curious about how the factory stuff works on the size game it was designed for.