Ruger's M77 Hawkeye Compact Magnum Part II
Handloading the .338 RCM
The .338 Ruger Compact wine bottle may be a natural suited short and medium vary North yankee game looking. i might hazard a guess that with a .338" bullet, 72 grains of gross powder capacity and a 20" barreled rifle, a four hundred yard shot at a running squirrel was most likely not at the forefront of the cartridge designer's thinking. A 200 fifty yard shot at an elk, or 100 yard shot at a Alces alces, or bear or huge mule cervid were all most likely beneath serious thought and this was the basis for what follows.
From tiny acorns, mighty...
As noted partly I of this series, Hornady and Ruger define the .338 RCM by scrutiny its performance to the .338 Winchester wine bottle, and underscored its edges on the far side the .338 Winchester wine bottle by explaining it will deliver an equivalent level of performance from a 20" barrel, instead of the 24" barrel generally related to the older wine bottle. There square measure after all the subsidiary .338 RCM edges of: a lighter and a lot of compact small-arm, shorter action and bolt throw, lower price ammunition and parts, and simply the correct bit of "brand new" product. it is a excellent promoting approach. Winchester did the work of training the market on the advantages of the .338 Winchester wine bottle and designed sensible can through the sale of product. Hornady was then able to construct a .338 Winchester to .338 RCM analogy and leverage their product promoting efforts with the .338 Winchester Magnum's quality. i think in athletics that is referred to as drafting. In promoting circles, that is referred to as being good.
The metric association...
One of my favorite production rifles may be a compact full stock bolt action, divided for the nine.3x62mm Mauser. Pictured left, L-R: 9.3x62 Mauser, .338 RCM and also the .338 RCM's parent case, the .375 Ruger. The 9.3x62 is well revered by game hunters for its ability to delivers several power, over short to medium ranges, with significant bullets. Its 286 grain load performance is commonly compared to the .375 H&H and virtually each story of Alces alces looking in European country begins and ends with the nine.3x62 Mauser. i made a decision to handload the .338 RCM with typical .338 Winchester wine bottle two hundred and 225 grain bullets, however additionally to undertake a number of the heavier .338" bullets and parallel a number of the heavy 9.3x62 loads. At seventy eight grains, the Mauser holds solely half dozen a lot of grains of powder than the .338 RCM. to it finish, a Swift A Frame .338" 275 grain bullet was more to the list of bullets slated for handloading.
The Swift features a terribly high sectional density, which implies several preserved rate and energy and enough inertia to assure bone crunching penetration. The Ruger Hawkeye's 10" twist rate is a lot of than spare to stabilize this long bullet and this is the rate counseled by Swift Bullets. If handloads made the rate anticipated, the .338 RCM would have a flat shooting one hundred eighty grain bullet for deer, a group of bullets for midrange for a lot of significant bodied game and a giant 275 grain load that would paper punch a Alces alces or bear...even in European country.
Next to the red tipped Hornady 225 grain bullet, above, the Swift's blunt front is clear. However, due to the bullet length and gradual taper, the Swift A-Frame features a flight constant of .469 compared to the Hornady SST's .430. The Swift features a 2 compartment "H" partition jacket, not not like the Nosler Partition, and it's tapered forward jacket thickness isn't simply upset. The Hornady bullet is a wonderful example of contemporary bullet creating. The tip boosts the bullet's B.C., however is additionally active in controlled growth. The one piece jacket has an indoor Interlock ring, some [*fr1] high the bullet's shank, that automatically anchors the core to the jacket therefore it'll stick around throughout growth. There is, of course, a ship tail conclusion to supply several fuel for the "Does too" - "Does not" contour impact debates. The Hornady can expand a lot of totally whereas holding along over a wider rate vary. The Swift can barely expand below 2000 independent agency. 2 terribly completely different|completely different} bullets for 2 terribly different applications.
Case length for the .338 RCM is a pair of.015" +0.0/-0.020", trim to length is a pair of.005". 2.845" was used for a most gap. Bullet to shaping clearance was double checked with a Hornady changed take a look at cartridge, gap gauge and bullet comparator.
Powder choice matters...
Powder testing and choice was attention-grabbing. i can not keep in mind a time after I ran across a cartridge that made optimum results inside such a really tight choice of product. i attempted powders with similar burn rates, that generated similar peak pressures, that made rate variances larger than a hundred and fifty independent agency. For the foremost half, Hodgdon had the most effective choice, significantly once moving in their IMR complete. i feel Alliant's Re17 may need made slightly higher results than Re15, however, I did not have any reachable to verify and so current sources had the merchandise on backorder. Spherical powder settled in while not vital compression. a number of the extruded powder, significantly Re15 and H4350 were far more case filling.
A good set of dies...
Hornady New Dimension dies were chosen for the project. I nada spindle decapper may be a not bad options and that i just like the floating in-line sleeve within the seater die. I additionally patterned Hornady designed the cartridge, which might facilitate within the signification dimension department. New Dimension seater dies square measure oversubscribed by caliber, not cartridge. therefore if you've got a .338" seater and you load for a spread of .338" cartridges, you merely ought to get the individual sizer dies and use an equivalent seater die for all. The result's a $10 - $12 savings per common caliber cartridge reloaded. i am like anyone else. I pay my cash wherever it'll do the foremost sensible.
Handloading was a snap. The .338 RCM case is straightforward to size, powder charges square measure affordable to dispense, bullet seating is undemanding, and also the short case runs through just about any press with several area to spare. CCI giant Rifle wine bottle primers on associate degree APS strip were utilized in all masses, as a result of I had plenty of them in bench stock and since I found no perceptible flight distinction if I used a combination of wine bottle and non-magnum primers. The .338 RCM uses an equivalent shell holder as .375 H&H based mostly cartridge #4 RCBS, #5 Hornady. Case growth on firing was typical; just about none at the case head, 0.006" at the shoulder and zero.005" just in case length.
Factory packaged Vs. custom load performance...
To get wonderful performance out of a Ruger Hawkeye .338 RCM, all that's needed may be a box of Hornady two hundred grain or 225 grain mill loaded weapons system. The weights square measure applicable for many .338" applications, they performs as publicised and, at $35-$37 per box, ammunition is not puffed up. Hornady has done an honest job of loading most performance weapons system, a handloader would ought to build a true effort to match or exceed mill spherical performance for mill obtainable bullet weights. The opportunities for the handloader square measure 2 fold. price - weapons system will be reloaded, presumptuous amortizing the price of brass over a dozen reloads, for roughly $10 - $12, or concerning one third of the price of mill loaded weapons system. Custom mixtures - after you decide the parts and assemble them, there will be several nice bullets and powder combination that don't seem to be typically obtainable.
Bang, bang...bang. Shooting and final impressions
whereas the winter weather has been but exciting, even living during this land of wells, septic tanks and self-sufficiency could not place a damper on shooting the .338 Ruger Compact wine bottle. Shooting happened throughout a number of back to back clear days once temperature climbed into the high 2°F's. No surprise Mainers stand out looking at TV, snowmobiling and writing gothic horror stories.
After firing some hundred rounds of mill and handloaded ammunition, my opinion of the rifle didn't amendment. It remained simple to handle, fast to purpose and it fed live weapons system and ejected empties while not a hiccup. the days I used the hinged magazine feature, it worked as intended; unlatching and latching cleanly with positive engagement. The finish, each wood and metal, cleaned and showed no signs of discoloration or wear and tear. The Ruger LC6 trigger pull was crisp and didn't amendment in feel or manoeuver the length of the project.
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