The PRCs, vs everything else.

One thing I have noticed with posts concerning the choice between PRC cartridges and more established cartridges,.is that reloading is required, to bring these cartridges up to PRC performance.
What if you don't reload? What is the best choice?
I have no relationship with Hornady.
Pat

6.5-300?

300 Win.Mag
7 Rem Mag
6.5/ 284

Assuming Factory ammo, No reloads for any of the 6 cartridges. My favorite is the 300WM. Your choice of factory ammo is much greater.
Hope this helps.

Personally, I don't think any factory ammunition lives up to its full potential unless it's loaded to a particular rifle

That was not my question. assume no reloading. what is the best choice?

PRC family with factory ammo can be hard to beat if you dont reload.

Prc and creedmoor ammo will be on the shelves of almost every store that you walk into. This day and age the prc and creed can't be beat in the factory ammo department.

If you find one particular box of ammo that performs like you want, get several more boxes of the same lot. Like QUICKLY.

The main advantage of PRC cartridges is their performance with factory rifles an ammo. They were designed around modern, high BC bullets that weren't popular when other similar cartridges were standardized. There's others 6.5, 7, and 30 cartridges that can do the same thing with handloads in a custom rifle, but not in an off the shelf rifle with factory ammo.

Hornady is doing what wildcatters/reloaders/tinkerers have been doing with cartridge design and that's what makes them so polarizing.

Factory ammo shooters love it, because they are designed correctly (twist rate, shoulder, neck length, bullet location with heavy bullets, throat length) so they work well,

Tinkerers get annoyed because then they are told their 7 mag throated for bergers is now redundant and they did the "hard work" themselves.

Anyone that's buying factory ammo for precision work and buys a 7mag over a 7prc is simply making a bad choice. 300 win there are some options, but now that the long berger 215 factory ammo is gone it's pretty evident the prc is better for that use case.

Same with 243 and 6 creed, all the ammo is hunting ammo with crap bc for lr, and most of the rifles are twisted for bullets shaped like bricks. 260 isn't even pretending to be alive anymore, for 6.5prc comps 6.5-284 ammo is produced what once a year? Buying a -284 and not reloading is… an interesting(bad) choice. You could get a 6.5-300 weatherby i guess if you want to waste money and never shoot it.

I don't own one. But from what I gather prc is better suited for the non reloader wanting to run higher bc bullets

pdavitt said:

That was not my question. assume no reloading. what is the best choice?

Click to expand...

6.5 Swede
A proven performer for over 100 years.

Before the PRC craze it was Creedmoor. Before that it was the 338 Lapua.

Why have a 30-06, when there is the 308?

It's more an exercise in marketing, and a reflection of today's train of thought than anything.

Why DON'T you reload?
Or do your own gunsmithing?

Because you can buy a gun, and pay someone else to mount & boresight your scope.
You can buy your ammo.

Same as you can take the car to the shop, instead of working on it yourself.
Ditto plumber, electrician and a host of other jobs whose pay is really taking off.

Why try to figure something out when the answer is on the Internet?
Back when most of the cartridges around came out it was for hunting. To put food on the table. Not just whilly nilly, spend your money just shooting.
That's what 22lr was for.
And when you were shooting that, you were learning also.

Aside from rimfire, and shotgun, I reload for everything.
7mm Weatherby Magnum down through 223 Rem.
I even reload 9mm Luger.

And I've been around long enough to learn not to blindly put my faith in factory ammo.
It was, what? 10 years ago that Remington had the recall on their 270 Win green box Corelokts because they were loaded way too hot and actually destroying peoples rifles.

I've personally found 2 bullets in one round from Winchester.
No primer on Federals.
The wrong weight bullet in Hornady.

pdavitt said:

One thing I have noticed with posts concerning the choice between PRC cartridges and more established cartridges,.is that reloading is required, to bring these cartridges up to PRC performance.
What if you don't reload? What is the best choice?
I have no relationship with Hornady.
Pat

Click to expand...

I understand your question and desire to find the best factory ammo for your rifle. I was there for decades before jumping head first into reloading. Every time I bought a new rifle I would also buy multiple boxes of factory ammo of different brands, weights, etc. I leaned toward brands and types I had success with in the past, but every rifle seemed to be particular in what it liked. It may be easier today with cartridges like the CM and PRC, but I don't see any true shortcuts. As has been mentioned, once you find what it likes, buy multiple boxes of the same lot and just go shoot and hunt. If you are happy with the performance and it meets your expectations, life is good.

Life is full of compromises. I ultimately decided that my ammunition was not an area I wanted to compromise in.