Hi everyone,
Longtime lerker here and this is my first post. I am finally getting around to building my "dream hunting rifle". I've been kind of holding off on this until a round like the 7 PRC was available. Now that it's here I've doing a metric **** ton of reading through forums about the 7mm PRC. However, the more I read about it the more I feel like the 7 SAUM might be a better choice. This is based on reading about how many people are getting clickers, having to use a wheeler reamer, the lack of performance compared to what was promised, and the small increase in velocity over the 7SAUM with a good amount of powder more. I would actually love a 7 MAX but it doesn't seem like brass is very available so that's kinda of the table.
With all of this in mind, the following is what I would like to achieve with this rifle. Roughly 3K FPS with the 175 ELDMs and more importantly, since I'm in CA, 3300ish with the heavier monos, 150ish grains. From what I have seen most people reaching these types of numbers are using long actions with long COALs. So my initial thought was to build a rifle using a long action and 24 inch carbon fiber barrel. But I'm curious if it would be better to build a short action and get the extra performance that you would get from long COALs by using a 26 inch barrel instead.
I realize I'm likely just splitting hairs here but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.
Thanks everyone.