Battle of the 30s

[Vernal2014]

Great analysis. Thanks for putting this together.

 

[MTRaine]

Great article I’m really glad he was so objective. A lot of people have down right dismissed the 300 win with the up and coming PRC, when technically they are pretty much potato poetawto. The PRCs greatest downfall is brass quality, however in the future hopefully that will change.

 

[Matt W.]

Ryan F, do you believe the review would be any different if all 3 rifles were the same build / set up? In other words how much of the variance, do you feel, was rifle vs caliber? Or does that even matter. ??

 

[FURMAN]

Ryan F, do you believe the review would be any different if all 3 rifles were the same build / set up? In other words how much of the variance, do you feel, was rifle vs caliber? Or does that even matter. ??

I do not feel it would be any different at all. I have chambered two of the same brand of barrel with the same reamer before and got different results. My experiences are outlined in the article. There will be fast barrels and there will be slow barrels. Some do not want to admit it when their favorite cartridge gets a fast barrel and some don't want their friends to know when their pet cartridge gets a slow barrel. My latest 30 Nosler hits pressure at the fastest speeds of all four of my 30 nosler but there is no accuracy up there and the accuracy node is at the slowest speed of all four of my 30 Noslers. That is just how it works. I would personally always choose the highest case capacity that meets your needs. For me that is OAL under 3.75" with a .532 bolt face.

 

[Matt W.]

Got ya, considering a Ridgeline in a 30 caliber and debating which one. Its nice to have options, but it does make for some mental rabbit trails... : ) Appreciate the time you put into this...

 

[Lonald]

Maybe it stems from fond memories of our fathers or grandfathers pulling the ol' 30-06 out of the cabinet with the faint aroma of Hoppe's No. 9 or from reading too many Jack O'Connor stories. Maybe it's another reason altogether. It seems as if most of us have a very strong opinion of what the best cartridge is. Over the next several months I will be testing an old warrior along side two of the newest and hottest 30 caliber cartridges. I will be testing the 300 Winchester Magnum, the 30 Nosler, and the new 300 PRC. The plan is to have three 26" barrels, using H1000, and Berger 215s to see how they compare. I will also be testing a few select factory ammo offerings in each. Will we have a clear winner? I guess we will see. Stay tuned.

Left: 300 WM with 215 Berger seated with the boat tail junction at the neck shoulder junction
Middle: 300 prc factory 212 ELD-X
Right: 30 Nosler with a 215 Berger seated .030 off the lands of a SAAMI chamber.

Great post

 

[Elkfitness]

Finally got to read this . Great right up!!


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[cyocham]

Interested in the results.

 

[Cwordner89]

Just goes to show that sometimes the old cartridges are taken for granted. Nice post.

 

[Redrockhunter]

Very helpful

 

[Timnterra]

I’ve enjoyed reading this post and the comparison. Was the PRC the only 9 twist barrel, maybe I missed the twist of the other two barrels. I have never had a .30 cal with anything faster than a 1-10” twist barrel and I don’t know why the push to speed up the twist rate. Was the PRC a proof research barrel? Do you think the twist rate was the cause of the poor accuracy?

 

[FURMAN]

I’ve enjoyed reading this post and the comparison. Was the PRC the only 9 twist barrel, maybe I missed the twist of the other two barrels. I have never had a .30 cal with anything faster than a 1-10” twist barrel and I don’t know why the push to speed up the twist rate. Was the PRC a proof research barrel? Do you think the twist rate was the cause of the poor accuracy?

The PRC was a 9, the Noser a 9.5, the win mag a 10. No, I don't think the 9 twist had anything to do with how picky is was. The desire for faster twist is out of necessity to shoot larger bullets. My smith told me Proofs are often very finicky. I have only had two. The other was my 6.5 PRC and is was super easy to tune with multiple loads. After my Africa trip I yanked the 300prc barrel off to put on a 6.5 prc barrel for my Dall sheep hunt but I will be putting it back on soon for a backup on a barbary sheep hunt. The barrel is accurate just very picky on the bullet/powder.

 

[Timnterra]

I must not be up on the new high bc bullets that people are shooting. The last time I checked the Berger stability calculator a 1-10” twist would stabilize a 230 hybrid at 3000 FPS. I don’t have much use for the 230 so I guess I never cared to see what else was out there beyond the 215.

 

[autorotate19]

I wonder how much velocity difference there would be between all three if this test was done with shorter barrels? Say 22" or 24", reason being if a guy was planning on running a suppressor all the time.

 

[FURMAN]

You can typically count on 20-25 FPS per inch. The suppressor would give a little back.


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[autorotate19]

You can typically count on 20-25 FPS per inch. The suppressor would give a little back.


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Sorry if it was mentioned earlier but what are your thoughts on the 300 Norma?

Thanks

 

[FURMAN]

Barely more capacity than ADG 30 Nosler brass and needs a Lapua bolt face. It MAY not feed as nice but does have Lapua brass. My current stance is I would rather not have the Lapua bolt face and all the negatives for the very little gain.

 

[fraz01]

First post here on the site, so hi to all. Very interesting post, I have been looking at the 300 PRC to replace a 300 WBY. Currently working on extending a model 70 CRF magazine box. Currently shoot the Nosler 200 grain Partition and AB in the Weatherby. Thanks for the great read.

 

[fwafwow]

Thanks for this! A suggestion and a few questions:

1. Can you amend the first post to include a link to the review? I've read the article twice and each time scrolled to post 158 to get to the article. Might make it easier for others in the future.

2. I was very interested in the 300 PRC but am less so after this article. How much do you attribute your challenges to the particular barrel? Since I'm not a reloader, I'd be afraid of having a similar experience. Easy for me to say (), but if you ever get another 300 PRC barrel, could you re-run the test?

3. Anyone know of major manufacturers and semi-custom options on the horizon for the 300 PRC - ideally in CRF? (I expect the CRF is unrealistic given how few there are outside of a custom build.)

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[cp25od]

Great info!