year or 200 rounds in 20 or more
seasons, barrel wear is hardly a
concern. Either way, one might
argue that the 6.5 PRC is a smart
move that avoids butting heads
with the .26 Nosler and 6.5-
Weatherby, which are likely bet-
ter off by butting heads with each
other and/or the 6.5 STW.
At the recent SHOT Show in Las
Vegas, Hornady was showing the
.300 PRC, also SAAMI approved,
based on the full-length .375 Ruger
case but with the shoulder moved
back at a steeper angle to increase
neck length a scosche or a tad,
take your pick. When compared
to a .30-375 Ruger wildcat, the
.300 PRC neck is roughly .045 inch
longer for a total of .308 inch, one
caliber long assuming you don’t
trim cases more than a scosche.
That may also prove interesting
since some members of the gun
press made a living bad mouthing
the .300 Winchester Magnum for
its short neck. The best alterna-
tive, we were told, was the .30-
Winchester Magnum, or later the
.308 Norma. I can’t wait to hear
about how the beltless .300 PRC
is better because the one-caliber
neck allows the case to hold about
one-tenth of a scosche/tad more
powder with less barrel erosion
than the most popular .30-caliber
belted magnum of all time.
Of course, the other damning
feature of the .300 Winchester
Magnum is that it was designed to
headspace on that so-called un-
reliable belt with factory loads,
whereas the .300 PRC and simi-
lar large-capacity, beltless cases
headspace on the shoulder, which
is claimed to aid accuracy.
Handloaders, however, rou-
tinely fireform .300 Winchester
Magnum cases and any other
belted cartridges, like the 7mm
Remington Magnum and Weath-
erby lineup, etc., then use the
fireformed brass that is sized to
headspace on the shoulder and
closely fits the rifle chamber for
serious target or hunting loads.
Ditto for the PRC, so what’s the
point again?
Case capacity of the .300 PRC
is about 83 grains of water to the
base of the neck, compared to a
.300 Winchester (belted) Magnum
that holds 81 grains and the.
Weatherby that holds 88 grains to
the base of the neck. (Disclaimer:
My filtered well water at 5,500 feet
elevation might weigh somewhat
differently than your tap water.)
None of the above is to ig-
nore industry talk about the.
Norma (.588-inch bolt face) that
is rumored to be the “new” sniper
cartridge, or the base case to be
necked up or down for various mil-
itaries. We have witnessed sim-
ilar rumors about 6.5mm, 7mm
and other .30 calibers since the
invention of the home computer,
so stand by.
In review of a few comments
on the Internet, however, it seems
some folks are consumed with how
to build a 7mm target round, mostly
because of the superior ballistic
coefficients for a variety of 160- to
168-grain match bullets. “Superior”
meaning compared to the heavier
.30 calibers that produce more re-
coil and the smaller 6mm or 6.5mmcalibers that may not buck envi-
ronmental factors as well as the
slightly heavier (20 to 30 grains)
7mm slugs. So recoil appears toJuly-August 2019 http://www.riflemagazine.com 5The (1) Hornady .300 PRC is shown next
to a (2) .30-375 wildcat based on the
(3) .375 Ruger. A (4) .300 Winchester
Magnum is shown for comparison to a
circa 1917 (5) .30 Newton.1 23 4 5