Which is Better? 300 Win Mag vs 300 PRC

What’s better, the good old fashioned 300 Win Mag, or the newcomer – the 300 RPC? 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!

Disclaimer

Ultimate Reloader LLC / Making with Metal Disclaimer: (by reading this article and/or watching video content you accept these terms). The content on this website (including videos, articles, ammunition reloading data, technical articles, gunsmithing and other information) is for demonstration purposes only. Do not attempt any of the processes or procedures shown or described on this website. All gunsmithing procedures should be carried out by a qualified and licensed gunsmith at their own risk. Do not attempt to repair or modify any firearms based on information on this website. Ultimate Reloader, LLC and Making With Metal can not be held liable for property or personal damage due to viewers/readers of this website performing activities, procedures, techniques, or practices described in whole or part on this website. By accepting these terms, you agree that you alone are solely responsible for your own safety and property as it pertains to activities, procedures, techniques, or practices described in whole or part on this website.

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, more 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.

The 300 Winchester Magnum has also been pressed into service in 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 “

The 300 Win Mag has also been chosen for some special law enforcement sniper applications in which a long range shot might be necessary.

Since the 1930’s the 300 magnums have been used for long-range target competition. Once the 300 Winchester Magnum was introduced it became widely accepted for that purpose. 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, which was co-designed by Ruger and Hornady and introduced in 2007. This gives the 300 PRC a new, modern case design intended to better handle the longer, heavy, high BC bullets. It’s noteworthy that Hornady offers the 300 PRC in only three different bullets, all of which are long, heavy high BC offerings:

These long, high BC bullets are stabilized with a standard 1:8.5” twist barrel, in contrast to the standard 1:10 twist of the 300 Winchester Magnum.

Even though the 300 PRC is only a few years old, it’s already been adopted by many hunters, as well as the U.S. military as a sniper rifle, and by long-range target shooters, even extending into Extreme Long Distance competition.

The differences between the cartridges largely reflect the differences in thinking of the times in which they were introduced. In the 1960’s the “belted magnum craze” was in full swing with the emphasis on high velocity. This is why the 300 Winchester Magnum was, and is still 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.

300 Win Mag vs 300 PRC

Even a casual examination of the 300 PRC case reveals important differences from the older belted magnum. First, 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. Also the 300 Winchester Magnum has long been criticized for having a short case neck. The 300 PRC has a much longer case neck meaning that long bullets don’t intrude inside the case as much.

The 300 PRC overall cartridge length is 0.360” longer than the 300 Winchester Magnum.

With a deeper look we find 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 looked at 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 B14 Wilderness HMR

It’s no secret that here at Ultimate Reloader we like Bergara rifles! I’ve got one, my son has one, there are several of them here at the UR shop and 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. A rifle 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 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 – Video on that optic here:

Test Loads

I hadn’t loaded the 300 Winchester Magnum in several years. My RCBS dies were purchased new in 1983 and my handwritten notes are 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.

The 300 PRC was also loaded on the RCBS Summit press 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 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. In this case match grade Federal 215 large rifle magnum primers were used for both cartridges.

Seating the bullets was easy with the RCBS Summit press. 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.

Hornady 212gr ELD-X

This is one of the bullets used by Hornady with the 300 PRC factory ammunition, and is 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.

Check out that story here: Is 300 PRC Too Much for Deer? Field Results! – Ultimate Reloader

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 for me. 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 1980’s to the mid 1990’s 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 using 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 3 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.