16” 7PRC Build - The Rifle that Might Could

Looking forward to how this turns out ...

Chase723 said:

Just picked it up. Will weigh and post pics hopefully tomorrow. Build changed a little bit. I ended up using a Terminus action and a Heavy Palma barrel contour so am interested to see where it settled out. Whatever it is it feels right. Haha. Here's the pic that Altus sent me that they took in their shop. The Elite Sand cerakote is a little more grey in person. Looks awesome.
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Looks good

Hugnot said:

Ever consider a 22 inch 8 or 9 twist .280 AI?

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I run a 23" 280 AI with a 1-7.5" twist. Works good. 140 AH at 3300 FPS.

I like the looks of that!

LRI's honeycomb fluting is one of my favorites.

Congrats on the new rifle!

Trm82 said:

What altitude are you figuring your numbers out for 180's at 2600 fps ?
I ran the 180 at 2600 fps at 2450 ' and get nowhere near what your saying.
1200yards gives me 1495 fps / 894 Ft/lb

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Wondering the same. Around my parts figure 6000-9000 and around 35-55 degrees for elk and deer season.

Let us know when you work out your load. I've been debating doing the same I'm thinking 18-20". One thing I will tell you from shooting an 18" 350 rem mag make sure you wear ear pro even with the silencer. Mine needs double hearing protection.

Just got back from the range. It's going to serve its purpose well. Seems to shoot the Federal Premium 175gr ELD-X load alright (2/3 MOA). MV measured via the Magnetospeed was 2680fps. Hornady Match 180gr ELD-M shot similar group size but was 80-100fps slower. Also, the Federal Premium load was actually pretty dang consistent. I only shot 3 rounds over the MS but the ES was 8fps. In total, I only shot 18 rounds today and so I anticipate it'll speed up a little over the next 50-100 rounds. I also plan to bed the recoil lug (like I do on all of my actions/stocks), and my guess is that groups will tighten up a little bit from that as well. Once I can reload for it, it'll probably shoot really well.

I'm currently shooting at ~5000 feet. DA was 5200ft. At 2680fps, the 175gr ELD-X remains supersonic at this DA out to 1725 yards. It's 1600fps at 1091 yards w/ 995 ft/lbs.

I'll weigh it this evening.

The following picture is of a quick 3 shot group at 500 yards using holdovers. 12" wide plate. Group measured just under 0.2 mils with the reticle.

cajun said:

Let us know when you work out your load. I've been debating doing the same I'm thinking 18-20". One thing I will tell you from shooting an 18" 350 rem mag make sure you wear ear pro even with the silencer. Mine needs double hearing protection.

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I don't have a decibel meter, but I shot it without ear pro a few times today to see what it's like and it's honestly not bad at all, even under cover. I didn't get any auditory gaiting or anything and was completely comfortable. I think it's probably right on the threshold. I probably wouldn't shoot 20-40 rounds without ear pro at the range undercover, but out in the open in a hunting environment I think it'll be unnecessary (which was part of the goal). Good suppressor design goes a long way.

Somewhere in my initial calculations I must have left something out or the real products were heavier than spec'd but it ended up being kind of a pig. 14lbs 2oz with the ZCO and suppressor. Very comfortable to shoot because of that though. Haha. The mantra of ounces = pounds holds true. The rifle without scope or suppressor is 9lbs 15oz with the mag. With the ZCO it's 13lbs 0oz. I put a 4-16 ATACR on it and it's 12lbs 8oz (so with suppressor would be 13lbs 8oz ish…didn't weigh that combo). That all said, I'm not sure why but it "feels" lighter than it weighs and handles extremely well. As in when I pick it up I'm not like "****, that's heavy". My guess is because it's relatively short and thus not muzzle heavy and it rides well in my gunbearer on my pack.

I'm kind of torn on whether or not to leave the ZCO on it. It may end up wearing a 4-16 ATACR or Tangent 3-15M, and I may use a Spuhr aesthetic mount or some independent rings instead of the Spuhr QDP. That combination would save 12ish ounces. I also could have definitely used a lighter action, however I've never used anything that feeds from a magazine like these Terminus' so in the end it's a little heavier than I was wanting, but not a deal breaker. Performance wise though it has all the niceties of everything (fully adjustable cheek piece, full length Arca, EFR, QD scope mount, monolithic ultra stiff action, large profile stiff barrel, embedded mini chassis etc), the 16" barrel lives up to the hope, and overall is not a disappointment whatsoever.

Very cool rifle. I didn't see it in your earlier post but if I missed it sorry... What is the mission for this rig?

Short, lightish, highly packable, high performance, enjoyable to shoot, long range build, and specifically to see if a 16" 7PRC is worth putting together…and to me this demonstrates that it is. There's always going to be compromises between weight and functionality, and for me this strikes a great balance because while a little heavy it has minimal compromises from a user standpoint.

I like that model stock. Like it a lot.
But that dude isn't light.

Chasing weight and handling is exactly what i did too. Good luck with your hunts

Hugnot said:

Ever consider a 22 inch 8 or 9 twist .280 AI?

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I want as short as practicable without jumping through ATF hoops for an SBR…so 16"…Unless I'm doing a dedicated ELR build, this rifle has me convinced that I'll probably never own another rifle with a barrel longer than 16".