7mm PRC

My 3 longest shots I ever made was with a 7mm Rem. Mag.back in Montana when I lived there for 20+ years ,.... In the good years of Montana,1966 to 1987 I had ton's of BLM Land and a lot of Ranchers land to hunt. I made a Cow Elk shot near Yellowstone Park in the late season
she was uphill about ,HELL I really do not know I was using a 160 Speer with 69.5 grains of 4831 First shot I held about 2 feet over her back,waited and snow flew under her lungs about even with her hooves,,she just stood there looked around ,I jacked a nother round in and put the cross hairs about 6 feet maybe a little more and pulled the trigger,waited for about 6 seconds and she dropped like lightening hit her,was using a R77,24" and 4-12 Redfield. She never quivered and when I got there she was laying down hill in about 3 1/2 feet of snow,it was Jan. about a -25 and cold as hell. The bullet cut the top of her heart off and was lodged under the skin on the other side,weighed 160 with no mushroom went between 2 ribs and lodged between 2 ribs. Samme load took 2 big Antelope at around 500 and a big Muley at right at 450 ,no bullets on any of those as complet pass through. Never owned a crony back then ,loaded to hunt and eat. I just bought a 7mm PRC Wilderness and really love it I have not shot it as of yet ,have about 13#'s of LRT and some 180 ELD Match and some 190 A Tips Waiting for weather to warm a little.would like in the 60's and no wind, and waiting for my foot to heal,at 77 I do not bounce very good anymore!! Don't wear tennis shoes and climb on a ladder,the 2 do not mix well !! As for the Remington I really loved the Cartridge ,but evry one I ever owned had to have the throat lengthened if I wanted to shoot 175 's and Remington made the mistake of putting too slow of a twist on it. I really think had they listened to the Longe Rang guy's the Cartridge would have been a Lightning Rod. This Bergara will likely be my last as I have always loved the .284 Caliber, my first one was a 700 ADL that I stuck the stock and Action together,no real bedding kits back then ,especially in Montana ,Old gun Smith told me to use body putty with epoxy and lots of Paste wax,well screwed up some wear putting it together! But man did it shoot!! That was 1967. This is now and the Bergara is as close to getting what I want without going to a Smith. I do not shoot anything other than paper anymore as I have a ton of memories from Montana and N.Dakota in the mid to late 60's, Pete

So 6' of drop and 6 second time of flight?
 
So 6' of drop and 6 second time of flight?
25 below 0 and lite snow ,I remember pulling the trigger lifting the bolt and grabbing the case pushing another home looking in the scope just as she dropped, ^ feet over her back and add another 16 t0 18 inches of body and sighted in 3" high at 100..have no idea how fast it was going but practiced a lot in the winter as owning a Masonry co. and cold temps gave you a lot of time for winter shooting! Like Coyotes at 110 barrel skinned and 75 whole used my 7 with pulled 147 gr 7x57 military bullets as cheep and they were the only none expanding bullets to not blow up, Pete
 
I just shot a friend's 7mm PRC on Friday and he had the 160 gr Hornady CX load. We got no where near the advertised velocities. I will say the rifle has a 22" barrel, but even if you added 50fps per inch, we were still 100 fps off advertised velocities.
My first question is why a 22" barrel on 7PRC? Having a "magnum" sized case, the 7PRC is always going to like more barrel as far as performance. If you're going to handicap the performance, why not go 7mm-08 and cut down on the amount of powder getting blown out the barrel?

When figuring 50 fps per inch, were you going 22-24" or 22-26" barrels?
 
My first question is why a 22" barrel on 7PRC? Having a "magnum" sized case, the 7PRC is always going to like more barrel as far as performance. If you're going to handicap the performance, why not go 7mm-08 and cut down on the amount of powder getting blown out the barrel?

When figuring 50 fps per inch, were you going 22-24" or 22-26" barrels?

It still gets a lot more velocity in a 22" with the same weight bullet than a 7-08 ever would. Hornady a testing as well as other has shown it to do very well in shorter barrels. 50fps per inch is also twist what you'd ever see in barrel lengths of that range. You don't start losing or gaining that kind of velocity until you're in SBR territory.
 
It still gets a lot more velocity in a 22" with the same weight bullet than a 7-08 ever would. Hornady a testing as well as other has shown it to do very well in shorter barrels. 50fps per inch is also twist what you'd ever see in barrel lengths of that range. You don't start losing or gaining that kind of velocity until you're in SBR territory.
I have read 2 articles about barrel cut of ,I believe one was a 30 " and 1 a 32", anyway they were marked and cut off 1 " at a time,the surprising read was at 28 or 29 the velocity was a little faster than the original length,these guys were chopping a .338 Lapua ,now that's a high intensity cartridge,I know I had 2 of them, and as thought they burn a very large powder charge one was a 30" they other 24" the velocity between the 2 with the same load was 132 fps not much considering every one always said "OH it will be slow,not so. The other thing in the read was some of the 1" cuts only yielded about 19 fps difference. while the most accurate burn rate, velocity and accuracy came at 24-26 ", the difference between my Lapuas from one to the other was 5#'s ,never again will I own a rifle that is not a joy to hunt with; Now if you hunt farm land where you walk out to a tree stand or blind then you can take that pluming pipe out there ,it will kill it dead but so will the 45/70 or the 30/ 30. My most accurate rifle I ever owned was a 700 Rem. in 30/06 it would shoot those 208 Hornady's all day at 2795 with a good dose of R26, overpowered for Whitetail...........Yes a good old 30/30 ,243 or .308. I know for a fact the .243 kills great had a REM 600 in .243,20 barrel shot 100 grs. almost in the same hole weighed 6.8 pounds and took one of the biggest Muley's I have ever seen or shot,running at about 125 3/4 away from me 2 fast shots and he was dead,both were 2" apartin the center of one lung and partial other with bullet destruction. Long barrels look neat ,they are a pain in the *** to pack around, If you have your kid pack it for you and lay on top of a sagebrush noll then you are fine,but always watch behind ya ,the animal of a lifetime might startle you and it, and ya wont get a chance for a great shot as the barrel got snagged in the brush! Pete
 
My first question is why a 22" barrel on 7PRC? Having a "magnum" sized case, the 7PRC is always going to like more barrel as far as performance. If you're going to handicap the performance, why not go 7mm-08 and cut down on the amount of powder getting blown out the barrel?

When figuring 50 fps per inch, were you going 22-24" or 22-26" barrels?
Well, this individual bought the cheapest 7mm PRC they could get that was readily available. As for why 22", ask Savage, they made they made the rifle.

I was using the 50fps going from 22 to 24" as Hornady says their loads are based on a 24" barrel. So dropping off a 100 fps and still being off what we were, I'd say Hornady exaggerated a little on velocity. Also, it wasn't that accurate with that ammo.
 
I don't know much about the Savage rifle, but Federal loads the 175 grain ELD-X as well…basically the same performance numbers on the box.

You could also try the 170 grain Terminal Ascent ammunition by Federal?
 
I don't know much about the Savage rifle, but Federal loads the 175 grain ELD-X as well…basically the same performance numbers on the box.

You could also try the 170 grain Terminal Ascent ammunition by Federal?
This particular rifle is not mine, and I would not buy one like it. I have a 6.8 Western, and I'm getting velocities at or better than the 7 PRC. Granted, bullet weights are not the same either, but a 165 gr Nosler ABLR, is no joke. I've only shot factory loads and some light reloads to fire form some resized 7mm SAUM brass at this point. I think with a fully worked up load, I could stay within 7 PRC velocities for bullets of similar weight for cartridge. Then again, I may be kidding myself. I also think reloads in the 7 PRC would perform better as well.
 

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