My Father and I are going to the range on Friday with my new .338 RUM. He gets annoyed at the recoil from his 7mm mag after about three shots, so it's going to be hilarious to watch him shoot this thing. I'm so excited. Any particular stories or experiences you guys want to share regarding this cartridge?

Bring some bandaides and ice packs.

Put a muzzlebrake on! I fought with mine for 1 1/2 years before I gave in. I could usually get 10-12 rounds through it before the brake, now it doesn't turn my shoulder purple until about round 25.

I will say this: It kills NOW!!!
Its a lot of fun......

Enjoy!

IV

Wanna start a pool on how many shots your Dad will fire?

Great cartridge, you'll love it!

The first time I shot a friends 338 ultra I was also shooting my 458 win. I thought they were about equal with recoil.

Have him hold it very firmly and shoot offhand first!!!

You will be alright just get a past recoil sheild they help a lot when benching hard kickers.

Shooting a rifle of even moderate recoil from the bench can be punishing. There are a number of recoil-absorbing bench rests available now, so you should never abuse yourself by shooting a hard-kicker from the bench without one.

As IdahoVandal suggests, you may want to fit it with a muzzle brake, that is, provided hard kicking isn't enough punishment and you want to add head-rattling muzzle blast and sand thrown in your face to boot.

Thats funny you mention muzzleblast....when I go to a public range it seems without fail that the people sitting directly to my left and directly to my right pack up and leave within 3 rounds....how rude.....

IV

I would never, ever put a break on my 338RUM although I should get a Past Shield to use when firing off the bench. Shooting it offhand is not bad at all, but off a bench is punishment. Oh yeah, you want to hang on to that rifle because while shooting off of sand bags I have concentrated so hard on sight allignment that I forgot to "get a grip" and the scope has hit me in the center of my forehead. AAARRGGGH

IMO, O'Connor wrote the last word on muzzle brakes in 1970:

quote:

You can be kicked or you can be deafened. Your choice.

Wow, a lot of responses. I will definitely not be putting a brake on this gun. However I will most likely purchase a recoil shield from Past. McCray, I can tell you right now that my dad will only fire it once!

"I will definetly not be putting a brake ...."

Thats what I said......

Good luck though!!

IV

I have a muzzle brake on my .300 WM and I hate it. I have a thread protector to hunt with but the loads don't shoot with the same as with the muzzle brake on. As for the .338 RUM, My buddies .338 RUM is alright shooting it with 210gr. Barnes XLC. If he went higher I think we'd be having a some flinching issues.

We are actually going to load some 300 gr. Match Kings this summer in it as hot as they will go to have around so people that want to shoot their mouths off and say they can handle anything, they will get one out of that batch!

I will have to say though, 2.5 inches high at 100 yards with 210gr bullet at about 3200 fps showed that we shouldn't even think hold-over until 500yds or so.

Good Shooting!

quote:

Originally posted by Noel H.:
IMO, O'Connor wrote the last word on muzzle brakes in 1970:

quote:

You can be kicked or you can be deafened. Your choice.

This is exactly why you should only shoot a rifle you are comfortable with. Personally, I have a break on my 300 RUM and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I also have a Decelerator pad. To me, it is, and has been, no big deal to put in a couple of plugs before taking a shot. There are plenty of guides that take ear muffs with them when they know the hunter has a break. Sure they're loud but the remedy is simple.

Of course there are situations where you won't have time to muffle your ears, but if you're married or have children or both, you probably already have selective hearing. Most of the time I do not remember the blast from a rifle when it has a break. Most of my shots are from prone anyway and it seems like the ground absorbs or reflects the blast to a small degree anyway.

I'll go for a break over kick anyday.

quote:

Personally, I have a break on my 300 RUM

Sounds serious. You might want to get that fixed.

But seriously folks, our local gunsmith has a big sign out front that advertises the affordable installation of "muzzel breaks". Now, the logical part of my mind tells me that there isn't necessarily any link between spelling ability and machining skill, but I think I'll keep my money anyway.

This has been a public service anouncement from your friendly local spelling police.

quote:

To me, it is, and has been, no big deal to put in a couple of plugs before taking a shot. There are plenty of guides that take ear muffs with them when they know the hunter has a break. Sure they're loud but the remedy is simple.

I have read that brakes increase noise to the point that even plugs and muffs in combo won't reduce it to safe levels.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of that myself, but I do know that the increased blast and concussion from a brake more than offsets any reduction in recoil, for me. Getting smacked in the sinuses by a brake induces my flinch like magic. As always, of course, YMMV.

I shot mine for a year and a half before getting a brake all you have to do is hold the rifle tight into your shoulder when shooting. It has just a little more recoil then the 375 H&H. I just recently got a threads cover made for my RUM so when hunting I take the brake off and use this cover I had made that way I will not hurt my ears.Its a great gun and can shoot the 250gr bullet at 3000 fps, the 225 at 3100fps, 200 at 3165 fps.

I have a custom 338 rum its a mod 70 with a 3 grove pacnor ss 26'' and a boyds lam stock.
I had a simms libsaver recoil pad put on it and the idenical 300 rum. I use a past magnum recoil shield and a bench master rest. Its not that bad at all using 225 @ 3150fps
If you realy want to tame it on the bench use a lead sled from caldwell it makes a 458 lott fun to shoot!!

I have a 700 ss/syn it has a Sims pad on it , which makes a big difference. I have not found it to be the brute folks make it out to be . I also have a 338 Win , 300Win and 300 RUM they are all 700's and all have Sims pads . They all feel about the same to me. If I shoot them all on the same day I can tell the 338 RUM has more recoil , especially with 250's . It's heavy but not painful , if that makes sense. Off the bench I use a past pad with all my rifle's . You have to hang on to it , it will want to bounce around a bit . I only shoot 3-5 rounds per session , just to check accuracy. Don't shoot it if you have a headache , man was that dumb. Your dads not going to like it . It's a great round destine to fade to oblivian . Good luck , Have fun , hopfully your dad will forgive you . Just a side note: I had a break on a rifle once , I probably shot that rifle only about 8 or 10 times without hearing protection always well hunting , it destroyed the hearing in my left ear. KH

Alright, I thought I'd let ya'll know how things went. The gun does have quite a bit of recoil, but it's really very manageable. I thoroughly enjoyed shooting it.

My dad, on the other hand, didn't enjoy it too much. First of all he didn't hold the fore-end when he touched it off. So the barrel rose about 8 inches off of the bag and nearly came off of the rest all together. Not only that, I had a great angle to watch his reaction and it was one utter shock. Haha, he only shot it once. Anyway good shooting guys! Thanks for the replies

quote:

Originally posted by Noel H.:

quote:

Personally, I have a break on my 300 RUM

Sounds serious. You might want to get that fixed.

But seriously folks, our local gunsmith has a big sign out front that advertises the affordable installation of "muzzel breaks". Now, the logical part of my mind tells me that there isn't necessarily any link between spelling ability and machining skill, but I think I'll keep my money anyway.

This has been a public service anouncement from your friendly local spelling police.

Noel - Well put!

I do think I'm going to put a recoil pad on it though. Any suggestions? It's a Rem 700 Custom Deluxe.