Having a newly found friend put be together a do-all hunting rifle. I already have nice setups in .308 and 30-06. Initially I was set on 7PRC, but based on chambering concerns and lack of ammo I am seriously leaning toward .300 WSM. With factory barnes ammunition I would be getting 3,500 FT LBS of energy at the muzzle with a 168 gr. TTSX. Any other thoughts are reason to go back to the PRC. He is not going to start the build to after the first of the year.
Thanks!
7 PRC is an awesome all-around cartridge, but you will be limited on ammo options for another year or two. If the gun doesn’t like Hornady ELD-X and you don’t build hand loads, you might be in for a rough start.
I’d go with the 7 Rem Mag. Or 270 Winchester. Tons of ammo choices, will kill anything in North America, and have a manageable recoil.
300 Win Mag/WSM would be another great option with a lot of ammo choices, but I would consider it overkill for anything smaller than an elk and has a lot more recoil. I think you’ll lose more deer meat with these to be honest.
I shoot 300 WM and have shot blacktails, whitetails, elk, and pronghorn with it. I shoot 165gr coppers. I generally hit or try to hit the spots that do not have meat loss such as lungs, heart area or high shoulder. I wonder if meat loss is any different for most high powered rounds? Frankly not much meat on a BT shoulder. If you shoot a ham you have a whole different problem. I am not worried about this very much really. Recoil can be a thing but when hunting but I never notice it. Brain shuts off a lot of stuff that is not needed when in target mode. I use a lead sled for shooting off the bench so that helps a lot with 50 lbs of weight. WSM same thing as a WM but less ammo around.
Yeah, my first deer rifle was a 7 mm Rem mag. A family member sold it to me for cheap and I was young and poor at the time.
Always managed to do heart, lung shots. Did ruin some rib meat but I never really used the ribs for anything anyway.
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Thanks guys, good insight, base on component weights my rifle should be at just shy of 7 pounds without rings/optics. Recoil is a concern - my .308 is 6 lbs and kicks like a mule 
| Component | Vendor | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Barrel | Proof Research Lite Sendaro .30 cal, 22 inches | 43 |
| Action | Lone Peak Fuzion/Nitride | 31.5 |
| Trigger | Trigger Tech Special | |
| Bottom Metal | Hawkins Hunter DBM | 2.8 |
| Stock | AG Composites Sportsman or McMillan Hunters Edge Sendaro | 27 |
| Chambering/Brake | ||
| 104.3 | ||
| Weight | 6.51875 |
300wsm is a great cartridge too. Good choice. But I honestly think you’ll find as much ammo in 7 prc as 300wsm by next year. Other companies are already starting to ship 7 prc ammo.
Looks like you have a sweet build set out there. Excited to see pics when it’s done.