Which Magnum for Long Range?
 

Not sure if I'll pull the trigger on this one or not, but researching a little...

I just pulled a Ruger M77 Hawkeye action (long action w/ Magnum bolt face) with a plan to shoehorn .458 Lott into it - a full 3.60" of 500grn glory.

So then I got to thinking about doing a 7mm RUM barrel for it as well, to make it a little more practical. And thinking about that made me think about my nagging desire to do another 600-1000yrd hunting rig.

If you were going to do a 3.60" magnum cartridge for 600-1000yrd killing of game - not just paper - what would you build? I'm thinking 300 or 7mm RUM right now, on a Rem 700 stainless action, either in walnut or a Mac A3 or 5, shilen tube.

338 edge or Obrien will get better barrel life than the smaller rums.
RR

A Nosler based 28 or 30. Or open the bolt face and do a 338 Norma.

A 3.6" action isn't long enough for a RUM, imo.

I don't have one in hand - what's max COAL for a Rem 700 RUM action? Brownells has SS 700 RUM bare actions in stock, over priced, but it's only money...

Been thinking a bit about a 338 - I love the 338WM, but a little extra horsepower might be nice. Definitely a lot of bullet and recoil just for whitetails and coyotes, though. :action-smiley-099: :patriot:

Rum uses a standard long action (magnum bolt face an extractor) it would be the same length as if you had a 300 win mag, 7mm Remington mag, 264 win mag, 30-06, .270 etc. Just like Jeep kid said the COAL of a RUM is too long for these actions. I noticed it when I got my 300 ultra but it isn't that much of a problem if any at all. Just an announce more than anything.
https://support.remington.com/Genera...hort_action%3F

Honestly if you are building one just look for a used Savage action or savage rifle and buy a barrel. The route I went was I bought a Remington SPS 300 ultra and switched the stock out adn the trigger, that trigger is crap. The SPS shoot great at least from the ones I have had. I have not got to shoot the 300 yet do to I am still waiting on my Vortex scope.

you can modify the action just a bit and get bottom metal to accept a good deal longer COL
RR

Yup. I was going to suggest that next. I think a Rem 700 can get opened up to 4.0" right?

Can this be done by yourself or a Gunsmith has to do it?

a wyatts extended mag box extends the col by .110"
an AICS bottom metal conversion will accept COL's of 3.775
the one I just measured came from seekins precision and inside the box measures 3.932, it requires fileing out .013" off the bolt stop, and that much taken off a protruding piece in the rear of the action
though they are a bit pricey.
RR

7MM RM is a good caliber, the rest is up to you.

.......Reload if you want to be a "Wildcat" !!!

6.5-300wby
.26 Nosler
.28 Nosler
7mm RM
7mm-300 Win Mag
.300 RUM
.338 Edge
.338 Lapua
.340 WBY

I like my 300 Wby kick is not bad and in my Sako it is very accurate. The cases seem to last too must be the double radius shoulder. After looking through the reloading manuals it seem to be very close to max speed for a 30 cal. It uses less powder that the RUM as well. This is just my 2 cents but great topic.

I've been fighting the urge to build this as another 338Lapua... Just seems too vanilla... But pretty hard to argue with availability...

Why fight the urge? You know you will lose in the end so why struggle? "If you build it, they will fall" :D

Edge or Lapua?
 

The Edge was one which I hadn't appropriately researched, but after it came up in this thread, I corrected that lack of understanding - I had previously assumed the Edge was only slightly faster than the 338-300RUM. Apparently it's a bit more than "slightly" faster...

So... Cases aren't cheap nor widely available for either, but 338 Lap brass seems to be readily available off of the shelf (not to mention factory ammo, should I ever be foolish enough to pay for it), rather than being wildcat brass.

On the other hand, I've had a Lap, haven't had an Edge, and it's a little cheaper to get a RUM ready action than a Lap ready one. Looks like dies are out there on the shelf... Kind of a non-wildcatter friendly wildcat...

Is it 6 of one, half a dozen of the other? Any reason I might be missing to go Lapua vs. Edge, or Edge vs. Lapua?

Nothing wrong with either. The Lapua of course will have better brass.

The Edge is a 338-300 rum so I'm not sure why you're seeing higher numbers for the Edge? Maybe you're looking at the Edge+P?

Don't overlook the 338-378 Wby or the Lazzeroni Titan either..

What I had seen in the past for the 338-300rum, which I think a lot of folks call "338 RUM," is a goodly bit shorter than the Edge, which is why, as I understand it, Shawn differentiated the two and titled the "Edge" as he did - since it has the "edge" over the concurrently developed 338 rum.

I also saw some interesting data, not sure it makes sense to me - I saw a claim the Edge has a 122grn h2o case capacity. This was compared to somewhere in the 114grn ballpark for Lapua, and 103-4 for 300rum, hence not making sense to me. Seems like an awful lot of growth for a simple neck up, and if it really has 8grn more capacity than the Lap, I'd expect it could outrun it, not just tie.

I'm far from decided upon which it'll be, but it didn't take much persuading to kick me out of the 7mm and 30cal boat for this build to focus on a 338.

As a die hard .416 Rigby fan, that's an angle in my head where the Lap has an advantage, even if it means absolutely nothing, objectively.

The 338 Edge is a simple neck up, a 300 RUM to 338.

The 338 RUM case is shorter then the 300 RUM case.

That's why Shawn used the 300 RUM case for his Edge, just to get the "edge" over the factory 338 RUM.

122gr capacity for the Edge is a bit high, it's right at 115gr.

It's all splitting hairs as far as performance, not an animal in the world will know the difference.

I would personally skip the Edge and just go with a 338 RUM, but if I could get any 338 cal it would be a Titan or Snipetac!

yeah the 338 rum is 100 thou shorter than the 7mm or 300 rum, just like the 300 winny is 100 thou longer than the 264 and the 338 winny's. as allan said the 338 edge is just a simple neck up, not sure what the difference is in the +P version, the 338/300 Rum IMP. is known as the 338 O'Brian.
RR

The +P is Shawn's newest version with a bore rider throat. Gets another 100+ fps out of it.

Another wrinkle...
 

I recognize this is a step backwards, since it's a bit slower and I'd be stuck with Hornady brass, but anyone ever played with a 338-375 Ruger?

To keep it inside a standard long action at 3.34", I'd have to push the shoulder back a bit, giving up a little capacity. Not sure how far I could neck down without pushing the shoulder back before the neck would get too short yet, but I'd try to run it as long as possible given the brass. I'm speculating around 2850fps with a 250grn pill out of a 24" tube, pick up a bit if I go longer barrel (which I plan to). I'd guess I'd hang around 98grn H2O in the case - so giving up quite a bit to the Edge and Lap, basically splitting the difference between those and the 338WM.

Maybe it's just the Ruger fanatic in me coming out, as there's really no reason to wildcat off of a such a new proprietary case, other than it'll be a little easier working south of 3.6" COAL. I've done ok feeding .416Ruger out of 300wm mag boxes - keep the COAL short enough on a 338-375R, I can feed it from a DBM.

Thoughts?