With blazing speed, muscle, and a superb pedigree for accuracy, the Hornady .300 PRC has a decent shot of being a front-runner in a crowded field of long-range contenders for years to come.
Have you ever heard of the 6.5 Creedmoor? Of course you have—that is, unless you’ve desperately avoided shooting ranges, gun magazines, firearms retail stores, outdoor television, and the Internet for the past several years. Designed by former Hornady ballistician Dave Emary, the 6.5 Creedmoor is a juggernaut that has accrued a massive following more quickly than any centerfire rifle round in living memory.
It also changed the way we perceive hunting situations and target-cartridge design. During the heavy magnum craze of the mid-20th century, fast-belted magnums were in vogue, and their long-range prowess and killing power were the stuff of books and legends. But the 6.5 Creedmoor was something different—efficient, inherently accurate, and, most importantly, designed from the outset to use long, heavy-for-caliber, wind-bucking bullets. Competitive long-range shooters adopted it quickly, and hunters followed right behind. The cartridge also had a long neck to accommodate high ballistic coefficient bullets, and it was designed so those heavy-for-caliber bullets wouldn’t rob case capacity, making it a highly efficient round. Unlike the Creedmoor, though, this secret cartridge was a .30 caliber magnum.
It’s been more than a decade, but the creation of the round is now mainstream. The new cartridge has been SAAMI-certified and has been given a new name: the .300 PRC. Before you dismiss the .300 PRC as just another new round trying to grab some shelf space alongside America’s most popular hunting and shooting calibers, understand the PRC will indeed do things that factory .300 Winchester Magnum ammunition cannot.
For starters, the PRC case design accommodates really long, really heavy projectiles. Hornady is currently offering two factory loads for the .300 PRC. The “lightest” of those is the 212-grain ELD-X, part of the Precision Hunter line. The Match ammo offering is loaded with a 225-grain ELD Match bullet. The Precision Hunter load is listed at 2,860 fps, and the Match load is rated at 2,810 fps.
When it comes to hunting inside 400 yards, the Hornady .300 PRC cartridge does nothing more and nothing less than the passel of already existing .30-caliber magnums. It’s past that where it becomes significant. Designed specifically for extra long-range (ELR) use, the .300 PRC is optimized for shooting way, way out there. It’s engineered to provide inherent accuracy and to offer ideal performance with heavy, aerodynamic projectiles that shrug off wind and maintain velocity better than common .308-diameter bullets.
If you are looking for a long-range bullet, consider the Hornady .300 PRC. If you need something with a little muscle and a bit of speed, paired with the accuracy you need for precision hunting, visit your local gun shop and range and try this out.
