300 PRC

[.gacton]

What is the trade off when moving up from 300 PRC to something in 338?

Cost. Cost Of components seems higher with anything 338. That is what pushed me to the PRC when I left the WM. I was looking at a 338LM and was not impressed with the cost of components, so I went with the PRC instead. Glad I did.

 

[Timber338]

What is the trade off when moving up from 300 PRC to something in 338?

Recoil. You need a big case to push a heavy 338 bullet to 3000 fps to match the flat trajectory of the 215 at ~3000 fps. I have a 338 ultra mag and it's killed every scope ever mounted to the rifle. Finally moved to a Nightforce, but I won't trust the scope until it's still working with 500+ rounds on it.

 

[MagnumManiac]

PRC is not a big enough difference from a 300WM to make diddly squat difference.
If you want best of the best for flat shooting, you need a RUM or a Norma...or go with a 30-416 Rigby, 30-338 Lapua Improved or 30-378 Weatherby.
Simple ballistics says so.

Cheers.

 

[swampbug]

There is a good write up/ review of the 300 PRC over on Long Range Only.

 

[AZ-SHOOTER]

Im not much for jumping on the new cartridge bandwagon kinda guy but I did with the 300 prc on my last build and I regret it. I had issues with the case web area not getting sized enough with my 300 prc. Problem was worse with ADG brass than with the hornady. No help from hornady to resolve the issue. So instead of getting custom dies made to fix it. I had it punched out to a 30SM. Got new dies from Rich and have been good ever since.
If I could do it all over again I would just gone with the tried and true 300win. Have a couple buddies with 300 wins and on average they are a touch faster than my 300PRC as well . (I might have a slow barrel tho.)

 

[MJN030]

Im not much for jumping on the new cartridge bandwagon kinda guy but I did with the 300 prc on my last build and I regret it. I had issues with the case web area not getting sized enough with my 300 prc. Problem was worse with ADG brass than with the hornady. No help from hornady to resolve the issue. So instead of getting custom dies made to fix it. I had it punched out to a 30SM. Got new dies from Rich and have been good ever since.
If I could do it all over again I would just gone with the tried and true 300win. Have a couple buddies with 300 wins and on average they are a touch faster than my 300PRC as well . (I might have a slow barrel tho.)

Well I just bought a Christensen Mesa and absolutely love it . I'm sorry you had trouble with yours .

I could not find any 300 PRC brass at first do I made my own from 8x68s brass and fire formed it .

The brass does not allow maximum charges that you see in the reloading manuals because it's tapered , however once fire formed they shoot well .

I can't wait to go to the range and shoot the real brass to see how well that shoots

 

[VLD Pilot]

I think the 300PRC is a fine long range 30 caliber cartridge. I don't think it will outperform the 300WM by much if at all but losing the belt on the cartridge to me is worth going to it. The longer neck allows longer low drag bullets seated for better case capacity. Sure there are other better performance 30s but that's always gonna be the case. I have a nice 300WM but am building a 300PRC soon.

 

[MJN030]

I think the 300PRC is a fine long range 30 caliber cartridge. I don't think it will outperform the 300WM by much if at all but losing the belt on the cartridge to me is worth going to it. The longer neck allows longer low drag bullets seated for better case capacity. Sure there are other better performance 30s but that's always gonna be the case. I have a nice 300WM but am building a 300PRC soon.

Yeah I just read and interesting article that compared the 300wm to the 300 prc.
Basically where the PRC outperforms the WM is out at 1000 yards.

I personally would never shoot an animal that far away . Being from New England we would be lucky to have a shot at 200 yards . Anyway , even elk hunting 400 yards is where I would tap out . That's a long way .

So the only differences I can tell are the belt less cartridge and the recoil. I don't think the recoil is bad….

Anyway just my 2 cents .

I still love both platforms

 

[Jakeweb09]

I'm on my 2nd barrel and will continue chambering 300 PRC's. With both barrels right off the bat I've had great success at getting tight groups and decent MV spreads. The SAAMI chamber is a functional match chamber. No belt, no rebated rim-- not that those are always, or even often deal breakers, but it's two potential issues that don't exist.

I disagree with JM about bullet weights. I'm shooting 230 and 250gr A-tips out to a mile with very good results. Inside of 1000 is boring, 1000-1700 is pretty solid, and after that gets dicey, but IME it gets dicey with pretty much any cartridge at those ranges. Out to 1200 or so, the factory 225gr ELD's are very effective and consistent.

Just out of curiosity what did you get for round count on your first? And what powder primarily?

 

[LongRangeAggie]

Love my 300 PRC with the 245 Berger, I suggest using VV powder and ADG brass.

 

[Lovellr653]

I've been very happy with my 300PRC in a factory rifle offering. My first time ever shooting at distances beyond 600yd was with the 300PRC, 1000yds got boring pretty quick. Furthest I've shot with it was at 1485yds and it performed flawlessly IMO. My buddy was shooting his Desert Tech with his 338LM barrel and we shot equally as good. I think for a custom rifle build or an avid hand loader/tinkerer maybe it's not an exciting cartridge compared to some wild cat or other big magnum but it is still an excellent cartridge none the less. There will always be a trade off, for me the 300PRC was a no brainer and I couldn't be more pleased with it.

 

[Jakeweb09]

I've tried a handful of different things with my new 300 prc, Berger 215s and 205s with h1000, and 230 OTMs with n570. Not a lot of luck with the 215s or 205s but now shooting pretty well with the 230s. I started at 78 grains of n570 and worked up to 82. Slightly sticky bolt at 82 with fed 215 primers and no pressure at all with cci250s. Continued with 250s and tested 81-81.9.
81.6-81.9 yielded 2850fps, so I loaded 81.6 grains and did seating from .015 off lands to .002. At 100 yards shooting .002 of the lands I've got a .6 minute group, and closer to .3 at .011 off lands.
Stretched both to 500 yards where the .011 jump seemed to fall apart, and the .002 jump shot a .2 minute group.
Next outing will be 81.6 grains of n570, 230 OTM seated .002 off the lands. The only frustrating part is I can't seem to get my ES/SD down as this load is shooting around a 27 ES. I guess I'm just used to my 7 Saum producing an ES of 7.

 

[Reemty J]

What kind of velocity with the 230's and 250's Jake?

 

[Jakeweb09]

I've not shot any 250 grain bullets. My reference to 250 was the cci250s. But my barrel finished at 21.5" and I'm getting 2850 with the 230 OTMs