7 PRC and Magnum Powder

jbseamus83

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I built a 7 PRC off of the Howa 1500 barreled action last year. I didn't get around to developing handloads for it and just used Hornady's Outfitter with the 160 gr cx this last hunting season. It shot well enough (around 1 moa).

I've now started developing some handloads. I started with H1000. I have a load that looks promising, but I'm testing a couple of powders with the 162 gr ELD-X. I loaded some loads with Magnum powder and shot a few of them. None of them are inside of 3 inch groups. Now, to be fair, I shot them after shooting about 25 rounds out of my rifle with the H1000.

I took 5-10 minute breaks between each 4 round group the whole day. But the Magnum did not want to group. I'm going to reload the same groups and go shoot them with a cool barrel, but I'm wondering if anyone has found a load they liked with Magnum powder. I also have 168 grams of ABLR bullets and 175 grams of gameking bullets to try at some point.
 
I built a 7 PRC off of the Howa 1500 barreled action last year. I didn't get around to developing handloads for it and just used Hornady's Outfitter with the 160 gr cx this last hunting season. It shot well enough (around 1 moa).

I've now started developing some handloads. I started with H1000. I have a load that looks promising, but I'm testing a couple of powders with the 162 gr ELD-X. I loaded some loads with Magnum powder and shot a few of them. None of them are inside of 3 inch groups. Now, to be fair, I shot them after shooting about 25 rounds out of my rifle with the H1000.

I took 5-10 minute breaks between each 4 round group the whole day. But the Magnum did not want to group. I'm going to reload the same groups and go shoot them with a cool barrel, but I'm wondering if anyone has found a load they liked with Magnum powder. I also have 168 grams of ABLR bullets and 175 grams of gameking bullets to try at some point.
I've been using H4831SC in my 7mm RM with a 150-gr CX. 0.54 MOA (max) after load development based on a total of 95 shots to date. I also tried H1000 when I was starting my load development but didn't get as good performance or group size. Shooting the factory Hornady CX loads initially yielded very poor grouping but I liked the bullet so I stayed with it. If you go from all-copper to bonded, then you shouldn't have accuracy issues. But going from bonded to all-copper requires a thorough cleaning otherwise you are likely to get poor accuracy results. How the barrel is fouled seems to make a difference.
 
Clean your barrel real good.
And I’m guessing you are using 1st fired Horny brass?
Load 3 to 5 rounds each with the bullets you have an see if any have potential. If not change powder, I recommend
N- 560/565. For 7 prc.
Hope this helps.
 

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