Originally Posted by
bigcountry
Mike I usually agree with what you say for the most part, but its obvious here, you have not owned a RUM. I have owned 3. Your wrong on several accounts. I bet most on here shoot more than 2-3K rounds a year. And I can push a RUM to blow the doors off a weatherby by 150fps. Lastly, you will see .5" freebore in a weatherby and .1 for a RUM. I don't know about you, but 5X is a lot. If you ever shot a 338RUM, you will remember it. I felt it was much more brutal than a 338win mag.
I doubt that even 10% of the folks that frequent these boards shoot anywhere close to 2K rounds per year from bolt action rifles, though I'm sure there are a few, let alone that many from one particular rifle. Especially a big boomer like a RUM.
And I did say that the RUM has a "... small but real performance advantage over the Wby..." 150fps is a real advantage, but it is also less than 5%, making it a fairly small difference.
And yes, I have not owned a 300 RUM. I've shot one once, in an unbraked M700 XCR that probably weighed a fairly light 8.5-9lbs. It was a real kick in the nuts. I've not shot the 338 RUM, but, hey, go big or go home, right?!
Of course, were it my 338 RUM, it'd be sporting a muzzlebrake and a Limbsaver pad for sure, and I'd also be wearing my PAST pad at the range, too!
As for the freebore... I stand corrected.
As for barrel life... I guess a person just has to deal with fast throat erosion as a consequence of extreme performance.
Mike