Hornady 300 PRC

[Corjack]

[Kgi]

Marketing at it's best...

[Ringo]

"Like the creedmoor". Should attract another crop of box shooters.

[Corjack]

If it increases interest in shooting and trigger time just 10% of what the 6.5 Creedmoor has done, it will be a worthy cartridge.

[stokesrj]

I agree Ron, lots of novice shooters have jumped in on the 6.5 Creedmoor bandwagon. While their enthusiasm runs over common sense and brings out the schoolyard mentality in some it also brings in many eager to learn shooters.
While I did invest in the 6.5 Creedmoor before it was commercially available I won’t be doing so with the 300 PRC. It may be a great cartridge for hunting but I will wait and see. I also note that Ruger has announced a magnum version of their Precision Rifle. I haven’t seen the caliber list yet, but would not be surprised to see this one included.
I was out doing some long range shooting north of Scottsdale a few days ago. I drove into the area well before daylight and didn’t see a soul. On the drive out there were more than a dozen set ups shooting steel swinging targets. I had plenty of time so stopped and visited several of these groups with long range set ups. The most common gun there by far was the Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor and they were regularly hitting steel, mostly 12” disks a at 700-1000 yards.
There were a few 308s and 300 Win Mags, but the Creedmoor was overwhelmingly dominant.

[slugslinger]

Perhaps you gentlemen can sort out a curiosity of mine. With the long lifespan of the 6.5x55 Swede and other 6.5 chamberings, how did the 6.5 Creedmoor ever survive? Specifically, if one doesn't care about cartridge length (I understand the AR platform folks do), then why wouldn't the good ole' Swede with it's similar (or perhaps even better) muzzle velocity, be the preferred chambering? I honestly begin to wonder if it wasn't just a little US arrogance wanting something we "invented here".

And just to pile on to my own dilemma, if "short fat" cartridges are what is preferred now, then isn't the newer 6.5 PRC going to be the new "best" choice over the 6.5 Creedmoor? . . .

. . . and now we are apparently going to pursue the the same course with the .308 chamberings!



Regards,

[Corjack]

Perhaps you gentlemen can sort out a curiosity of mine. With the long lifespan of the 6.5x55 Swede and other 6.5 chamberings, how did the 6.5 Creedmoor ever survive? Specifically, if one doesn't care about cartridge length (I understand the AR platform folks do), then why wouldn't the good ole' Swede with it's similar (or perhaps even better) muzzle velocity, be the preferred chambering? I honestly begin to wonder if it wasn't just a little US arrogance wanting something we "invented here".

And just to pile on to my own dilemma, if "short fat" cartridges are what is preferred now, then isn't the newer 6.5 PRC going to be the new "best" choice over the 6.5 Creedmoor? . . .

. . . and now we are apparently going to pursue the the same course with the .308 chamberings!



Regards,

The two things that glare out in the Creedmoor success story is,

It fits in a short action

They keep ammo affordable, and lots of options . Even Berger now has factory ammo, loaded in Lapua brass, with Berger bullets, for not a lot more than what you would give for unloaded Lapua virgin Brass.


A few of the little things are,

The ammo available is pretty decent as far as accuracy

Ballistics are pretty much the same as the 6.5x55 and we know that is a good thing.

It is easy to get along with as far as reloading goes. Even novice/beginner reloaders report good accuracy with in their first few tries. Kinda like the 308.

I personally did everything I could the first few years to convince myself the Creedmoor was just a passing fancy, and not to be considered relevant. Then I went to some events and shot a few of them. Now I have five or six of them.

The Creedmoor is like the 308, and the 22lr. Cartridges that guys like to shoot, rather than spend all the time talking about shooting.

[stokesrj]

The 6.5 Creedmoor is an undeniable success, not just in the US but world wide. It started life as a simple attempt to provide a match cartridge that would work in a short action, and two specific loadings for the National Match course of fire, a 120 grain A-max for the 200 yard standing and sitting rapid fire stages and the 300 yard prone rapid fire stage. Then a 140 grain A-Max for the 600 yard slow fire stage. These two loadings were highly refined accurate factory loadings that would compete against tuned hand loads. It was a great success in the national match course of fire because it had a perfect blend of recoil control for the rapid fire stages and a superior performing 600 yard load that was less affected in the wind than the .223 with 77 grain MatchKings or the 308 with 168 grain Match kings.
The short action was an absolute requirement not only for the AR platform but also the McMillan Tubb 2000 and the various tube guns built around Remington 700 short actions and it's clones. Long actions are not competitive in this venue because they require the cheek weld to be broken to work the action which destroys accuracy in the 200 yard sitting rapid course of fire and the 300 yard prone rapid course of fire.
This is how the cartridge got it's start but then the Precision Rifle game came along and began using it because of it's superior performance in the National Match course of fire. Then hunters seeing the tremendous success the caliber was enjoying in the National Matches and the PRS matches began using it and discovering how well it performed in the field. These three groups elevated the cartridge to one of the top selling in the US and then it has spilled over to the rest of the world.
The 6.5X55 Swede on the other hand is hard to find in the US. When you do find it, the ammunition is crap, or is 3-4X more expensive than the Creedmoor for equally accurate loadings such as Lapua or Norma. It doesn't even come close to the 6.5 Creedmoor when comparing to factory loads. I am a huge fan of the 6.5X55 and own several. But if you use it side by side with the 6.5 Creedmoor it becomes very obvious that the Creedmoor will outperform the 6.5X55 with ammunition readily available in the US at a reasonable cost. You can now buy 6.5 Creedmoor, good stuff, at Walmart. You can't do that with the 6.5X55. In fact within a 50 mile radius of me with 100s of gun stores you would be hard pressed to find 5 boxes of 6.5X55 ammunition. And when you do find it it's going to be 140 grain soft points loaded to 2400 fps. The boxes might say 2600 but they aren't.

[ebrownw2]

If they follow the 6.5 Creedmore game plan, then maybe it will have a chance. Make superior factory ammo available at an affordable price and then share any and all info about the new cartridge with any riflemaker who is interested so the rifles will be made to shoot your loads.

The 30 cal crowd might be a tougher sell here in the US though. The 6.5 Creed had the advantage of there not being a mainstream popular 6.5 here before it.

[Gun Barrel Ecologist]

...The 6.5X55 Swede on the other hand is hard to find in the US. When you do find it, the ammunition is crap, or is 3-4X more expensive than the Creedmoor for equally accurate loadings such as Lapua or Norma. It doesn't even come close to the 6.5 Creedmoor when comparing to factory loads. I am a huge fan of the 6.5X55 and own several. But if you use it side by side with the 6.5 Creedmoor it becomes very obvious that the Creedmoor will outperform the 6.5X55 with ammunition readily available in the US at a reasonable cost. You can now buy 6.5 Creedmoor, good stuff, at Walmart. You can't do that with the 6.5X55. In fact within a 50 mile radius of me with 100s of gun stores you would be hard pressed to find 5 boxes of 6.5X55 ammunition. And when you do find it it's going to be 140 grain soft points loaded to 2400 fps. The boxes might say 2600 but they aren't.

Has the situation in the US been the same as that in Australia in terms of 6,5x55 rifle availability?
Prior to the mass import of the Tikka T3 in both 9,3x62 & 6,5x55 the former was a virtual unknown and the latter only an option for those who managed to track down a good condition 96 Mauser and live with its primitive ergonomics or befriend a gunsmith.
As much as one of Australias popular gunscribes was enamoured with, and heavily promoted, the 6,5x55 the teenage new shooter would only find clunky crudely sporterised 96 imports for sale in their price range, and PMC softpoint ammo. A box of Norma was a seldom seen expensive delight. The rifles might have been classier than the .303-.25 sporters of their fathers but not by much
The 300m comp specialist rifles in 6,5x55 made by Sauer and others were something you only saw in European ammo catalogues.

As for the 300 PRC, it will be interesting to see if the more in the mag advantage it has over the .300 Norma tips the scales in its favour with uniformed operators or if it'll come down to bolt face.

Personally I'm peeved that way back when the .375 Ruger first landed I suggested on another forum that the ideal new wildcat would be an 8mm.375 Ruger in a H&H length action - never explored it and I wish I did

[ebrownw2]

I am 40 years old. Have been hunting and shooting my whole life. Read every new issue of Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, and Sports Afield in my youth. I don’t recall having ever heard of the 6.5x55 or 9.3x62 until I joined this forum 5 years ago. And of course now I have multiple R8 barrels in both

If you had only followed through on that thought we might all be elk hunting with our 8GBE.