Is the 7mm PRC the BEST 7mm ever? 

Youre a wise man, the eldx should be outlawed for hunting

@@whiteyfisk9769 unfortunately I learned from experience. I did end up getting the job done but it was ugly.

Hornady precision hunter 175gr ELDX

@@stephencadwallader5401 Thanks I expected that one would come along shortly.

Pretty much all non-magnums are the same. Game can’t tell.

@@graynotescartridgebox What, the deer don't sit around at night discussing which cartridge they'd rather be shot with? There's got to be a Far Side joke in this somewhere.

@@Paladin1873 😂

I agree. It looks like an ideal elk and black bear cartridge

That’s what people don’t understand, they’ll ramble on about how the 7mm rem mag does the same thing or the 28 nosler does it better. Well sure the 28 nosler shoots flatter but has tons of downsides. And compared to the 7 mag it just does everything slightly better with no downsides except maybe a little more recoil. It’ll be popular because it’s in the middle of the pack and can handle any bullet you throw at it, If you want 140gr ballistic tips for deer to replicate a rem mag go for it, or you can shoot 190gr atips out to a mile

@@devinb3397 and how is it better than the 7 mag?

@@SpudOutdoors 7 PRC is better than 7 mag for long range hunting. Hornady fixed what all the other 7mm cartridges have wrong with them, they gave the 7 PRC a longer throat to accommodate long high-BC bullets with higher sectional density. The 7 mag has a super short throat, so you're limited in which bullets you can use. You can seat them deeper in, but then you're either crushing powder or lowering charge... not what you want to have to do when you're trying to use a longer heavier bullet. The only way to address the limiting factors of the 7 mag's saami chamber is to have your rifle rebarreled, with custom barrel made with a custom reamer used to give the 7 mag a longer throat. Not cheap. 7 PRC fixes it from the getgo so a guy can walk into his local gun store, buy a 7 prc rifle off the shelf and a box of factory ammo and have the same capabilities as a 7 mag that has had all the expensive work of having a custom barrel made and headspaced on the action, along with developing a handloaded round that works with the custom 7 mag chamber.

@@karlschauff7989 I shoot a saami chamber 7 mag with a 195gn Berger at 2910. If I had n570 I could do over 3000fps. Let’s see the PRC do that. I’ll be waiting.

Extreme muzzle velocities with low BC bullets fade fast. Difference between throwing as hard as you can a ping pong ball vs a golf ball.

@@sixfiveoutfitters1201 you guys are full of shit. The flatter shooting the less margin for error especially in a mountain situation like me taking big horn rams and goats, if you don’t know the distance or the elevation difference the flatter the better. Why handicap yourself with a blunt cartridge that has no advantage. Cartridges like my 338 win mag do everything well, especially at long distance, over 4000 ftbls 40 inches of drop at 500 yards and cheats the wind like an B2 bomber.

.280 is probably the sweet spot as 6.5CM is to the 6.5 PRC, the .280 AI is to the 7 PRC.

Id get a 280rem. but there not a bullet you can find on the ammo shelf I reload but we all know they never stock reloading supply's anymore

@@warrengreen3217 yeah I reload my shotshells and can’t find any powder or primers, and if I can it’s only cheddite and at twice as much.

@@warrengreen3217 What are you looking for? I'll find it. Things are getting better.

@@derekkt49 large rifle primers and varget powder

.275 Rigby not .257 . Yep 👍 great cartridge !

Agreed along with the 257 Roberts I think it the Rigby twin

275 Rigby beloved by Jim Corbett is my favorite

@@johnkelly9246 Sorry John. Should have read 275 Rigby. Sorry have changed it.

@@NorthwoodsNomad Sorry Bruin. A typo. Have changed it.Cheers

6.8 western! Remember Hornady is competition, so they’ll avoid making anything for Winchester’s 6.8.

The 7prc can handle up to 195 grain boolets son.

@@joshlower1 My 300 WBY can shoot 240 gr bullets !…….

I miss it when Hornady just wanted to make bullets for everybody. And they made great Spire Pints and Round Noses and Flat Points that they’ve abandoned. I miss the 265gr Flat Point Interlock(Flex Tip? I don’t want to have to trim my brass back due to that bullet. That Flat Point was so well balanced. And when I use a lever action I want to get a bit close. Why try to turn that into the 308 it’s not?) that was designed expressly for the 444 Marlin. I miss the the .358 250gr RN. The 200gr .338” Spire Point. They’ve made a lot of good introductions yes. But they’ve become so giant and bloated they’ve lost their roots

One truly annoying thing for we handloaders is all these new introductions in rifle AND pistol makes all components, especially primers, hard to come by!

Robert Free exactly what I have been seeing! Good thing I have primers because I haven’t seen any a a reasonable price for quite some time🤔😳 don’t get me wrong in my 60 years of hunting and reloading there has been quite a change in the gun market but to just about stop with the older calibers is not right to all of us gun owners who have bought their other calibers over the years

@@edwardabrams4972 you did the right thing stocking up. I did as far as large primers rifle/pistol go. But I neglected to the small ones. What a mistake! I like big bore handguns and the larger rifle calibers. So didn’t think I’d need small ones except for what I stocked up on for just a 357. Live and learn

@@redacted2618 I stand by my statement a year ago. I agree if you handload it's a non issue, but most don't. Again for hunting at 500 yards and in the difference is negligible to 7 Rem mag.

The benefits aren't going to be realized in any significant way until longer range. Low drag bullets is what it's all about, and not until past 400-500 yards is that going to be much consideration, when compared to other pretty competent cartridges like the .280 A.I.

It's not so much about velocity gains (even though there are modest ones) as it is about bringing the cartridge case into the 21st century giving it the ability to handle the longest high BC bullets of the 7mm bore dia. In conjunction with a faster twist barrel.

🕵️‍♂️ Well, the several people that have this 7mm prc cartridge that I've heard from are getting 2,900 ft/s to 2,920 ft/s with a 175 grain bullet, with accuracy! If you look at the Nosler Load Manual, you can get just over 2,900 ft/s with the 280 AI and a 175 grain bullet! Backing that off to 2,850 ft/s is probably where you will get the best accuracy for the 280 AI and you can do that with several powders! So, is the additional 5 ft lbs of recoil worth an extra 50 ft/s to 70 ft/s in velocity? I personally don't think so! 🤷‍♂️

@@ronlowney4700 to be honest the 280ai is a better hunting cartridge. It gives you near 7mm Rem mag performance with less recoil and room to fit an extra cartridge in the magazine. It would also be more at home in an ultra lite package. The 7mm PRC shines at distances more reserved for poking paper or banging steel. You must decide what works better for your application.

If the bullet leaves the muzzle with the same velocity, the shape of the cartridge doesn't matter much. The 280AI will perform as good as the PRC...

338 !

My guess is it will bow out at 338... Market share

Just as a note the parent cartridge of the PRC line of cartridges is the 375 Ruger. So the 375 and 416 are already designated. As for the short action line of PRC cartridges which where derived by shortening and necking down the original 375 Ruger, the 300 RCM is the parent and the 300 RCM and 338 RCM are already designated. The 6.5 PRC is made by necking down the 300 RCM.

A .338 PRC, please!

458prc is already there - it is called 450rigby. Jarrett, CZ and some others will be happy to sell you a semi-custom 450 Rigby rifle.

Don’t believe everything that tool bag posts. He has been caught more than once posting BS ballistics to make one look better than another.

Only because backfire doesn’t know how to properly load a 7 mag. A 7 mag has more powder capacity so no the PRC is not going to have more velocity. A 7 mag can shoot a 195gn Berger in a saami chamber past 3000fps. I shoot 2910 with the powder I have.

Goodness knows what pressures Backfire is loading to. He is also using lathe-turned brass in a high end action, so he would not see any "pressure signs" until well over 65,000 psi.

@@jfess1911 in his PRC yes but he never tested a 7 mag

@@SpudOutdoors My point is that Backfire's test is so unscientific that his results are not terribly useful. We will need to wait until data from pressure-tested loads are available to know the true difference. For the vast majority of hunting applications they will be essentially the same. It is useful to realize that the design philosophies of the two cartridges are different. The 7 Rem mag was designed primarily as a hunting cartridge that has a flat trajectory to around 500 yards. 500 yards was considered "long distance" in the early 1960's. It was nice not needing to worry about holdover for a 300 yard shot. Almost all US hunting cartridges followed this light-and-fast bullet thinking. Minimal drop within typical hunting distances was the goal. The SAAMI specs reflect that. Even the WSM and SAUM cartridges of the early 2000's followed the light-and-fast design philosophy. The PRC series, as their names imply, are designed for long distance precision rifle shooting. Hornady is an ammo company and their goal is to sell as much ammo as possible. The vast majority of PRC ammo will shot at targets, not animals. As it turns out, these cartridges also are good for hunting. The fact that a typical, bog standard PRC rifle is designed for very long-range shooting means that their owners will likely want to try it. Encouraging more shooting and ammo sales is the whole point, to Hornady, at least. Although a typical 7mm Rem mag can also shoot to 1000 yards, it is not optimized to do so. I doubt a lot of match ammo is sold for them.

The short action fanatics, will still find a reason to pick a 6.8 Western over the 7PRC. But for the most part I agree with you I was considering a 6.8 build, I'm leaning 7 PRC now.

6.8 western does pretty much the same thing in a half pound lighter and shorter rifle. 6.8 western fills a gap if going long action there's better choices then either. I'm talking hunting rifles not 1000 yard paper punchers. Both are good cartridges for sure though and no deer or elk will know the difference. If hunting in the backcountry up and down mountains the hunter will notice a difference.

@@rockie307 It doesn't do the same thing, it has slightly worse ballistics at all ranges. The rifles are not a half pound lighter, the two models that I looked up (a X-Bolt Speed and an X-Bolt Pro) only weighed a quarter of a pound more when chambered in 300PRC compared to 6.8 Western, despite having two inches more barrel. Given equal barrel length, the rifle may be a half inch shorter, which I would suggest is not a big deal. But the main issue with the 6.8 is that the .277 bore diameter has a tiny fraction of the long range bullet offerings that the 7mm and 6.5mm does, so if you can't find the couple of options available, or if heaven forbid it doesn't catch on and manufacturers stop making them, then you are left with a slightly worse version of the 270 WSM.

@@lawnfarmr399 In that case go with the 28 or 30 nosler there only 2 ozs heavier and have much better ballistics. If all that matter are paper ballistics and not length or weight. I said pretty much the same thing. No deer or elk will no the difference at hunting ranges.

@@rockie307 the Nosler cartridges have their place, but are too overbore to really be in the same niche as the 7 PRC or 6.8 Western. Paper ballistics are far from everything. My favourite cartridge is the .308 and it isn’t winning any ballistic prizes. My point is that the .277 bore diameter is not the best option for a cartridge in this class, as it doesn’t have the high bc options of other bore diameters. Winchester and Browning only went with it for marketing reasons, to try and generate some excitement for something ‘new’. They are trying to carve out a niche in an extremely stacked portion of the market. There is nothing wrong with that, but from the end users perspective, the 7mm PRC or even the 6.5 PRC are just a better bet, due to the fact that they have far more support in terms of projectile options and (given the precedent set by all of Hornady’s recent cartridges) factory ammunition offerings as well. 6.8 Western might be successful and long lived, but it’s far less likely

No, but the unskilled hunter will try.

@@plaiddad276 Skilled or unskilled, I recommend avoiding long range shots. It is a demonstrated fact that it can be done, but I would argue it should not be done because the degradation in precision, energy, and bullet performance will increase the probability of wounding an animal rather than killing it. Compounding this problem is the difficulty of locating and tracking game wounded at long range. As to what constitutes a long range shot, I'm not sure a definitive answer is available. It would depend on a variety of factors including at the very least the kind of game being shot, cartridge power, terminal bullet performance, wind and weather conditions, terrain, lighting, shooter ability, sighting system, and rifle accuracy.

@@Paladin1873 OK Professor, thanks for the lecture but in your haste to pontificate you totally missed the point of my comment.

@@plaiddad276 At least I'm polite about it.

@@Paladin1873 Tiresomely obnoxious now equals "polite", got it.

Hello from northern Ontario my moosy friend lol

Why not a 7mm fan? Lol one of the best all around long or short range cartridges out there, no to big for smaller game but not to small for moose and grizz at super distances hell of a long range elk gun

@@tec9944 I didn’t say I wasn’t. Just said “not huge”. I’m well aware of the benefits of 7mm bullets. But I cut my teeth on 270. That will always be my top. For the ranges I hunt 7mm Anything just isn’t enough better to become “my new fave”. That said I do have a Kimber 280 AI. And am looking forward to playing with it as soon as I can settle on a scope. So, again, well aware of the 7mm advantage. And, honestly, I believe in just using whatever one wants to hunt anything so long as it’s amply powerful. So 358 Winchester for deer hunting? You bet!!

nothing wrong with a classic and you know it's good because there's a belt on the cartridge... sets it apart from those 6.5 WomenMoore cartridges

280ai for the win! A wise decision, Sir. Mine was the same, along with 7×57mauser and 7mm brenneke - the last ones more easily found here in Europe. For those laser-like shots there is also 25-06 and 6.5×68schuler. Like'em both but they're both specialist's cartridges.

Your .30-06 already did that

@@borkwoof696 I know you are right, but also have a 700 CDL 30-06 as a spare!

Probably more interesting to the younger target shooter or those new to it and don't already have a commitment to the older cartridges. If I had a 7 Mag I wouldn't bother, you can always rebarrel with a faster twist and longer throat.

@hunter s key word some, my last custom was a 7 mag with a saami chamber. 195gn Berger 2910fps

Same as or close enough to 7mm rem mag

@@shootingatshadow it's noticeably more. I've seen other people say 7 Rem Mag is 20ft-lbs and 7 PRC is 23 or 24. Remember that the PRC is pushing heavier bullets even faster, with more powder burnt.

Sounds like maybe it’ll shoot the same weight bullets about 100fps faster, at least from what I’m seeing. So yeah, a bit more recoil than the 7 mag.

Yes indeed. I've long been a fan of the little 7mm-08 Rem., and a 24" barrel maximizes its potential.

lots of talented smart gun crafters out there.

Ultimate Reloader summed it up nicely in a recent video... basically, because Hornady is presenting the enhanced barrel characteristics in the SAAMI spec, factory ammo can be made which has obvious market benefits. Wildcats gonna wildcat but this makes the enhanced precision more accessible to the general population.

Exactly what Jesse said. Wildcats and custom rifles can give you anything you want but most people don’t want to put in that kind of effort or cash. The 7mm PRC brings to market a cartridge and rifles that can do what all those wildcats can do but in a factory rifle with factory ammo. It’s like Hornady has said in its marketing, it’s a 7mm magnum for the 21st century shooter and hunter.

What about 7x61 mm Sharpe & Hart, just a 7mm rem mag

@@brydengudbranson2728 I have a 7x61. Nothing wrong with it.

I expect a 7mm-300 to come out. Gives another reason to sell/buy a new rifle. 😊

Exactly. I run a 8.5 twist and a 195 over 2900. If I could find 570 I could do over 3000.

I can get that in my 7 mag

Hi Tom! Long time no see. I'm still using your excellent Shooting Sticks with plenty of gaffer's tape holding them together. Must have a million miles on them. Great product. Didn't know you still made/sold them. Cheers.

@@RonSpomerOutdoors-Podcast Hi Ron. Likewise. It was always a pleasure to meet up with you at SHOT Show each year. I've been long out of the Stoney Point Products (since '05 when I sold to Uncle Mikes). After that the Stoney Point brands went to a few other owners in quite rapid succession....and with different product managers, I suppose? Primos now has the Shooting sticks brand (Polecat) via their parent Company, and Hornady has the Reloading tools.....as I last knew. I did design another improved shooting stick version for the new owners.....but I don't believe it was widely marketed (?). A few improvements just never became reality and were lost in the shuffle. My wife made me swear off new product designs.....lol. I also have and use many of the old Stoney Point versions from over 20 + years back. Still have a few spare parts in my personal parts kit. If I knew what you needed I would send it. (steady six rubber yoke??) Somehow golf has largely replaced my shooting habit. How does one P.M. you on RU-vid? Best, my friend.

7mm blaser

@@rolandfeuz2306 That 7mm PRC is a nearly clone of the 7mm Blaser Magnum designed by Norma 12 years ago, but based on an other parent case.

I don't own a 7 wsm but do own a 7 saum. The prc isn't going to anything different then wsm or saum. I am pushing a 175 grain bullet at just over 3000 fps. I have the option to run as both a short and long action depending on bullets I shoot. And I'm using less powder. Don't see any advantages with this round.

@@tikka300wsm5 Most 7mm WSM's use a 1 in 9.5" twist and 7 SAUM's, a 1 in 9.25" twist, so they cannot accurately shoot the longer bullets. Also, many are chambered in true short actions, which limit ogive length. If either of those cartridges are put into longer actions with faster twist barrels, they are close indeed to the 7 PRC. FWIW, precision WSM's often have a custom chamber since the SAAMI one has no freebore. George Gardner of G.A. Precision says that the PRC cartridges feed more reliably than the WSM and SAUM, though. He claims that some gunsmiths refuse to build repeaters for the WSM and SAUM.

@@jfess1911 my saum is built an a tikka action. It started its life as a 300 wsm. Extremely accurate rifle from factory. Took an antelope with it at 500 yards. It didn't take one step. Swapped everything but the action. Proof CF with an 8.5 twist. 162 eldx under .5 MOA at 2985 fps with short action. Swapped bolt stop out for their long action with 175 ablr seated further out. Hitting 3050+ fps. Most anyone shooting these 7s are without a doubt reloading. So unless they are wanting to hunt smaller game, don't see why they wouldn't put faster twist barrels on these rifles for long range and bigger game.

With hornady pushing it, the cartridge will go mainstream, making availability go up and price stay down. I think 7prc will kill off 7saum and 7wsm for those two reasons alone.

With a custom 7 SAUM in a long-acton and fast twist barrel, the ballistics should be close. In SAAMI spec, not so much. The 7 SAUM SAAMI spec is a 1:9.25" twist barrel and OAL of 2.825" OAL. Also, I have heard that the PRC cartridges tend to feed a little better from magazines. George Gardner from G.A. Precision stated in.a recent interview that the 6.5 PRC, for example, feeds much better than the 6.5 SAUM.

So literally no improvements at all for the average shooter??

@@whiteyfisk9769 7mm Rem Mag is a well designed cartridge to start with The 7 PRC will provide minor improvement in average accuracy from the tighter freebore, and less wind drift if you want to use higher BC bullets. The beltless case will feed a little better. Otherwise, no big gains unless you shoot well beyond 500 yards. Its main advantage will be clanging steel at 1000 yards and beyond for bragging rights.

@@whiteyfisk9769 what I'm saying is that the 7mm rem mag is a well rounded cartridge and the improvements listed are more about bringing it into the 21st century with what we have learned about cartridges through years of development. If you have a Rem mag there really wouldn't be a need to replace it unless you wanted the latest and greatest. And if the Rem mag is inadequate then you probably need more than a 7mm bore.

You guys worry too much about cartridges and not enough about bullets. Bullets matter. Where the PRC will shine is it will use better bullets.

@@graynotescartridgebox The improvements in cartridge design and chamber specs pave the way for better accuracy and the use of long high BC bullets in conjunction with a faster twist barrel giving increased long distance performance making a better all around package. Question is at what cost? Is it necessary for your application?