- Well, pretty obviously
someone had to ask me about the hottest new 30
caliber cartridge out there. It's the 300 PRC. And he asked me what I
could tell him about it and to think what I wanna tell him and all the rest of you
is, stay away unless. (bright music) So the big unless with a 300 PRC, has to do with how far
you want to shoot and why. (laughs) Hey, let's compare this new
30 to the good old standard, the 300 Winchester Magnum because they look awfully similar. Look at them, here they are. Can you tell which one's which? (laughs) This is the good old
300 Winchester Magnum. Been around since 1963 and it is known as one of the best all around hunting
cartridges in the world. And it's also won a lot of long
range shooting competitions. It's been used as a sniping
rifle in the military, pretty well-known cartridge. Why do we need another one? Well, we've got a lot of 30s these days, everything from the 300 WSM, which is the short fat one that I think is going to stay around. It just about does the same thing as the 300 Winchester Magnum does. But also the 300 Remington Ultra Magnum, look at how big that thing is. That's even bigger than the PRC. And then there's the 30-378 Weatherby, I mean, there's plenty of them out there, but these two are getting to be sort of, in the middle of the pack these days, believe it or not. Of course, it all started with the 30-06 and I've dragged it out here just so you can compare
the size differences. Obviously, it's a lot
narrower powder column in it. These two are actually fitting in the same length actions though. They're both at 3.34 inches total length, that's your maximum cartridge link. So the nice thing about the 300 Win Mag is it fits in most of your
standard length action rifles. But you look at this PRC and you say, there's something a little
bit different about that guy, and that's that length. That is the same length actually, it's trifle longer than
the standard 375 H&H, which started the whole
built-in magnum craze. That is considered to be a
full magnum length action. So it's probably not going to
fit into the standard actions like the 300 Win Mag does. This one was merely the 375 based case. They probably started
with a 300 H&H Magnum, but they just necked that down, shorten it up a little bit to make this. So you've got the belted case
look at that PRC, no belt. So that's one of its
strong selling points. So what Hornady did and
Hornady came up with this one, they're coming out with all
these hot new cartridges designed for precision shooting, and that's why they call it a PRC, Precision Rifle Cartridge. If you got the 6.5 PRC and now this one, and they're really catering to the long range target shooters. And I think that's what
pretty much sums up that PRC. It is optimally designed for
long-range target shooting, not necessarily hunting, certainly doesn't mean
you can't use it for that, but there are some drawbacks. And that's why I'm saying
warning, stay away. Unless you want to do long
range target shooting. You can use it for hunting, but there are some
drawbacks that we will cover when we go through both of these. So the PRC came out in 2018 and boy got a lot of attention immediately because you know in this day and age, everyone is interested in long
range steel target shooting. Is a lot of fun and it
really helps you become an incredible shot at closer distances. So if you're looking to have some fun reaching way out there, this is one that's going to do it. So the idea that they had over at Hornady was to create sort of the ultimate 300 for that kind of long range shooting. Naturally, that means you
want the really long, heavy, high BC bullets with the long, old jive on the nose that
you're looking at right here. I didn't even look what this one is. It's probably a 220 grand. This is the 212 grain ELD-X bullet. That's their hunting bullet, but they also have 220 grain bullets. And there are some
manufacturers now coming out with 250 grain bullets. So that was the general idea. Somewhere in that 220 grain bullet range, they were gonna have the ultimate along range, 30 caliber. So one of the things they did was not only did they get rid of the belt, but they went to the full case diameter. Both of these have a head
diameter or rim diameter, I should say of 0.532 but because of the belt, the 300 Win Mag steps
down in the body, 2.513. The PRC stays at 0.532, and there it gets extra powder capacity. And as you can see, it's a little bit shorter because that 30 degree angled shoulder has been pushed back a
little bit in comparison to the 300 Win Mag, which has a 25 degree shoulder, but you've got a longer neck. And then of course that long bullet. Now why the bullets stretches
out this far on this one has to do of course, with the necessity of
having a longer chamber to fit it in that long of a bullet without pushing the bullet
down into the powder supply. So that's where they optimize it. I would imagine that
this bullets full length is just coming to where
the start of the neck is at the shoulder junction. One of the problems you get
with loading say the 300 Win Mag with these long bullets seated deeper. Yes, you take up a little
bit of powder capacity. I don't think that's a huge problem, but if you're a hand loader
and you generally have to be to throw these really long
bullets into a 300 mag, most places aren't going to do
it in the factory ammunition. One of the concerns of course, is the twist rate stabilization issue. We'll get to that in a bit, but at the hand orders good easily do it. There's no reason why
you can't stick a tutor and 20 grain long Ojai bullet
like this in that 300 Win Mag, but you will have to see
it past that neck joint. And what happens on hand
loads when you shoot and load and shoot and load, you're resizing that brass, it builds up a little
lip called a donut inside at that junction of the neck and shoulder. And that is an obstruction
which creates more tension when you seat your bullets. When you have to go pass
that you get away from that. If you don't have to seat
your bullets that deeply. One of the little features
that benefits you in that PRC. And of course, the other thing is how this bullet is going to fit in the
throat of your chamber is again, as you look at
the length of these two, boy, they're not very far off, so they're probably going
to fit in the same chamber. But because of that long bullet, you've got to have a
longer magazine to hold it. same as the full Magnum length
magazine for the 375 H&H. But then there's the bullet
itself fitting into the barrel where the throat runs up into the rifling, that's called the leade
L-E-A-D-E, the leade. And they made that extra long
obviously to fit that bullet. So what it's not touching the lands when it's that long. I mean, you're gonna have a problem with your 300 Win Mag
sticking a long bullet like that in there, because that was not originally designed to have those long leads or long throats. If you're familiar at all
with Weatherby cartridges, they're famous for having long throats. And I think the biggest reason
whether it be did that back in the day was just to reduce pressures. When you initially set off that round, the pressures will spike when
that bullet hits the rifling, because there's suddenly
all that friction. So we gave it a little running room. That's not why they're doing it here. They're doing it here for
precision bullet alignment with the boar. The idea is to have this
seated just about kissing the actual rifling, where it touches the lands. So if you can see your bullet out that far and just be touching them, then you can get consistency, not only in the pressures, but in the alignment of
the bullet with the boar and something you're probably
not gonna hear about. You're certainly not going to notice it is that the Sammy specs on
the chamber throat dimensions on the 300 Win Mag start
off at 0.315 diameter, and that's in inches. But the bullet is only 0.308. What does that tell you? There's a little bit of slop in there. That's great for keeping
your pressures down and making sure everybody's bullet and everybody's load fits nicely. With this one, they have gone directly
to a 0.308 inch diameter. So when the bullet is in that throat, it's essentially just touching the sides and there's no wobble room in there. The idea is that that bullet will now start perfectly
straight from the throat, into the lands, into the barrel, and you don't get any wobbling
or wiggle of the bullets so that it slams into the
rifling a little bit crooked and potentially damages it. It's a tiny little difference, but it makes a significant difference. When you're looking at precision
shooting at extreme ranges. That's kind of the whole
idea behind that PRC. They want a precise target round. So if you're a hunter, do you wanna go to the PRC? One of the arguments is if
you don't already have a 300 and you want one and you like to do long
range steel shooting at a thousand and even 2000 yards, get the PRC because that's going to do it. And then if you want to
go hunting, no problem. Take it, hunting. Whereas with the 300 Win Mag, yeah, you've got more
problem reaching out, great hunting round, but you're not going
to be easily loading up those 200, 225, 250 grain
long high BC bullets in it for the target shooting. So there's your major difference. I think that's what
you need to concentrate on when you're buying the rifle. The standard twist rate on
this one is eight and a half. So every eight and a
half inches of barrel, you're gonna get a complete
revolution of your bullet. That's stabilizing those
really long bullets. Little bit more problem
with the 300 Win Mag is standard at one and 10. You might find some rifles
that are chambered one and nine twists or barreled
one and nine twists. But yeah, you're gonna have
probably some stability issues with those longer bullets out of the 300. Once again, accuracy is not
going to be quite as good. So what about the actual performance? Well, and as I look at these, I go, there's a little more length in the chamber on the 300 Win Mag, but it doesn't have quite the same width. So what's the difference in powder. Boy, you can ask some sites, what is the water capacity of these two? I've never liked water
capacity measurements because different bras
from different companies can be thicker or thinner. They can have a little
thicker head at the base too. So it reduces the actual
volume internally. In general, you're gonna find that when you're loading up powders, you're probably gonna
get two to three grains, less powder in the Win Mag. But once again, it depends on the case
that you're actually using. The upshot is when I looked
up some hand loading data on these and compared
they were awfully close across the board. So I went with a 220 grain
Hornady's ELD-X bullet. And I found that the BC on that was 0.654, which is really high. And that's of course
what you're looking for to minimize your wind
deflection down range. So I found some loads and we were able to come up
with 2,850 feet per second out of the Win Mag with that bullet, same bullet out of the PRC
was going a little bit faster, but not much 2,875 feet per second. So you can see that
they're almost identical in their velocities, and that's gonna give us
almost the same trajectories. Look at our chart here. I set them both up for a
maximum point blank range, zero on a six inch target. And that means that we zero, each of them at 250 yards, what are the results? Well at 300 yards, our drop is 3.6 inches out
of the win mag 3.5 inches out of the PRC. The deflection in the wind 4.5
inches out of both of them. That's in a 10 mile an
hour right angle wind. And the draw, the energy retained is man, right close. You'd get a little more because you're pushing that another what? 25 feet per second faster out of the PRC. So it's 2908 foot pounds of energy out of 300 Win Mag 2963 out of the PRC. Nobody's gonna notice the difference. Then you see your 500 yards. You're starting to spread it
out a little bit more button. Really not much. Your drops are only a
half inch difference. Not even quite that. The energies are still pretty darn close. So let's go out to that
long range that disappears, see what is designed 4,000 yards. At a thousand yards, you're getting 253 inches of
drop out of the 300 Win Mag. You're getting 248 out of the PRC. So you can see there's a
subtle difference there that might start to pay off. Hello Covey. Covey came up, you just, you getting to be a real ham. You know what, every time I'm up here doing this, you suddenly come up. The rest of the day when I'm typing, no, you don't come up. I can't explain that. (chuckles) Just wants to be on TV. Yeah, good girl. Where were we? Oh, 250. So you've got a good five
inches difference in drop. That doesn't sound like a lot, but if you're a target
shooter at a thousand yards, that could spill the difference
between winning and lose. So I think that's where your
PRC is really a benefit. And the energy 1288 out of the
Wind Mag 1316 out of the PRC again, I don't think a deer or even an elk is going
to notice the difference on that one. So, what else can I
tell you about that PRC? The case actually came from the 375 Ruger. They took that case a neck down. I don't know if they stretched it a
little bit longer or not. I didn't even check on that. This thing is a total of 3.7 inches cartridge overall length, the 375 H&H is only at 3.6. So this is even a little bit longer than that full length Magnum. That was a little interesting
for me to discover that. We talked about the throat. Essentially we're just
talking the difference between maximizing a target cartridge rather than a hunting cartridge. So if you're a hunter, what are some of the pros
and cons you can look at? I would say one of well, a stack of the pros
for the old 300 Win Mag is simply the availability
of rifles and cartridges. Everyone loads ammo for it. I mean, just look at this
little stack here I pulled out. You've got all kinds of
brands and the offer loads from 150 grains up into the two hundreds. I don't keep track of
everything that's out there, but you know, just because it's been around for so long, you're going to find
that a lot of ammunition. And that suggests a lot of competition in good pricing as well. With the PRC, I hope you like Hornady, because of the only other brand I've seen that loads it so far, it's federal. But if it hangs around, I think more and more
we'll start to load it. And of course you can always
go to your custom loaders or do it yourself obviously. And that brings up another point. If you are not a hand loader and you wanna shoot
precisely between these two, I would go with the PRC for
any long range target work. Because Hornady designed
it for target shooting. They're building their
ammunition for extreme precision. With the right bullets for the game. And people who are making rifles for this are generally interested in
that kind of accuracy too. So they're, I would say
making match grade chambers, you've already got that
tighter throat at 308 instead of 315. So I think there's your
benefits on that one. But as a hand loader, of course you can step down and have a more viable hunting cartridge. Don't expect to go out and find
150 grain or 180 grain load. You might find some hundred and nineties because there's some
pretty good hunting bullets at 190 grain with high BCS. I would imagine they're
loading some of those, but he's Jeff generally set
up for target shooting guys, Recoil, there's not enough difference that has maybe two to three
foot pounds difference because of a different load. And that depends on the
load you're building. You may end up with more power coming out of the 300 Win Mag, and that would give you more
recoil in the same way rifle. So I wouldn't even worry about recoil. We've already looked at
the trajectory differences and they don't amount to much. So yeah, I think for a hunting cartridge, you wanna stick with that 300 Win Mag, but for targets, you're definitely gonna have
an advantage of that PRC. It might not sound like much, but once again, targets, you can win by a half inch. If you shoot a half inch
tighter than the knife guy, you've won the game. You're not gonna worry
about that on an elk. Barrel life, some guys suggest that thing's gonna bring your barrels out. I mean, look at the powder. There's not that much difference
to three grains of powder. You're not gonna have a hotter burn coming under that PRC to burn your throat out
any faster than the 300. So I don't think that even counts. And again, I'm not in a hunting cartridge. I certainly wouldn't worry about it. But if you're going to be shooting two, 300 rounds in a weekend on targets, you're going to bring
it Burl up pretty fast with either one of those. So one of the things you do get out of the
PRC, bragging rights. I've got the latest and greatest, and a lot of guys enjoy that. I used to do the same thing, man, when a hot new cartridge came out, I wanted to be kind of
the first kid on the block to have one. So if you enjoy that sort of thing or just enjoy working
with a new chambering, this is one that you probably
want to play around with. There are more powerful
and faster three hundreds, there are more efficient
ones like the Udall 30F6 or the 308. There are short, convenient, good hunting rounds, which I consider the WSM to be. But if you want kind of something that's going to do everything, including when you're target competitions, PRC might be one you want to look at. So that's pretty much the story on this. If you are interested in it, I invite you to check it out and subscribe to our
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