7mm PRC - Availability in Canada

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thirdeye462

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Hi all,

I'm looking at acquiring my first rifle with the (eventual) goal of shooting out to long-range (1000+ yards). I'm very interested in the 7 PRC, despite all its quirks. It seems like a fantastic cartridge for long-range and has a bit of ass behind it as compared to 6.5 CM.

It's been a couple of years since the 7 PRC was released. Wondering how any 7 PRC shooters here (hunters or otherwise) have found factory ammo availability? Has it improved, stayed the same, or diminished? Much of the US shooting community has had a lot of faith that its availability would increase over time. But what about in Canada?

Think the 7 PRC is here to stay?
 
Well I dropped $1000 on 12 boxes. That's insane if you ask me. Still trying to get a few more before all the tarrifs bs and and the weak dollars bs and who know what else they will use as an excuse to keep raising the costs.

Been finding random stores online from coast to coast. Mostly east and west, nothing central. Seems that the going rate per box is from $80 to $150 depending on who makes it. Hornady ones are the cheapest from what I've seen. End of last year I was seeing as low as $60 a box, but doubt we'll ever see that again.

Plus shipping and taxes, next thing you know, you're almost spending as much for the ammo as you did for the gun.

Haven't had a chance to sight the scope yet, but I'm sure that alone will take a box or 2.

Excited for it. Heard a lot of great things. Read a crap load online. Watched dozens and dozens of hunting and range videos.

I like my 30.06 (at almost half the cost) but with the 7mm prc I'm planing to push it bit further.

I'm not into reloading, but even that I hear you can't get any bullets for.
 
thirdeye462 said:
Hi all,

I'm looking at acquiring my first rifle with the (eventual) goal of shooting out to long-range (1000+ yards). I'm very interested in the 7 PRC, despite all its quirks. It seems like a fantastic cartridge for long-range and has a bit of ass behind it as compared to 6.5 CM.

It's been a couple of years since the 7 PRC was released. Wondering how any 7 PRC shooters here (hunters or otherwise) have found factory ammo availability? Has it improved, stayed the same, or diminished? Much of the US shooting community has had a lot of faith that its availability would increase over time. But what about in Canada?

Think the 7 PRC is here to stay?
Click to expand...
Nobody I know shoots factory stuff, everybody I am familiar with that shoots a PRC hand loads for it.
Cat
 
eco said:
Well I dropped $1000 on 12 boxes. That's insane if you ask me. Still trying to get a few more before all the tarrifs bs and and the weak dollars bs and who know what else they will use as an excuse to keep raising the costs.

Been finding random stores online from coast to coast. Mostly east and west, nothing central. Seems that the going rate per box is from $80 to $150 depending on who makes it. Hornady ones are the cheapest from what I've seen. End of last year I was seeing as low as $60 a box, but doubt we'll ever see that again.

Plus shipping and taxes, next thing you know, you're almost spending as much for the ammo as you did for the gun.

Haven't had a chance to sight the scope yet, but I'm sure that alone will take a box or 2.

Excited for it. Heard a lot of great things. Read a crap load online. Watched dozens and dozens of hunting and range videos.

I like my 30.06 (at almost half the cost) but with the 7mm prc I'm planing to push it bit further.

I'm not into reloading, but even that I hear you can't get any bullets for.
Click to expand...
Hi eco,

Thanks! What you describe is definitely what I'm seeing too. The vendors that do stock 7 prc are in that price range you mention or, more commonly, out of stock. I mostly see Hornady, too, which many have said don't have the best quality brass. (I wouldn't know myself).

It all makes me wonder about future viability of the cartridge in Canada. (I fully recognize cartridge availability is perhaps the least of the community's worries right now, lol).

Perhaps handloading might be the way to go here or just simply not shoot 7 prc right now, but I'm not terribly convinced on doing either right now. It seems like a fun cartridge with great velocity/ballistics generally.

Does anyone here have any experience shooting Hornady match 7 prc vs., say, Federal or some other factory ammo brand?
 
The only "bad" I'm seeing online, is the advertised speed vs actual.
Most hornady rounds seem to be 100-200fps below the 3000 advertised.
Federal is much better by about 50+- fps less.

I watched a long video of the hornady cx and the 175eldx and 180 match comparison. The 180 match did the worst. Worst speeds of the 3 and most inconsistent accuracy for some reason. Can't find the video at the moment, I'll put it here once I find it.

I've been able to score 4 boxes of the federal, rest all hornady.. all in 175eldx.
Will compare them once the snow has melted and I can make it into the bush.

I've seen one or 2 sites that sold weatherby and nosler, but for $150-170 per box of theirs, way too rich for me
 
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I have had a 7mm PRC for a few years now, components were hard to find and expensive, Hornady ammo was running $65 / box at the time it's now $78 or more, I bought 4 boxes with the gun then found a case of precision hunter 175gr ELDX and farmed the brass so I have 280 cases now which will keep me going for a while. I have shot it out to 1110 yards no problem and have 2 great loads that shoot sub .500" it is a great cartridge, took my moose with it last fall. I also have the 6.5 PRC and love it as well. No factory ammunition is cheap anymore nor are components to reload, you got to pay to play.
 
I have one and shot 8 boxes of factory ammo mostly the federal 175 eldx, velocities on those were pretty close but the Hornady loads were between 150-200fps slow of advertised, although really accurate.

I now reload and am easily hitting what Hornady advertises although my go to load with the 180gr eldm is about 25fps slower than they advertise, but it shoots to damn good to change it
 
thirdeye462 said:
Hi all,

I'm looking at acquiring my first rifle with the (eventual) goal of shooting out to long-range (1000+ yards). I'm very interested in the 7 PRC, despite all its quirks. It seems like a fantastic cartridge for long-range and has a bit of ass behind it as compared to 6.5 CM.

It's been a couple of years since the 7 PRC was released. Wondering how any 7 PRC shooters here (hunters or otherwise) have found factory ammo availability? Has it improved, stayed the same, or diminished? Much of the US shooting community has had a lot of faith that its availability would increase over time. But what about in Canada?

Think the 7 PRC is here to stay?
Click to expand...
What are these “ Quirks “ you chirp of with the. 7 PRC cartridge 🤷🏼‍♂️ Just wondering 🤔 RJ
 
remington jim said:
What are these “ Quirks “ you chirp of with the. 7 PRC cartridge 🤷🏼‍♂️ Just wondering 🤔 RJ
Click to expand...
Sorry, lol! Poor choice of a word here. My bad.

I remember reading that some of the reloading community was really hopeful before the 7 PRC's release that it would be a necked up 6.5 or a necked-down 300 so existing reloading dies and gear can be used, rather than the case that is has now, forcing reloaders to buy new gear. (Disclosure: reloading is a rabbit hole I am choosing not to do down right now; I'm simply learning at this stage, so I claim zero authority on this subject). The other thing I was referring to was not so much about that cartridge itself, but rather the FPS data Hornady has reported for its factory match loads. Lots of info online that the Hornady Match 7 PRC was coming under 3000 FPS as advertised, much to the disappointment of many. I'm sure there's always gonna be variation between what's reported and what actually is, but the slower FPS seems to have made ripples online that I had noticed in my research.

That's really all I meant. :)
 
Could also step it up to 7mm backcountry.. even faster. But probably more wear and tear. And probably even more difficult to get a hold of in our socialist republic of Canada.
 
For your first long range target shooting rifle, don't get 7 PRC. It's a great hunting cartidge, but expensive ammo/components, quite a bit of recoil and not good to practice the fundamentals for precision shooting.

Traditional 308win or 6.5creedmoor are the most popular ones, followed by 6creedmoor, but it is a barrel burner.
 
When the term " target shooting " is used it is often misconstrued , and I am guilty of that .
"Target shooting" to the vast majority is simply shooting at the range .
For others ( myself included) it means actually shooting match rifles and match shooting .
For general shooting at the range but not competing , danged near any cartridge / rife combination will do .
For match shooting , there are often constrictions on cartridge and rifle configurations , so this has to be taken into account.
If I were building or buying a rifle for general shooting at the range on steel , etc, the PRC would be a mile away from my wheel house!
I would be looking at something far more economical and easier to load for but just as accurate.
Cat
 
sonichanxiao said:
For your first long range target shooting rifle, don't get 7 PRC. It's a great hunting cartidge, but expensive ammo/components, quite a bit of recoil and not good to practice the fundamentals for precision shooting.

Traditional 308win or 6.5creedmoor are the most popular ones, followed by 6creedmoor, but it is a barrel burner.
Click to expand...
Hi soni,

So, aside from the question of economy here, does the idea of choosing an appropriate cartridge/calibre for "practicing the fundamentals" come down to choosing something more susceptible to wind and bullet drop at longer ranges in order to learn how to be better at your hold-overs, see your impacts at distance easier due to lack of recoil, etc.? I've always found the logic here a bit confusing, if that's true. Why would one choose, say, 308 or 6.5 CM, over a cartridge like 6.5 PRC or 7 PRC that have more velocity and are (generally) less impacted by wind and make more of an impact at target? I thought that these would be advantages for 1000+ yards shooting. (That said, there's no friggin' way I could ever afford to shoot 375 Enabler or 338 LM on the regular, lol).

Comparatively, there seems to be no question that 308 and 6.5 are more economical to shoot, easier on the shoulder, and more readily available and represented across various shooting disciplines. It's hard to argue against, for sure. But, since there are shooters waaaaayy more experienced than me, why not ask the question, lol? :)
 
thirdeye462 said:
Hi soni,

So, aside from the question of economy here, does the idea of choosing an appropriate cartridge/calibre for "practicing the fundamentals" come down to choosing something more susceptible to wind and bullet drop at longer ranges in order to learn how to be better at your hold-overs, see your impacts at distance easier due to lack of recoil, etc.? I've always found the logic here a bit confusing, if that's true. Why would one choose, say, 308 or 6.5 CM, over a cartridge like 6.5 PRC or 7 PRC that have more velocity and are (generally) less impacted by wind and make more of an impact at target? I thought that these would be advantages for 1000+ yards shooting. (That said, there's no friggin' way I could ever afford to shoot 375 Enabler or 338 LM on the regular, lol).

Comparatively, there seems to be no question that 308 and 6.5 are more economical to shoot, easier on the shoulder, and more readily available and represented across various shooting disciplines. It's hard to argue against, for sure. But, since there are shooters waaaaayy more experienced than me, why not ask the question, lol? :)
Click to expand...
There is an old saying that if you want to learn to shoot in the wind , use a 308.
My point of view is it doesn't matter whether it's a 308 or a 7mm Mag, unless you learn about wind shooting ,properly, neither cartridge will help you much. i would, not personally advise a new shooter to by a 7PRC " because it bucks the wind better" , because the shooter needs to determine where to hold to get the bullet tom the target to begin with .
I compete in local target rifle match against the 308's with my .223 out to 900 meters, and I hold my own:)
Cat
 
thirdeye462 said:
Hi soni,

So, aside from the question of economy here, does the idea of choosing an appropriate cartridge/calibre for "practicing the fundamentals" come down to choosing something more susceptible to wind and bullet drop at longer ranges in order to learn how to be better at your hold-overs, see your impacts at distance easier due to lack of recoil, etc.? I've always found the logic here a bit confusing, if that's true. Why would one choose, say, 308 or 6.5 CM, over a cartridge like 6.5 PRC or 7 PRC that have more velocity and are (generally) less impacted by wind and make more of an impact at target? I thought that these would be advantages for 1000+ yards shooting. (That said, there's no friggin' way I could ever afford to shoot 375 Enabler or 338 LM on the regular, lol).

Comparatively, there seems to be no question that 308 and 6.5 are more economical to shoot, easier on the shoulder, and more readily available and represented across various shooting disciplines. It's hard to argue against, for sure. But, since there are shooters waaaaayy more experienced than me, why not ask the question, lol? :)
Click to expand...
From my experience and understanding, you don't want to start with something big e.g. 300 win mag, 338 lapua mag those kind of thing, it's too much kick for precision shooting, nor something like smaller like 223rem or 6BR/Dasher/GT etc which has much less recoil and also less B.C. which might not be a good option for shoting 1000yard competitively, for mid-range around 600yard, smaller calibers are oustanding.
And like iron cat mentioned, there is a saying, 308win is a good caliber to learn shooting long range. My interpretation is it would help you not only knowing how to read/hold wind at further distance, but also teach you how to manage the recoil properly (some prefer learning it using a lighter rifle without muzzle brake) and other fundamentals like pre-load bipod, breath, trigger control, follow through etc.

For 308win/6.5cm vs 6.5PRC/7PRC, you may need to clarify what your requirement is first. No doubt the PRCs has more powder load, thus more velocity, more energy so you can spot the miss easily and less affect by the wind for shooting over 1000yard, 308win won't do the same, but 6.5cm is possibly still can do if you are only going to reach around 1200yard not something around 1mile. For what we can shoot around GTA, 1000 is the longest distance we have for now unless you know any spot can do much further, I wouldn't worry too much about the cartridge perforamnce over 1000yard for now. 6.5cm would be my choice to compete with 7mm F-Class calibers for long distance, it's cheaper to shoot and less recoil.

I started with a 6.5cm, then went back to the 308win to learn those fundamentals. I do agree 7 PRC is a great cartridge, but it would not be a wise choice as someone's first rifle unless specifically for hunting. 6.5PRC, maybe, depends if you want to go straight into F-Class using calibers like 7-6.5PRCW.
Consider first rifle is an investment for you to learn a lot of stuff, otherwise build your own R700 rifle which you would have more flexibility on caliber options and you can swap the barrel for a different caliber at home.

Just some of my thoughts.
 
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