By John Bibby
.300 PRC
6.5 PRC
6mm Creedmoor
For those of us who reload, there are tons of options that factory ammo shooters do not have. This comes in many options, such as reduced load charges, subsonic options, heavy-for-caliber bullets and ammunition tailored to what a barrel likes. All these options fit squarely within the bounds of tuning widely accepted commercial chamberings. There is an entire horizon of things that falls between the mass produced commercial options and the world of wildcats.
In the past couple of years, Hornady has gotten deeply involved in long-distance shooting. This can be seen very directly with their offering of a 4DOF Ballistic calculator as well as their many new projectile offerings designed primarily for 600+ yard usage. The current pinnacle of these bullets is the A-tip line. These bullets get rid of the polymer tips in exchange for aluminum, which had zero wiggle or chance of melting in flight. In addition, the shape (BC) and tolerances are some of the best I have seen.
I recently attended a class for 1000-yard shooting, taught by Don Fraley of Advanced Weapon Technology. For that class, I shot one of his .300 PRC rifles and loaded several hundred rounds for the class. Both he and I were completely surprised by the consistency of the 230 gr .300 PRC A-Tips. Using a comparator, on 200 bullets the worst deviance from standard ogive distance was 0.002”. The same thing was true with OAL. Even more impressive was that fact that almost 85% of the projectiles fell within +/- 0.001” for both ogive and OAL. For those who do not measure these attributes, this is way outside the norm. I normally sort my projectiles for precision shooting and often see a spread of as much as 0.010” in a run of 2-300. The vast majority (60-70%) fall within +/- 0.003”, but this still leaves me with 4-6 different piles of projectiles that need to be loaded and marked differently. I can tell you the extra cost of the A-Tips saved me tons of time loading and was very useful at the 1000-yard range.
This brings me to the first caliber that should be looked at by reloaders wanting to shoot long distance, the .300 PRC.
.300 PRC
This caliber is everything the .300 Win Mag wanted to be but couldn’t. The 300 PRC does away with the belt, which is not a precision method of head spacing. The cartridge is more powder efficient and better for brass longevity as well as being designed specifically to shoot heavy for caliber bullets. For those shooting within 1000 yards, the sub 230 gr bullets are probably the best compromise between velocity and BC. For those going longer, the 250 gr bullets quickly become a better option as their BC’s are amazing at .878 G1 or .442 G7.
Most people find two distinct accuracy nodes with the .300 PRC. The first is in the 2600-2650 fps range with a 230-grain projectile. The second is in the 2800 fps range. In my 1000-yard class, I had some issues with powder availability, so after I found the lower node (sub-0.200” groups with Retumbo) I discontinued my search. This lower velocity still provided an 8” group at 1000 yards. In later testing, I did find a higher node at 2850 fps (sub-0.225” groups with Retumbo). At 2800 fps this round still has over 1800 fps and 1650 #/ft of energy at 1000 yards. I did not have the opportunity to shoot that load at distance, but the increased wind bucking properties should offset the slightly larger group. This caliber is my preferred distance hunting round. I am completely comfortable taking shots at 500-700 yards on hog-sized prey.
6.5 PRC
This caliber is kind of the little brother of the .300 PRC. It is based on a different case but uses the same attributes of its larger bore compatriot to great advantage. The primary advantage to this choice is a much lower recoil impulse. This coupled with the use of a reasonable magnification (sub 12x) allows for self-spotting of bullet impacts. It also has roughly a 200 fps gain on the 6.5 Creedmoor which makes much better use of the 140+ gr options.
Again, Hornady has a great line of aluminum tipped bullets in the 6.5 caliber that really shine in the PRC. They have both 135 gr and 153 gr choices. The 153 gr is most likely the better option for +800 yards as it bucks wind a fair bit better and retains more velocity and energy. The 135-grain option has a 3200-fps muzzle velocity and is still traveling at 1800 fps at 1000 yards with just over 1000 #/ft of retained energy. The heavier A-Tip starts at 3000 fps and is still just under 1900 fps at 1000 yards, with 1200 #/ft of energy. For punching paper at 800-1200 yards, this is probably the better of the 6.5 PRC choices. For those willing to accept the added recoil of the larger sibling, it is probably the better choice for longer than 1200 yards and certainly for long-range hunting.
6mm Creedmoor
We are all familiar with 6.5 Creedmoor. This is a necked-down version of that cartridge that uses heavy-for-caliber 6mm offerings. Projectile weights range from 55 gr to about 115 gr with a few boutique options even heavier than that. For distance shooting, the heavier projectiles (100-115) fare the best.
I know I am beating on an A-Tip drum here, but the Hornady 110 gr A-Tips are impressive. With proper powder selection +3050 fps is achievable, although the accuracy node tends to be closer to 3000 fps. Coupling that with the (G1 .604) (G7 .304) Ballistic coefficient creates some impressive results. Assuming we go for the 3000(ish) fps accuracy node with a 200-yard zero, the A-Tip gets us 1183 fps and 886 #/ft of energy at 400 yards with only 23.1” of drop and 18.6” of drift with a 10-mph crosswind.
We are not getting 6.5 PRC distance or flatness, but we have reduced our recoil impulse by about 30% and our barrel life is at least 30% longer. This cartridge does hit the transonic range around 800 yards, but that is the same with a .308 Win and we are way better both in flatness and recoil.
