The 7PRC Vs. The 7mm Remington
Is The King Of The West Dead?
As technology improves, rifle profiles change to make the
most of the potential. Alan’s new Springfield Armory 2020
Waypoint in 7 PRC is on the left and his 1990s Remington
700 in 7mm Remington Magnum is on the right.
I remember my Colorado days with great fondness. Hunting was a constant topic of conversation. During our frequent debates on the best deer and elk calibers, we generally agreed the .30-06 was king and the .308 Winchester was perfect for ladies. Sometimes, someone would mention the 7mm Remington Magnum, and we all would go silent in reverence. While the 7mm Remington Magnum had been in production for over 20 years, it was still a mythical cartridge in our circle. Like a wild stallion, we quietly assumed few men could tame such a beast.
My world has changed much since then. Along the way, a Remington 700 in 7mm Remington Magnum became my favorite big-game rifle.
Left, high-performance bullets in the 7mm Remington Magnum
still consume valuable powder space unlike the 7 PRC. Both cartridges
have their bullets seated to SAAMI specifications.
The The 7mm Remington Magnum case looks bigger but holds
less powder when loaded with long secant bullets. From left to right,
7RM with 175-grain Berger Elite Hunter, 7RM 175-grain Core-lokt
factory load, 7 PRC with Hornady 175-grain ELD-X, and 7 PRC
with 175-grain Berger Elite Hunter.
Changing The Rules
When Hornady introduced the 7mm Precision Rifle Cartridge (PRC), they had my attention. The 7 PRC is a SAAMI-spec cartridge that can send a 175-grain bullet downrange at 3,000 feet per second. At 300 yards, the 7 PRC beats the legendary .300 Winchester Magnum in velocity and energy! The videos on YouTube showcased all the wonderful things the 7 PRC could do, especially compared to the 7mm Remington Magnum — so much so I looked at my old rifle like a jug of spoiled milk.
Then, there was the other side of the coin. Videos were posted spewing vitriol for Hornady and all the marketing hype about the cartridge. So what is the truth? Is the 7 PRC the new King? Is the 7mm Remington Magnum dead?
The author’s Remington 700 has seen many improvements,
such as a new trigger, stock and glass bedding. In its current
form, it achieves sub-MOA accuracy.
Alan’s Springfield Armory Waypoint gives a
0.563" 3-shot group at 100 yards.
Pro and Con
The 7mm Remington Magnum is a great cartridge synonymous with Western hunting. If you believe bullet weight needs to match the game, the 7mm Remington Magnum fits the bill perfectly. A 140-grain bullet is perfect for antelope. The 150-grain bullet is just right for big mule deer. The 175-grain bullet is a match for elk, moose and bear. What’s not to love?
While the 7 PRC can use those same bullet weights, it was designed to take advantage of the new longer ogive bullets with heavier weights. With the longer ogive, bullets have better ballistics and perform well at longer distances. They buck the wind better, maintain velocity longer and have less drop.
Some argue they can use the same bullets in the 7mm Remington Magnum. No, you can’t if it’s a factory rifle made to SAAMI specs. Longer bullets require a faster rate of spin to stabilize. The 7 PRC has a longer throat and a faster 1-in-8 twist, which means the bullet can sit farther into the throat and properly stabilize. The same bullet in a SAAMI-spec 7mm Remington Magnum would sit deeper into the case, reduce powder capacity and the slower twist could impact accuracy.
Many point out the 7mm Remington Magnum case has slightly more powder capacity vs. the 7 PRC, which is true. However, they don’t tell you the 7 PRC has more usable case capacity because the bulk of the bullet sits outside the case. The 7mm Remington Magnum has a shorter throat, forcing the bullet deeper into the case and reducing powder capacity.
There’s even a myth the 7mm Remington Magnum belt strengthens the case. In truth, the belt is nothing more than a rim to ensure the cartridge is held in the proper position for primer ignition. Confused? The .375 H&H Magnum was the parent case for most magnum cartridges but it has a small shoulder, so it was possible for the case to slide too far into the chamber to the point the firing pin would not hit the primer. To prevent this, the designers added a rim to a rimless cartridge to ensure proper headspace and ignition. The later magnum case designs made the belt obsolete but the buying public had it so firmly ingrained in their minds that a belt was required for magnums, it stayed.
The 7mm Remington Magnum is a very capable cartridge but it was designed over 60 years ago. Older cartridges were designed with looser tolerances to ensure different brands of ammunition would fit into the chambers of the many brands of rifles on the market. Those loose tolerances meant rifle/ammunition combinations could result in poor accuracy.
Just like car designs have changed to increase efficiency, so have rifle cartridges. Much of the push behind recent developments has been from benchrest, NRL Hunter and PRS shooters. Their competitive drive has produced rifles, bullets and cartridges that can group at less than 6″ at 1,000 yards! To achieve this, ballisticians must wring every bit of efficiency out of a bullet and cartridge.
Materials and manufacturing processes have changed radically in response. Machining processes are so precise compared to even just 10 years ago. Quality bullets, cases and rifles are head and shoulders above those from just 20 years ago. I have watched NRL Hunter contenders consistently hit small targets out to 1,000 yards with modern budget rifles like the Ruger American. Target shooters now stretch their legs to 1,400 yards and beyond.
The Waypoint 2020 is a factory rifle with custom features
and delivers sun-MOA accuracy with factory ammunition.
Features
What’s good for target shooting is great for hunting. What has been learned from cartridges like the 6.5 Creedmoor, the 6 ARC and the 6.5×47 Lapua were instituted into the Precision Rifle Cartridge family. Those design features include:
• Faster twist rates to stabilize high-performance long-for-caliber, long ogive, high-BC bullets. These new bullets maintain velocity longer, drop less and are less impacted by wind drift. The faster twist also increases the stability of the bullet throughout its flight.
• Longer neck length for consistent neck tension. Neck tension is critical for shot-to-shot consistency, low standard deviation and minimal extreme-spread measurement.
• Steep-angled 30-degree shoulders to properly headspace each round. This can also mean less case trimming when reloading.
• A minimal case taper allows for more powder capacity and a more precise case-to-chamber alignment, which aids in accuracy. This also produces a shorter powder column for a consistent burn rate. This is meaningful in many ways. Unburnt powder impacting the base of a bullet as it leaves the muzzle will cause greater bullet dispersion.
• Tighter throat tolerances reduce bullet yaw before the bullet engages the rifling, allowing for a more precise bullet-to-bore alignment. Many older cartridge designs allow 0.003″ to 0.009″!
The two cartridges are very close in length and fit in a standard action and magazine. However, the shoulder of the 7 PRC has been pushed back, giving it more head height (the distance from the case mouth to the tip of the bullet), so the bullet does not take up case capacity. As I said before, the 7mm Remington Magnum has more powder capacity empty but as soon as a bullet is factored in, case capacity drops. The longer the bullet, the more powder capacity is lost.
Unless custom-modified, a SAAMI-spec 7mm Remington Magnum rifle is limited to yesterday’s ammunition. The 7 PRC is designed to use ammunition with tighter tolerances, which results in match accuracy even in budget rifles.
While just one new attribute doesn’t make much of a difference, they all add to an improved design. So much so most custom rifle makers like Gunwerks have focused their production on the 7 PRC.
Does this mean my 7mm Remington Magnum is destined for the scrap can? Absolutely not! A big game hunter will never be under-gunned if carrying one in the wild regions of the American West or the Plains of Africa. If a shooter never hunts past 300 yards, the 7mm Remington Magnum will finish the job with energy to spare.
But, if you are shopping for a new cartridge with the chops to stretch its legs beyond 1,000 yards in well-practiced hands, the 7 PRC can get the job done.
The 7mm Remington Magnum is an impressive hunting cartridge
but the 7 PRC builds on its legacy using the latest technology to
create something even better.
Slower burning powders work well for the 7 PRC and 7mm
Remington Magnum. Many reloaders prefer the hard-to-find
Reloder 26 for maximum velocity.
But …
Currently, the only downside is the lack of ammunition options. A quick check of Sportsman’s Warehouse found 69 offerings of 7mm Remington Magnum loads in weights ranging from 139-grain to 180-grain bullets.
A quick check of 7 PRC brought up seven offerings. Federal, Nosler, Hornady and Weatherby offer factory loads. Most are in the 175- to 180-grain bullet weight family. Weatherby offers one loading of Swift’s 150-grain Scirocco bonded core bullets. As you can see, there isn’t a vast variety of bullet weights but I promise more bullet options will appear over the next few years.
Both cartridges have potential far beyond what most of us can shoot. Neither cartridge will perform well if the rifle builder cuts corners or the shooter doesn’t practice under varying conditions. I recently picked up a Springfield Armory 2020 Waypoint in 7 PRC. I can easily get 3/4 MOA on paper and ring steel on a 3 MOA target at 350 yards with practice and this is just the beginning.
To wrap this up, ask yourself these questions: Do you shoot under 300 yards? Are you thrilled with the rifle you have? If you answered yes, use what you have to the fullest potential.
Or do you want to shoot beyond traditional hunting distances? Do you feel your rifle limits your ability to achieve the desired accuracy? Are you interested in ringing steel at 1,000 yards? If you answered yes, find a quality rifle in 7 PRC.
