Definitely a consideration, Jerry!!!

Eh, I'm still kicking it around. I believe I'll be buying/building another 338WM in the near future anyway as part of another matched rifle set project I'm working up, but I'm on the fence about simply "upsizing" my tried and true old deer rifle. I'm rebarreling it anyway this spring, so adding another barrel at that time might save me a little cost - better said this way: it's going to be at the shop, so if I want two barrels, now is the time to do it.

I tend to agree, Big Uncle, about Switch barrels being a hassle if you use BOTH cartridges a lot, but I think they make sense if you use one a lot, and one not - plus, I enjoy them for some reason. For cartridges I use much, I hate them, been there, tried that. I don't even like having AR uppers without lowers!! But I have and have had a couple switch barrel rigs that I've liked. In this case, it likely makes more sense than most cases, as I NEED a 30-06 a heck of a lot more frequently than I do a 338 of either flavor. I have back ups in either class (Hi, I'm Nomercy, and I'm a gun-a-holic...) in case I didn't have time to swap. The only real headache for me is the range trip to reconfirm the re-zero. I record the correction between the two loads, dial on the scopes, and reset the turrets - but I like to put it across a bench to make sure it's right before hunting it. Takes about an hour to change over with a Savage, goes faster with a Rem style - as this Ruger would be. Savages are easier to set for headspace, but you have to do it every time and you have to remove the stock unless you pin your barrel nut. Rem styles can be faster: with a rear or port entry wrench, you don't even have to remove it from the stock, just torque it down to the spec'd torque, confirmed with witness marks if you like, check the go & no-go, rezero, and it's done.

I've been very tempted to get 338wm, 30-06, and 243 or 22-250 barrels for this rifle then stack a bunch of different species on it, who knows, that might still happen.