Ruger Compact Magnum, not again!

[crash87]

Was in the U.P. of Mich. last week fueling up to come home from deer camp, on the magazine rack was a G&A mag. Hornady and Guger teamed up for a new, (NEW)?, lineup of short, fat cartridges. It was an exclusive and very poorly written by C.B. Seems we have a new .338 & a .300. Of course the 338 will be the equal to Winchesters version, (Yea right) but with 225 gr bullets. The article used a one off rebarreled MkII and prototype ammo. Boy, talk about anxiously waiting for more. Oh yea, cartridge was based on a shortened .375 Ruger. Some new reasons were given why you should buy one, (or more). But basically same 'ol, same ol'. Good news though, the .300 is going to be featured next month. I'm glad they gave me the heads up to not waste another $4.99. CRASH 87

[BlkHawk73]

  Upside to these compared tot eh previous short magnums is these are desinged and formulated for use in short bbls.  the 375Ruger is a great cartridge but not sure about these offshoots.

[crash87]

Yes, and its also mfg. friendly and you should be able to take any short action and convert it, if you would like, and on and on and on and.............. understand I'm not really down on anything new and innovative and welcome it with open arms, I think, but time will tell if they are really the wave of the future. Supplanting those that are already there and the only thing they do is equal them with certain bullet weights. I don't believe they have the versatility of shooting most if not all given bullet weights of the old timers, correction, I know they don't. Redundancy is the term that can be used here. But then again, hy shouldn't Ruger and Hornady have there own, as others before them fall into obscurity i.e. Remington SAUM, maybe the RCM "can" take there place. Time will tell. CRASH87

[Coyote Hunter]

crash87 –

I agree the article wasn’t that well written.  For example, they mentioned the ammo would be “affordable” but didn’t elaborate.   That aside, the RCM cartridges are very welcome in my book. 

For some time I’ve been predicting the .375 Ruger case would be “the” case for new cartridge development in the coming decades, for several reasons.  The first reason is that the .375 Ruger case maximizes case volume in many “standard” (.30-06) length rifle actions without sacrificing magazine capacity when compared to belted magnums.  Cartridges based on the .375 Ruger case may not keep up with the RUM and Weatherby cartridges, but they don’t need to in order to succeed, just as the .30-06 doesn’t need to keep up with the .300 Win Mag and its larger brethren in order to maintain its popularity.   Looking down the road, the RCM cartridges provide us with a short-action case that is suitable for smaller diameter cartridges from .243 to .338.  (I do hope they offer a .338 on a necked-down, full-length .375 cartridge, though.)  With both the long and short cases available, the stage is set for more development.

The second reason is that, yes, the .375 Ruger and its shorter RCM siblings really are “manufacturer friendly”.  While that may not seem like a big deal to you, it is to the manufacturers whose support is needed if the cartridges are to succeed.  No new action lengths are needed, no new bolt faces are needed, and existing magazine designs will need minimal if any modification.  Plus the cartridges will be SAMMI standard.  In other words, manufacturers can adopt the new Ruger cartridges at minimal cost in terms of development and inventory.  This was not the case with the WSM, RUM, SAUM, or Dakota cartridges.

Although it’s still very early, the .375 Ruger seems to be getting good acceptance.  Having fired the Alaskan model, I say rightfully so.  The new RCM versions in .300 and .338 will, I expect, gain a following with those who place a premium on short, handy, powerful and relatively lightweight rifles.

Will I be trading in my .300 Win Mag for a .300 RCM?  Nope.  If I was buying a .300 for the first time, however, the RCM would probably get my vote.

[shilo]

The last thing I expected to see the 375 Ruger spawn are short action magnums. Haven't we had enough of all this short action magnum stuff by now. How many of these type of cartridges do the manufacturers see fail before they realize these, despite all their so called benefits, are simply not wanted? I am very dissappointed that Ruger is not introducing a 30 and 338 based on the full length 375 Ruger case(30/06 length). Now that would have caught my attention. Such rounds would have duplicated or improved upon the 300win mag and 338 win mag performance without the silly belt. Much like the Dakota cartridges.

[Coyote Hunter]

shilo -

I'm with you and really wanted a full-length .338 Ruger. 

[dogwhisperer5]

   It's hard to imagine the "need" for another .30 cartridge at this late date.

[Coyote Hunter]

   It's hard to imagine the "need" for another .30 cartridge at this late date.

On the contrary, I have never been a big fan of the WSM designs.  I suspect new Ruger cartridge will likely be adopted by a wider variety of manufacturers as it was intentionally desgned to be "manufacturer friendly", unlike the WSM's.

[dogwhisperer5]

   OK...I'll modify my previous statement to say that's it's hard to imagine the need for another .30 cartridge from a ballistic standpoint.

[PartsMan]

No belt.
A very well designed cartridge.
That doesn't mean it will make it though.

[mcwoodduck]

I read the article and I don't get it.
The .375 Ruger was designed to shoot the same projectiles faster than .375H&H and have the ability to do it out of shorter barrels attached to standard actions.  More power shorter handier rifle that also can be chambered in a spare standard action rifle you have.  I think the Alaskan would be the perfect guide rifle or camp bear cannon.  But since I already have a .375 H&H I will not be looking to up grade any time soon.
What I don't get is why they made the new rounds the SAME as the Win Mags only shorter.  Make them more and tout how it will reach out for longer shots and market it to Elk hunters with the .338  and Bean field hunters  with the .300 at reduced prices to make people think about it as an option for first time buyers and replacement.   Have they learned nothing from the success of the little .17 HMR?  Or looked at what Chrysler does when they introduce a new car model.
Maybe market it for women and kids as it is a shorter lighter action and rifle and the case design reduces recoil with the same knock down or 80% like the .338 Federal does.     
I also doubt that the ammo will be affordable as Craig gets older and picks up more sponsors that hand him stuff for free, his level of affordable has changed.  It's neat to have the high dollar gear but don't post pone a hunt till you can afford the premium gear he uses.