Any 300 PRC experts? Best twist, bullet and barrel length?

[irishtxn81]

Don't they say minimum of a 9 twist? I could be wrong just thought that was there recommended minimum.

 

[mandl]

And irishtxn81 is correct about the 245's. They thump you. My 9 twist does okay with the 245's, but to me the recoil isn't worth it. I am currently working up a load with 230's because I bought a bunch when the 215's weren't available.

 

[ruby76]

I went 8.5 twist, and 28". I'm shooting 225's but also have some 200 lrx to try out.

 

[hseII]

I wish Nosler would bring out a 220 grain regular Accubond. Not the LR, but a heavier,(longer) version of the 200 grain Accubond.

 

[VLD Pilot]

I agree. The whole idea of the PRC is heavy for caliber bullets. And initially was set up as a 8 twist. I think the 8 twist gives you greater flexibility as to what bullet you go with. As you probably know, you may like one bullet but your gun has its own opinion and unfortunately it usually trumps yours!

Hornady designed the 300PRC for the 225 ELD for ELR applications I believe. I'm not so sure it's the best bullet currently but at the time, may have been one of the best for that job. Today with the 245/250s in play, I don't think the 300PRC cartridge is the best choice but certainly will work fine. A buddy of mine runs those in his 300 Norma Mag and likes them better than in his 300 PRC. I suppose the 225 constitutes heavy for the 300PRC so I'll agree the PRC was made to launch heavy bullets. To each there own on twist, I think anything from 8-9 will do equally well for all bullets covered here.

 

[DUCKMAN11]

Im far from an expert but...... A 1:9tw and 230gr Atips and a full case of RL26 are producing .5-.75" groups at just under 3100fps out of my 26" barrel. Shot a 4" 5 shot group at 820yds. I'd shoot it more if RL26 was easier to find.

Oh and 230gr Atips turn hog guts to sludge under 400yds.

 

[VLD Pilot]

Im far from an expert but...... A 1:9tw and 230gr Atips and a full case of RL26 are producing .5-.75" groups at just under 3100fps out of my 26" barrel. Shot a 4" 5 shot group at 820yds. I'd shoot it more if RL26 was easier to find.

Oh and 230gr Atips turn hog guts to sludge under 400yds.

All we have to go by is experience in this game. It's great to get and give it here on this site.

 

[Aloeus]

My friend has an 8.5 gain twist. I think he wishes he had a slightly faster twist, in no small part just to be able to spin the 205gr bulldozers a little faster. Those require an 8.5 (he just wants to spin them a little faster than mfg calls for). Fantastic bullet, I'd hate to rule it out by going for too slow a twist. It should also be said a faster twist does marginally increase BC of any bullet, with the downsides being extremely marginal loss in fps and lighter, faster lead bullets spinning themselves to death (some of the Hornady bullets are known for this)

 

[L.Sherm]

I guess the new BR 1000 yd record set with a 300wsm 220 Bergers and 10 twist doesn't matter. Like you said if I wanted anything bigger than a 215-220 I'd go 338.

 

[cbuck516]

*From limited experience here, but I had a cheap Bergara Ridge 300 PRC w/ 1:9 twist. It handled 199 Hammer Hunters well enough to keep 5 shots within about a foot at 1000 yds. Roughly 3/4" groups at 100.
Almost identical results with Berger 205 EH - FWIW

I also had good luck with the 199 Hammer Hunter in a cheap rifle. Incredible forgiveness in my 24" 1-8.5 twist Howa barrel. I have some Badlands 195 and 205 BD2 on the way to try next. I found a decent load in the ELD-X 200 as a cheap target load. I love this cartridge enough that I am now planning on building a 20" 1-8 tw 300 PRC to shoot suppressed on mountain hunts. Barrel length depends on your use case. This cartridge burns efficiently enough that I think you can go as short as you feel like you can stand, velocity wise. I am definitely going with a much heavier barrel for my build though as this thin sporter barrel heats up really fast, especially in the summer.