Hornady recently announced the sale of loaded ammo for the 6.5 PRC round. It appears the cartridge is similar in concept to the 6.5 SAUM, but with slightly less boiler room. It’s my understanding that the PRC’s expected muzzle velocity will be 40-50 fps less than the 6.5 SAUM’s. For those of us who rely on factory ammo, this is good news for long distance precision/tactical/steel match shooting.

I shoot Hornady’s 6.5 Creedmoor. The Creedmoor is a great round, but it’s not the best for competing in Extended Long Range (ELR) matches – as I learned first-hand in this year’s Wyoming ELR match, where a number of targets were in the 1200 to 1700 yard range.

So I plugged the expected numbers into JBM, to compare 6.5 Creedmoor with 6.5 PRC. My 6.5 CM pushes the 140 ELDM at 2820 fps with a 26” barrel and a can. I’m guessing the 6.5 PRC will push the 147 ELDM at 2950 fps with a 26” barrel and a can. JBM data for 8,000’ DA, in drop & 10 mph drift in MOA, velocity in mach.

1,000 yards
Creed – 24.9 drop, 4.7 drift, 1.59 mach
PRC – 21.1 drop, 3.7 drift, 1.79 mach

1,400 yards
Creed – 42.9 drop, 7.3 drift, 1.28 mach
PRC – 35.5 drop, 5.6 drift, 1.50 mach

1,800 yards
Creed – 67.7 drop, 10.6 drift, 1.00 mach
PRC – 54.1 drop, 7.9 drift, 1.24 mach

The PRC shows notably improved long range ballistics over the Creedmoor, with a round that shouldn’t exhibit overly heavy recoil. Hornady may have introduced a winner.

I won’t jump to the 6.5 PRC at this time – the rifle & scope investment is too much for me. I plan to shoot the Wyoming ELR match again next year with my 6.5 Creedmoor. Hopefully, I will better understand the challenges of lobbing the long ball the second time around.

Thank you, fritz, for that analysis. When I saw Hornady’s announcement my first thoughts were about the 6.5 Creedmoor and Why? There are some interesting developments and trends in rifle cartridges these days, it seems to me, and now there’s something else to ponder. I will be very interested in seeing how the 6.5 PRC fares in the future. Being good at what it’s designed for isn’t always enough.

Sure it's fun to look at the ballistics.....that doesn't tell us the whole story. I'm far more interested in accuracy, ease of tuning a load....

If I just looked at ballistics, I would still be shooting 6x47's instead of a silly accurate/easy to tune Dasher

A few around me chambered 6.5saums, 7saum necked down to 6.5. 130-140 class bullet scooting along well above 3000fps, very impressive ballistics. 6.5saum shooters tell me they just shoot OK comparing them to 6.5x47's.... Maybe the 6.5PCR will be different? I certainly do see the advantage to these flat shooting 6.5's for the average hunter.

offgrid -- valid point on the tuning and accuracy issues.

A while back, GA Precision pushed the 4S round, which I believe is very similar to a 6.5 SAUM. Initially they described it as a do-all hunting and precision round. Not long after, GAP transitioned to calling the 4S a great hunting round, and became silent on it as a precision round. I haven't seen a precision rifle chambered in 4S on GAP's site in a long time.

Time will tell if the 6.5 PRC is accurate -- especially at long distance and over the course of a barrel's effective life.

But for now, I'll stick with my Creedmoor. Which means in next year's ELR match, my Creedmoor will be the mousegun -- not your Dasher.

I do like the PRC in theory better than the Saum. The Saum for me shoots better and has better ESs on its lower node. That's 3050ish on 140s and 3150ish on 130s. The Saum is also pushing it on length with the 140s in a short action. I think the shorter PRC will address this better and I'm guessing will have enough back end to get to the lower node Saum velocities. Time will tell on the tuning. I do think it stands a better chance than the Saum but at this point just guesses. The Saum for me works well as a hunting cartridge. I won't use or recommend for anything else. Since I only use for hunting I won't change to the PRC just to do it. I would however choose it over the Saum if starting from scratch.

The 6.5's have certainly caught ON here in my part of MT with antelope/deer hunters. My shooting buddy/machinist has built a few, light weight, 6.5 x 47 Lapuas lately. And all sorts of folks NOW interested in the 6.5 x .284 for the same purpose.

My 6.5 Lapua reamer is getting a work out.

It will be interesting to see if the PRC hits a sweet spot. I'm interested but might not be a Beta tester. Among my groups experience the 6.5 Saum worked a lot better than the higher capacity 6.5 WSM. More isn't always better.........