More fascinating and surprising appraisals of your vintage firearms

COLLECTOR’S CORNER

Trying to guess if a currently available firearm will one day become collectible is a tricky business. Some models that had a short production run may one day become rare and valuable, for example, even if they went out of production because no one wanted them. Indeed, the market can be wrong at times. One rifle that I think was wrongly overlooked was the Ruger Hawkeye Compact Magnum, which was offered in .300 and .338 RCM (and later in .308 Win.). It came along when the market was saturated with short magnum cartridges, so it never got a chance to catch on. It was made from 2008 to 2012, and while I don’t know the number of guns produced, it could not have been very high.

I find the Ruger Hawkeye Compact Magnum to be just about the perfect hunting rifle, with an ideal weight, length, fit and balance. It’s a delight to carry, handle and shoot, and the cartridges perform well through the short, 20-inch barrels. The .338 RCM seems to be a successor to the .318 Westley Richards, which was a popular cartridge for hunting medium-sized game in Africa.

The rifle shown here is one I hope to take to Africa one day—a .338 RCM with an NECG peep sight. Ammunition is hard to find for this chambering, but I have loading dies and an ample supply of cases. In near-new condition, this rifle would likely be worth approximately $750. That’s less than what I paid for it new, but I hope one of my heirs sees it rise dramatically in value in 50 years.