Thread: Is the new 7mm PRC a lemon ?

Right'o so the 6.5 & 7mm PRC whole big selling point is to get decent factory ammo performance without the hassle of reloading & while on paper, sounding & looking like the "Ducks nuts" have they turned out to be a complete frizzer especially with factory ammo ?

My 6.5 factory Norma ammo, while very accurate was nearly 200fps off the box speed and today l shot my new 7PRC with the factory Hornady 180's doing only 2840 outta hot barrel ( not 2975 ) as quoted, it is a 22" barrel but has got me thinking we might be getting a little hood winked by the marketing boys n girls again.

I know its early days but have spoken to a couple of guys with 7prc and they're not impressed either, interested to hear other members real life experiences


Seems as with many things in life, sticking with the tried n tested while boring can be the best, the 7 rem mag for example, at this stage without much effort reloading pisses all over the prc

My 22” shoots 195s at about 2850 not sure about factory ammo

A lot of folks have had quite a few issues with the Hornady factory ammo. Some combination of inconsistent brass and inconsistent powder charges causing major pressure problems.

No reason to doubt that the cartridge is capable. It's got the case capacity to give good speeds the same as the Rem Mag does. But it might take careful hand loading to do it "safely" especially if you're wanting those box velocities in anything less than a full 24" tube.

.........salespeople............exadurating ..........surely not!

Factory ammo seems fairly inconsistent, Mine is a 22", havent tried hornady match but have shot precision hunter (175 eldx) through it, speed all over the show, anywhere from low 2800s to almost 3k, but was accurate.

I pulled a packet of factory ammo & measured the powder charges across the whole packet and there was nearly 1.5gr delta between lowest and highest charge.

Handloading with RL26 and the 175 ELDX it runs happily just under 3k with hornady brass & i was able to get a fly shit more velocity with ADG brass.

I didnt have any pressure issues with the factory ammo like a lot of people talk about, but i did find the hornady brass a bit inconsistent once i started reloading it. Some of it appeared to be softer than the rest and out of 60 cases i lost probably 15 or so that ended up with loose primer pockets at a much lower powder charge than the rest of the brass is happily running at now.

I had one built and used Hornady Factory ammo initially while waiting for ADG Brass to turn up. The factory ammo was inconsistent rubbish.

Now it’s poking 180gr VLD’s out at 2950fps 24” barrel. 67gr RL26

My rem mag is doing 2939fps with 180 eldms so it’s pretty much a wash I guess. Hopefully the 7prc factory stuff will sharpen up over time

Don't all factories use 26 inch barrels to get their superduper velocities??

Seems some barrels don’t like to shoot Hornady projectiles at speed.

Hear a bit about 156bergers going way faster than 140s in 6.5prc

I’ve also had heavier bergers going way quicker in my 300 than some of the Hornady projectiles.

I’ve got no explanation for it and I’m sure each barrel likes what it likes.

Bergers can have very short bearing surfaces compared to the Hornadys. Less friction, more speed.

Have to agree with you.
i even wrote to hornady and told them of the overpressure , and stiff bolt lifts . Their response was " oh really " ..... then i noticed other forums with people saying the same as well .
in respect of velocity , with the factory loads ( 175 eld-x) i got everything from 2835 to 2950 , but never 3000 . i shoot 24 inch battery , and the factory tests with a 26 inch .

I now shoot 68gr of 2217 for a very consistant 2940 ft/sec . ADG brass , COL 3.300, and a 0.239 MOA . If you have Gordons Reloading tool , I,ll share the file .
Bottom line .... you gotta load your own to get great performance . Is that new though ?
cheers
les

Local dude runs a Tikka 6.5 PRC with hand loads from Jeremy Hanaray. Kills lotsa deer and at a few yards. Very happry with his rifles. Swaro on top. Dials in death.

All barrels shoot different speeds. Hopefully as the cartridge gains traction other companies with enter the market with better quality ammo.
For the reloader the 7mm saum does the same thing with less powder burnt and all in a short action

What I’ve found is they need atleast 26” barrels to get good speeds. Of many different 6.5 PRC and creedmore’s I’ve done loads on I’ve noticed they will be fine then suddenly get pressure. Also can be just fine then get a Hot or moist day at matches and they go to shit with pressure if your pushing them. The older tapered cases like win mags and rem mags and 308, 260 will show you pressure building more gradually. As opposed to it’s fine then it’s not. Just my experience.

Got mine back in July and at the time the factory 180 eldm where shooting 2980-3050fps from the rifle before the barrel even started to speed up however I had huge pressure issue. Eldx were not that bad but still really flat primers and speed around 2950. Reloading using the Hornady brass was a waist of time. It only started to get really good once I got my hand on some ADG brass.
From what I heard they reduced the saulce in the factory ammo big time after all the over pressure issues and both factory 180 eldm and eldx shoot way slower than advertised speed.

Running heaps of test I'm now convinced the over pressure issues all came from Hornady brass being really soft. That combined with a warm load. It is a really nice caliber and I love my rifle, it is however such a shame Hornady is ruining it with shit factory ammo.