Which is Better? .300 Win Mag vs 300 PRC

What’s better, the good old fashioned .300 Win Mag, or the newcomer — the 300 PRC? In this story, we dig into comparing these 2 cartridges. We go head-to-head, looking at case capacity, recoil, ballistics, load data, and more. Check it out!

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.300 Winchester Magnum

Introduced by Winchester in 1963, the .300 Winchester Magnum has earned the respect of big game hunters worldwide. For decades, it has been the choice of those who wanted a .30 caliber cartridge with more power and velocity than the .30-06. It follows the .300 H&H Magnum, the .300 Weatherby Magnum, and other belted magnums, all of which offer greater powder capacity than the .30-06. It is particularly popular for use on larger game species such as elk, moose, brown bear and the larger African antelope. I got my first .300 Winchester Magnum in 1983, a Ruger 77, and it proved to be a good hunting rifle.

Since the 1930s, .300 magnums have been used for long-range target competition. Once the 300 Winchester Magnum was introduced, it became widely accepted for that purpose as well. The .300 Win Mag has also been used by special law enforcement and the U.S. military as a sniper cartridge, a role in which it excelled. Chris Kyle should need no introduction:

Chris Kyle on the 300 Winchester Magnum:

“The .300 is a little heavier gun by design. It shoots like a laser. Anything from a thousand yards and out, you’re just plain nailing it. And on closer targets, you don’t have to worry about too much correction for your come-ups. You can dial in your five-hundred-yard dope and still hit a target from one hundred to seven hundred yards without worrying too much about making minute adjustments. I used a .300 Win Mag for most of my kills.” – Chris Kyle

There is no doubt that the .300 Winchester Magnum has earned the respect of hunters, the military, law enforcement and long range rifle competitors, but could there be something better? Let’s look at the much newer 300 PRC introduced by Hornady in 2018.

300 PRC

The 300 PRC is based on the beltless .375 Ruger case. This case, co-designed by Ruger and Hornady and introduced in 2007, is intended to better handle longer, heavy, high BC bullets. It’s notable that Hornady only offers 300 PRC ammunition with three different bullets, all of which are long and heavy with high ballistic coefficients.

In contrast to the standard 1:10 twist of the .300 Winchester Magnum, these bullets stabilize through a standard 1:8.5” twist barrel.

Even though the 300 PRC is only a few years old, it’s already been adopted for a variety of the same applications as .300 Win Mag. Hunters, military snipers, and long-range target shooters have welcomed the 300 PRC. Some even use it for Extreme Long Distance competition.

.300 Win Mag vs 300 PRC

The differences between the cartridges largely reflect the differences in the thinking of the times in which they were introduced. In the 1960s, the “belted magnum craze” was in full swing with an emphasis on high velocity. This is why the .300 Winchester Magnum was, and still is, offered with stubby, lightweight, soft-point 150 grain bullets at a scorching 3275 fps. In contrast, the lightest 300 PRC offered by Hornady is a long, tough 190 grain CX bullet advertised at 3000 fps muzzle velocity.

Even a casual examination of the 300 PRC case reveals important differences from the older belted magnum. Firstly, there’s no belt! The belt on the older magnums is unnecessary and is simply a holdover from the .375 H&H cartridge introduced in 1912. Secondly, the 300 PRC overall cartridge length is 0.360” longer than the .300 Winchester Magnum. Third, the .300 Winchester Magnum has long been criticized for having a short case neck. The 300 PRC has a much longer case neck; this means that long bullets don’t intrude inside the case as much.

Looking closer reveals modern accuracy-enhancing differences in the chamber specifications. Notably, the .300 Winchester Magnum is throated for 0.007” bullet clearance, whereas the 300 PRC specifies 0.0008” — roughly 10 times tighter!

Key points favoring the 300 PRC are the lack of a belt, longer case neck, tighter chamber dimensions, and a faster standard twist rate. The 300 PRC can be viewed as an evolution of the .30 caliber magnum concept. It’s still a more powerful .30 caliber magnum, but with modern case design optimized to handle long, heavy, high BC bullets.

Bergara B-14 Wilderness HMR

It’s no secret that we like Bergara rifles here at Ultimate Reloader! I’ve got one, my son has one, and there are several at the UR shop. All have performed well. We asked Bergara to send us two rifles, identical except for the chambering. They sent us a pair of B-14 Wilderness HMR rifles, one a .300 Win Mag, the other a 300 PRC.

From Bergara:

The B-14 Wilderness HMR rifle features our integrated mini-chassis molded into the stock to give the rifle repeatable bedding and accuracy. This rifle is also outfitted with a Bergara Performance Trigger. The Wilderness HMR is for the hunter that wants a no-nonsense performer that is built to withstand the backcountry. We are breaking through the uninhabited and inhospitable regions to bring you the weather protection needed to withstand these conditions.

The Wilderness HMR brings match-rifle type features to a hunting rifle and is intended for precise shooting at longer ranges.

The stock is comfortable and adjustable for length of pull as well as comb height. The synthetic stock has a “mini chassis” and is far stiffer than many other synthetic stocks. Gavin and I both appreciate the flush cup sling mounting points which allow a sling to be attached to the side of the rifle for particularly comfortable carry.

Bergara is famous for their high-quality barrels. These rifles are equipped with 26” Number 6 contour barrels threaded and equipped with a radial muzzle brake. Both are finished with Sniper Grey Cerakote®. The .300 Winchester Magnum has the standard 1:10 twist while the 300 PRC has a faster 1:9 twist to better accommodate longer bullets.

We topped the .300 Winchester Magnum with an Athlon Cronus BTR Gen 2 4.5-29×56 Riflescope.

The 300 PRC was scoped with an Element Optics Theos 6-36×56 which Gavin covered in April 2024.

Test Loads

I hadn’t loaded for the .300 Winchester Magnum in several years. I bought my RCBS dies new in 1983 and my handwritten notes are still inside the plastic case. I enjoyed putting the dies to work again and effortlessly sized the fresh Lapua cases on the very smooth RCBS Summit press.

I also loaded the 300 PRC on the RCBS Summit press, but with a set of Hornady dies that included a micrometer adjustable seating die.

Each of these two powerful cartridges requires large charges of slow-burning powder. It was easy to see the level of powder drop visibly in the RCBS Uniflow each time I charged a case with 80+ grains of MagPro! It’s a bit of a shock to realize that fewer than 100 cartridges can be charged by a pound of either of the powders we used, Accurate MagPro and Ramshot Grand. The large charges of slow-burning powder seemed best ignited by a large rifle magnum primer. I used match-grade Federal 215 large rifle magnum primers for both cartridges.

Seating the bullets was easy with the RCBS Summit press, but I did have to be very careful with the seating depth of the long 212 and 225 grain bullets in the short-necked .300 Winchester Magnum. Seating depth is likely to hinge on the magazine and chamber dimensions of a particular rifle. That was simply not a problem with the 300 PRC, it was designed to use those long bullets. I loaded three different projectiles in both cartridges: Hornady 212 grain ELD-x, Hornady 225 grain ELD-M, and Berger 180 Grain Elite Hunter bullets.

Hornady 212gr ELD-X

The 212 grain ELD-X is one of the bullets Hornady uses in their 300 PRC factory ammunition. It is also found in their Precision Hunter line of ammunition. Gavin took a muley buck at modest range with his 300 PRC and this bullet.

Gavin took his buck on his property with the 212 grain Hornady ELD-X and a 300 PRC rifle.

Berger 180gr Elite Hunter

I used the 180 grain Berger Elite Hunter bullet to take a mule deer buck with my .30-06 a couple of years ago. It proved accurate and effective. Berger hunting bullets are a bit controversial, but Gavin and I have had great success with them.

Guy dropped this mule deer buck at 350 yards with his 30-06 and a 180 grain Berger Elite Hunter.

Check out the full story here: Father / Son Deer Hunt: 6mm Remington + 30-06 – Ultimate Reloader

Chronograph Results

The .300 Winchester Magnum and 180 grain hunting bullets go together very well. That’s a common choice and a good one. From the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s, I often hunted with a .300 Win Mag and 180 grain bullets. Over time I became convinced that cup and core 165’s were too light for best performance with the .300 magnums and that the .300 Win Mag responded very well to 200 grain hunting bullets.

Hornady treats the 300 PRC to 190, 212, and 225 grain bullets in their factory ammunition. The 180 Berger performed well for us at the range producing tight groups and good velocity. The chronograph told us quite a bit about these two cartridges and the three different long-range bullets.

It’s clear that either Accurate MagPro or Ramshot Grand are good choices for either of these cartridges. Both cartridges have a prodigious appetite for large charges of slow burning powder.

Our 300 Winchester Magnum produced somewhat higher velocity than our 300 PRC. I found it interesting that the difference was most pronounced with the lighter 180 grain bullets and much less so with the heavier 225 grain bullets.

Recoil Comparison

Gavin conducted a recoil test using the Ultimate Reloader Recoil Rig.

We were able to take three test shots for each cartridge and measure the force directly at the buttstock. The data is shown here.

Despite the powerful cartridges and heavy bullets I found the recoil of each rifle to be quite tolerable. This is due to the good stock design, the weight of the 26” Number 6 taper barrel, and the very effective radial muzzle brake. I could detect no difference in recoil between them.

Case Capacity

Gavin checked the case capacity of the two fired cartridges and found that the PRC has a 3.7% increase over the 300 Winchester Magnum.

Although our .300 Win Mag produced slightly higher velocities in this test, I believe with additional handload development the 300 PRC would outperform the slightly smaller .300 Win Mag. The cartridges are quite close in powder capacity and velocity.

1,000 Yard Ballistics

My take on this is that at “normal” hunting ranges, there’s no practical difference between the two. However at longer range, a thousand yards, the difference in drop is nearly a foot!

The most important takeaway for me is that at long range, a velocity disparity is magnified and becomes quite significant. It’s important to tighten up those SD figures when loading for long range!

A Previous Head-to-Head: 7mm Rem Mag vs 7mm PRC

Though I’ve long been a fan of the good old 7mm Remington Magnum IF I was starting fresh I’d choose the 7 PRC. It’s just a better answer for precision shooting and longer ranges.

Conclusion

Gavin and I reached the same conclusion here. If I was going to get get a 300 magnum rifle, I’d choose the 300 PRC as it’s just a better case and chamber to work with and is particularly good with the long, heavy bullets I favor with magnum cartridges for longish range shooting.