Hornady 7 PRC Factory Ammo Inconsistencies

This isn't a 7 PRC, but a 6.5PRC. Friend was on my deck weds with his new Rem 700 LR. He's been thrilled with it until Monday. He's been shooting Hornadys143 ELDX with very good groups. Then a Local GS owner talked him into getting Federal Meat Eater 130 grain ammo in nickel cases. Half of one box shot ok, second half will not chamber. I marked up the case with a magic marker to see if shoulder was hitting, bingo, ring in the marker completely around, Second box, none of them chambered. Didn't open the third box. He was upset. He thought something was wrong with his rifle. I told him that the nickel cases were a little thicker than regular brass. Most likely the cause, and he probably has a tight chamber. But I don't have a no go gauge for the round. Calipers showed about two thousand longer than the Hornadys. He's headed back for a refund. Any manufacturer can screw up.

Railguner said:

Skip the Hornady until they get their powder issue straightened out and get it together. Try the Norma Bondstrike or Federal with the ELD-X. You'll get very close to published velocities with them.

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It's NEVER gonna happen…

Cheers.

Now you can understand why it's not consistent. So if you do shoot factory Hornady this is what you can expect from lot to lot. So buy as much of the same lot number that you can. Federal makes the most consistent Factory Ammo available in my opinion. Or just Reload…. Happy Shooting

They have to do whatever it takes to put out ammo. No alternative except closure.

Roughrice said:

He text me days ago that he saw good herds but no shooters during his scouting days but haven't heard from him since.
He's not a member here so I'll share his experience.

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Thank you.

Punisher said:

Well, truthfully, they didn't "create" the PRC. Something nearly identical has been around since the 1950's.

Hornady doesn't make great quality products, but they do have the best hype men in the business.

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Agree on Hornady's lack of quality products but I would say Vortex, Christensen and Fierce all have as good or better "hype men".

MagnumManiac said:

Hornady…look it up, it's Scandinavian for something………….

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Actually, its the bullet founder's last name: Joyce Hornady. Variable Performance of factory ammo is not just a Hornady thing--its industry wide. Great video on here a couple months back--bottom line...factory produces ammo with what they can get their hands on that is safe and close(ish) to their best performing initial load. I had a new browning in a 6.5 PRC that shot factory 142 Nosler ABLR simply lights out. I had three boxes of it. It shot so well I don't plan to work up a load for it anytime soon. After that range trip I went back to the store the next day and bought 5 more boxes from the same lot...that'll hold me over for a minute while I play load work up. Gonna try to dial in a load using the 150 gr NABLRs, but for now--ammo from same lot# should keep me covered.

WGAS

test
test
test

quit bitchin

I think we've all had some bad luck with Hornady ammo I only use anymore just to break in a new rifle and throughout the brass ,the 7 Prc brass is bad I had new ammo blowing primers out and there 22 creedmoor and there 6.5 as well it looked like we was shooting a shotgun at 100 yds

Sergeant Stadanko said:

My former department had a very high percentage of fail to fire with Hornady Ctitical defense ammo, and Hornady was less than stellar about the issue. We switched to Federal HST after that for duty ammo and had no more issues.

I love Hornady's bullets, but I would never buy any of their factory loaded ammo. Just sayin'!

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With what type of actions were you having multiple failure to fire?

lyotehunter said:

They had some real problems with their powder supplies. I think they got it figured out you should call them and see. They should have let people know because it made people mad and probably cost them customers.

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I can partially agree with this, at least in theory. While other companies have swapped powders due availability, I've never known of a company to relabel packaging.

Not saying that the findings were reported wrong, just that several variables weren't described in the OP: What type of Chronograph? Weather? Was this on consecutive days? How much did the 90 FPS difference affect accuracy? How many rounds have been down the new barrel?

Starbuck said:

I can partially agree with this, at least in theory. While other companies have swapped powders due availability, I've never known of a company to relabel packaging.

Not saying that the findings were reported wrong, just that several variables weren't described in the OP: What type of Chronograph? Weather? Was this on consecutive days? How much did the 90 FPS difference affect accuracy? How many rounds have been down the new barrel?

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-Garmin Pro for the chrono.
-90* Temp with wind 8-10 @ about 250 degrees.
-Shooting at my place was two weeks apart with very similar weather conditions.
-He also shot 40 additional rounds out on his own before returning and reported 80 rounds down when we re-sighted and recorded dope and that's when velocity was an average of 90 fps lower with the "new" ammo lot.

Run a ballistic app with 90-100 fps lower velocity out to 600-700 yards to see the drop.

My original point was specifically about the inconsistency of Hornady's 7PRC ammo after he bought a custom rifle to accurately AND consistently shoot out to long ranges on his expensive elk hunt he is on right now.
He is an experienced hunter already…just beginning in the long range hunting game.
Thankfully, this cat can afford it and already told me he'll fix the problem when he returns by starting to reload!

Thanks for reading and posting for clarification and conversation.
I'm bored on a bow hunting stand.

Shortmag11 said:

Agree on Hornady's lack of quality products but I would say Vortex, Christensen and Fierce all have as good or better "hype men".

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I agree. Lot of hype goes into long range shooting. Lot of guys, myself included, have dropped serious coin chasing a little extra precision, which is to say that the market is ripe for the right kind of hype.

After all of my messing around and expenditures, I can admit that a Tikka with a 6x SWFA will shoot better than a majority of shooters' abilities. Spend the extra money on ammunition and taking time to fire it. Awhile back I put together a 1:8 223 SS Tikka with an SWFA 6X for the kids to learn on. Not sure how many rounds have been down that thing, but we had it out again yesterday, and I can report that the amount I have in that rig vs the high level of performance it gives makes me shake my head; I've spent several X more and ended up with rigs that weren't as accurate and didn't function as well over a ton of use.

Starbuck said:

With what type of actions were you having multiple failure to fire?

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Sig 200 series handguns, and Remington 700 rifles.