The 7 PRC: Best of the PRC Cartridges

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I’ve been writing about this stuff for 50 years. With seniority, some skepticism is inevitable. I’ve seen many brave new cartridges come and go. When younger, I was quick to embrace the latest whiz-bang. Today, I’m more likely to sit back and see what happens. Much of this skepticism came 25 years ago, when the market was flooded by long, short, and super-short unbelted magnums. I bought in and wrote the first articles about several. Embarrassingly, some of those are already gone—after the shortest production runs in recent cartridge history.

When the 6.5 PRC came out, I didn’t jump in. Heck, I had to look it up several times to remember that “PRC” stands for Precision Rifle Cartridge. The first 6.5 PRC I saw came to our Kansas deer camp in the hands of retired Navy SEAL Kevin James, his competition rifle doubling as his deer rifle. Naturally, it worked fine. Eventually, I bought a Springfield Model 2020 Waypoint in 6.5 PRC. It’s wonderfully accurate and flattens whitetails and hogs. Again, no surprise. I have not owned a .300 PRC, although I borrowed Georgia buddy Zack Aultman’s Bergara. I smoked a nice Georgia buck and some hogs with it. That was little challenge for an accurate, fast .30 with heavy bullets. It’s a great cartridge, but I have multiple fast .30s, so I didn’t bite. I did bite at the 7mm PRC, though.

Last week I was back hunting whitetails at Zack’s place in Georgia. Zack had multiple 7mm PRCs in his gun rack. That proves little because Zack is a rifle addict, and he can’t help himself. He has all the PRCs and many more. I brought my new 7mm PRC rifle. After I shot my buck, we took it down the road to a processor, chatting with the owner. He’s also shooting the 7mm PRC. The next day, gunmaker Charlie Barnes of Flat Creek Precision, also in Georgia, joined us. Charlie built my new 7mm PRC rifle, and it’s awesome. And what was Charlie shooting? A 7mm PRC.

In early September I did an aoudad hunt in the mountains of Far West Texas. I had just received the Flat Creek rifle, scoped and zeroed it, but didn’t have time to verify at distance. With time growing short, the shot I drew was a bit far for a rifle with uncertain data. So I borrowed guide Creed Cade’s dialed-in Exile Arms rifle. Of course, it was chambered for 7mm PRC. With it, I dropped that old ram handily at a bit over 500 yards.

Collectively, that’s a small survey, but a lot of folks are adopting the 7mm PRC. Barely two years old, it’s being used and touted by serious rifle cranks, from skeptical old geezers like me to young gunmakers and hunting guides. The jury is still out. We’ve seen cartridges take off like rockets, then fizzle and fall to Earth. Time will tell, but among recent cartridges, I’m voting the 7 PRC “most likely to succeed.”

The Other PRCs

Over the years, Hornady has invested heavily in its engineering department, with an impressive string of big wins: .17 HMR, .204 and .375 Ruger, 6.5 Creedmoor, Critical Defense, LEVERevolution, Heat Shield, ELD, and more. The PRC series was designed from the ground up for long-range competition, and it easily transferred to hunting and informal shooting. Efficiency is the reason. It’s action-length-specific, sacrificing some velocity to eliminate overbore capacity and extend barrel life. That’s not so important for hunters but critical for competitive shooters.

The first PRC was the 6.5, and it is a great cartridge. As a hunting cartridge, it essentially does what the 6.5 Creedmoor should not be asked to do. With nearly 300 fps higher velocity (greater but acceptable recoil), it delivers more energy farther, which is awesome for deer-size game at greater distance.

The formula isn’t new: 140-grain bullet at about 3,000 fps. That’s the same thing the .264 Winchester did in 1958 and the same thing the 6.5-.284 Norma and Weather 6.5 RPM do. Always popular in Europe, the 6.5mm (0.264 inch) is hot here in America. The advantages of the 6.5’s long bullets have finally been accepted.

However, the 6.5s aren’t fully understood. In 1900, when shooters were still euphoric over then-new smokeless velocities and energy yields, early 6.5mms were used over here on game up to the largest bears. Over there, for everything. The 6.5x55 is still popular among Scandinavian moose hunters. Pre-widespread scope use, ranges were shorter. Larger game was taken with 156- and 160-grain roundnose bullets. Today’s shooters want more range and use aerodynamic bullets, longer than blunt-nosed projectiles. Because of action length restrictions and specified cartridge overall length (COL), our modern 6.5mms are limited to bullets in the mid-140-grains.

They are awesome for deer-size game. I believe that for game larger than deer, including elk and larger African antelopes, all the 6.5s as loaded today are marginal in both bullet weight and diameter (frontal area). Especially at distance, where bullet energy is dropping off. There are faster 6.5s (26 Nosler and 6.5-.300 Wby. Mag.) that deliver more energy, but that doesn’t matter to me. I’ve seen too much trouble with 6.5s on larger game. I rate them great deer-sheep-antelope cartridges.

Hornady followed the 6.5 with the .300 PRC. The 0.308-inch bullet is America’s favorite, starting with the .30-40 Krag in1892, followed by so many popular .30 calibers: .30-30, .30-06, .308 Win., .300 Win. Mag. On the one hand, the .300 PRC is just another fast .30. On the other hand, it has the modern case designed for long actions and specified for fast rifling twists. They enable it to utilize today’s long, extra-heavy .30-caliber bullets with off-the-charts ballistic coefficients.

Most hunting I’ve done with the .300 PRC has been with 225-grain bullets, the heaviest .30-caliber bullets I’ve used. On deer-size game, they are lights out. If, like me, you believe in bullet weight, such projectiles put the .30 caliber into a different class. Provided the bullet is designed to perform on game, there isn’t much a .300 PRC can’t handle.

Not everyone needs enough power to stop small armored cars, but recoil is the major issue. Even though heavier bullets can’t be pushed as fast, heavy bullets increase recoil. Full-up fast .30s kick! If that’s the performance level you want, deal with it, or mitigate it with gun weight and a suppressor or a muzzle brake. Not everyone needs fast .30 power, and many shooters are uncomfortable with that much recoil.

In the Middle

The 7mm PRC meets in the middle. It has more bullet weight and frontal area than the 6.5 PRC and less bullet—and less recoil—than the .300 PRC. All three PRCs are based on the unbelted .375 Ruger case, with 0.532-inch rim and base, same as the rim and boltface diameter of belted magnums. The 7mm PRC case also is in the middle, shorter than the .300, longer than the 6.5. It has maximum efficiency without being overbore capacity. With the specified COL of 3.340 inches, case length allows today’s heavy bullets to be used in standard (.30-06-length) actions. Rifling twist is specified at 1:8, which is ideal for stabilizing bullets weighing from 160 to 195 grains.

The concept of heavy-for-caliber 7mm bullets is hardly new. In 1892 the 7x57 Mauser started with a 173-grain bullet, anglicized to 175 grains, dubbed .275 Rigby in England. WDM “Karamojo” Bell shot many of his 1,013 elephants with the .275 Rigby using FMJ “solids.” Today, we question the wisdom of using any 7mm on the largest game, but Bell made it work and lived to tell the tale.

A generation ago, writer Warren Page did most of his hunting worldwide with “Betsy No. 1,” a 7mm Mashburn Super Magnum, which is the .300 H&H necked down to 0.284 inch, thus similar to the 7mm Shooting Times Westerner (STW). Page used 175-grain bullets in his fast 7mm to take Alaskan brown bears, lions, tigers, and more.

Fans of the 7mm have always touted that bullet diameter’s traditionally long, heavy-for-caliber bullets. A 175-grain 0.284 bullet has a high sectional density of .310, suggesting deep-penetrating qualities. In .30 caliber you must get to 208 grains to exceed that sectional density.

Ballistic coefficient (BC) tells a different story. The 7mm Rem. Mag. is still the world’s most popular 7mm cartridge, usually barreled with 1:9 or 1:9.5 twist rifling. Those twists will stabilize traditional 175-grain bullets but may not produce good accuracy with today’s longer “low drag” bullets. For instance, in 0.284 Hornady offers several 175-grain bullets, including a short 175-grain InterLock roundnose, a longer 175-grain InterLock Spirepoint, and the still-longer 175-grain ELD-X. All have sectional densities of .310, but the respective G1 BCs are .285, .462, and .695.

Some 7mm Rem. Mag. barrels shoot fine with the 175-grain ELD-X, but few can stabilize longer and heavier 7mm bullets, now up to 195 grains. (One Berger 195-grain 7mm bullet has an off-the-charts G1 BC of .814.) The 7mm PRC was designed to shoot such bullets, and its 1:8 twist will stabilize them.

Sure, you can always rebarrel with a faster twist. However, not everyone likes or needs the extra-heavy bullets. Again, they produce more recoil. If velocity and gun weight are the same, recoil will be the same with bullets of like weight, regardless of diameter. My 7mm PRC is clocking 2,950 fps with the 175-grain ELD-X, so recoil is just a wee bit less than the .300 Win. Mag. with 180-grain bullets, which can be loaded to 3,000 fps. No 180-grain .30-caliber bullet can fly as well as that ELD-X, but it’s not a low-recoil option.

I’m not a staunch 7mm guy, but I have a long history with various 7mms. I love the old 7x57 and its younger ballistic twin, the 7mm-08. They are mild in recoil and deadly—wonderful deer cartridges. I’ve used the .280 Remington some, and it’s another great cartridge. I’ve also used the fastest 7mms, including the 7mm STW and the 7mm RUM. I probably have the most experience with the 7mm Rem. Mag. A gorgeous 7mm Rem. Mag. rifle by the late David Miller was used for a lot of deer, mountain game, and a wide variety of African game. I don’t have a Big Seven now, but I’ve been using a .280 Ackley Improved, which has much the same ballistics. Across the board, and regardless of rifling twist, I’ve rarely used 175-grain bullets. On deer-size game, I’ve often used 140- or 150-grain bullets. For larger game, up to elk and in Africa, I’ve usually loaded bullets from 160 to 165 grains.

Why the 7mm PRC

So why have I jumped on the 7mm PRC bandwagon? I don’t hunt big bears, buffaloes, or pachyderms with 7mms. I’m happy such use is illegal in Africa, and it should be on our biggest bears. Although I love to ring steel at long range, I don’t compete. With the great rifles, optics, and bullets we have today, I’m comfortable shooting game at greater distances than 40 years ago, but I am not an extreme-range shooter on game. In all ways, I’m more a hunter than a target shooter. When acquiring any rifle, old or new, my approach is: “What might I hunt with it? Is it likely to deliver the accuracy and performance needed for those applications?”

The super-fast STW and RUM weren’t for me. They provide great performance but have overbore capacity, are limited in propellants, and rifles often have too-slow twists. An example of the overbore capacity issue: Per Hornady published data, it’s possible to get a 175-grain bullet to 3,000 fps with both the 7mm PRC and the 7mm RUM. The 7mm PRC needs 68.4 grains of Reloder 25 (max load) to get there. The 7mm RUM requires 85.9 grains of the same propellant to reach that velocity. That’s a lot more powder, which translates to throat-eroding heat. Long-range friends gravitated to the 28 Nosler. I thought about it, held off, and listened to their concerns about barrel life. Marathons don’t go to the fastest sprinters.

In June ’22 I joined a group at Carl van Zyl’s John X Safaris in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. I was shooting a Gunwerks .300 Win. Mag. Buddy John Stucker brought his Christensen 6.5 PRC. Not surprisingly, we saw power issues with large animals (like zebras) at longer ranges. Four hunters elected to use “camp guns,” which happened to be Gunwerks rifles in their proprietary 7mm Long Range Magnum (LRM). Using heavy bullets, I saw consistently excellent performance on larger animals. This was my first field experience with extra-heavy 7mm bullets, and I was impressed.

I tend to avoid proprietary and wildcat cartridges. Seems to me we have enough factory cartridges, and I’m too lazy to ferret out components and data for limited-source cartridges. No 7mm LRM for me, but within weeks I got wind of Hornady’s soon-to-come 7mm PRC. It seemed like the best 7mm mousetrap to come down the pike to me. With its modern, unbelted case sized for efficiency, the 7mm PRC isn’t the fastest 7mm (much the same speed as 7mm Rem. Mag. and .280 AI, which are fast enough) but barreled for heavier bullets. Its 6.5 and .300 PRC siblings were doing well, and so the in-the-middle 7mm PRC seemed likely to be successful and thus available (which has come to pass).

I had to have one. Interestingly, Gunwerks’ excellent 7mm LRM and the 7mm PRC, though not interchangeable, are so similar that Gunwerks has largely adopted Hornady’s cartridge. God bless them for reducing caliber confusion! With some begging, I got an early Mossberg Patriot 7mm PRC. It’s sound and inexpensive, and it produced good accuracy right out of the box. With my Leupold CDS turret cut for a 200-grain ELD-X in my .300 Win. Mag., it rang steel to 500 yards by dialing (obviously a familiar trajectory).

The first time I hunted with it was on the Lowrance Ranch in North Texas, November ’22. I had a nice old buck quartering away at about 200 yards. The big 175-grain ELD-X literally drove him into the ground, no further movement. Wow! Suppose those heavy 7mm bullets always work like that?

Uh, no. No two shots on game are exactly alike, and no two animals react precisely the same upon receiving a bullet. These days, few of us take enough game to make educated comparisons, and it can be easy to jump to conclusions based on limited sampling.

That Texas buck went down as if it was struck by the hammer of Thor. Last week, I took a good Georgia buck, same distance, presentation more broadside. I used the same 175-grain ELD-X in the Flat Creek 7mm PRC rifle. I felt sure of a central chest hit, reinforced by the deer bucking on impact. With heart or lung shots, it’s common for an animal to run hard for a short distance. This buck did. As he ran through scattered trees, I expected to see him go down. Hardly. He made 50 yards at full tilt, then vanished into thick brush.

Not worried, I waited a while, then walked down to where he’d stood and saw lots of lung blood spray where the bullet had exited. Certainly, a dead deer. Yet not another drop of blood between there and the cover, zero evidence where he’d gone in. Zack joined me from his stand and also found nothing. More perplexed than concerned, we went back to camp and fetched younger eyes. Not another drop of blood until young Gunner Malone stepped onto the buck, stone dead 10 yards into the cover. The shot was placed centrally on the shoulder, and it exited the far side, showing good expansion. If that was my first deer, I’d question enough gun or bullet. On game, odd things happen.

There’s nothing wrong with my Mossberg 7mm PRC, except that I’m left-handed and the Patriot isn’t available in mirror image. My Flat Creek 7mm PRC rifle is a lefty with a Pierce Engineering action and a 24-inch fluted barrel.

Its first game came last October. It was a good bull elk on the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. I shot him close at 80 yards. My first shot immobilized him, but he wasn’t down, so I shot again. Along with bullet weight, I believe frontal area is a factor in hitting power on game. Would I have not needed to shoot twice if I had I used a .30 caliber or larger? Maybe. But I can’t know that because shot placement is so critical. My first shot was on the shoulder, four inches higher than ideal. Maybe I should have placed it better, right?

The 7mm PRC is unquestionably adequate for a wide range of game, and this southpaw Flat Creek rifle, barrel now broken in, is surprisingly pleasant to shoot and produces wonderful groups. Like the other PRCs, the 7 was designed for long-range precision, with accuracy-enhancing case efficiency. However, rifle accuracy is more about a good barrel precisely mated to a rigid action, with consistent ammo, than about cartridge design.

I expected this rifle to be exceptionally accurate, and it delivers. That doesn’t imply all 7mm PRCs are accurate, but PRCs (in all three diameters) are likely to shoot well. Which is best for you depends on what you’re doing. I wanted downrange accuracy on paper and steel, and I wanted reliable performance on game up to elk and African plains game. All without excessive recoil. That’s what I’ve found in the 7mm PRC. It’s a breeze to handload with a good selection of slow-burning propellants. So far, I’ve had best results with Reloder 26 (hard to find), but the cartridge does almost as well with good old H4831SC and IMR 7828 SSC. 

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