Great comments all. I will get to hunt with the 338RCM this fall and next year in TX and am looking forward to what it can do. It is not the most accurate rifle in my quiver but it does pack a punch. I chrono'ed some 225g factory SST ammo in it yesterday and they averaged 2725fps which is only 25fps slower than box speed and that is with a 20" bbl. It is also within 97% of the same speeds advertised for the 338 Win Mag using a 24" bbl. I was happy with it but just wish I could buy some ammo loaded with Accubond or Sciroccos at that same weight and speed. My PH in Africa uses SST in his 308 and loves em but the guide on the Texas Nilgai hunt called it a shit bullet that could not do the job on his tough ass Nilgai. But, he also called Barnes TSX a shit bullet. So, I don't really take his word as gospel, lol.
I can imagine a hunter who is planning a trip to Wyoming for Pronghorns, or the Eastern Cape or Free State for a Safari might?? see a value in the 7BC. But, if I already have a 7mm Mag or similar rifle, why would I spend the dough? I am capable of hitting steel tgts at 2 or 3 times my typical maximum hunting distances with some rifles. Even so, I make it my practice to limit my shots on game to about where the rifles projectile velocity drops to 2000fps. Why? Well, I figure that will insure that the bullet hits fast enough to expand reliably and penetrate all the way to the vitals on PG animals. This year in Free State, I took a 7mm/08 instead of my 7mm Mag simply because I liked the rifle and optic better and I also planned to hunt Limpopo on the same trip and did not want a long ass rifle up there. Plus my 7mm Mag was so long it did not fit in my hard case and would have required my to buy another hard case. The 7/08 was adequate on PG and was able to deliver its bullets at over 2000fps out to about 400y with all loads and close to 500y with my fastest load. None of my hunting shots were that far and the longest with that rifle was 314y on a Black WB.
My most modern DG cartridge rifle is in 375HH. I think that one might catch on. I limit it to 200y. I know there are hunters who can and do shoot game effectively at 500, even 600y with some guns. I watched a guy from Peru take about 12 animals on the Eastern Cape and some of his shots were out to like 680y and none of them took a 2nd shot. He had a top tier rifle, and top tier scope and knew exactly what he was doing and honestly, if you can perform like that every time, then more power to you and in those limited cases the 7mmBC might be a great choice. A 1/2moa rifle does expand your envelope some. I have a few of them and they make shooting long distance well very easy. I also have a few that struggle to shoot 2moa at 100y and they limit your shots to about 200y.
Still, that said, most of us are better hunters and are capable of stalking closer than 400y before we send it and owe it to the animal to grant it a quick and clean kill by doing so. Where does a 7BC fit into that Hunter Ethos? In my view it does not. Sometimes more is just more and is not necessarily better. I do not reload for hunting rifles because modern factory ammo is the best it has ever been and I do not shoot them enough to justify the time and expense for the dies, etc and the slight accuracy benefit is only meaningful when target shooting.
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