SAAMI Accepts Two New Hornady Rifle Cartridges

The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI), which, among many other tasks, creates and publishes industry standards for safety, reliability and interchangeability for the firearm industry, accepted two new Hornady-designed cartridges. Chamber and cartridge drawings for the 6.5 Precision Rifle Cartridge (6.5 PRC) and .300 PRC are already available on the organization’s website.

“SAAMI member companies are the leaders of firearm and ammunition development and innovation,” said Rick Patterson, SAAMI’s executive director. “Both the 6.5 and .300 PRC cartridges seek to meet the demand for increased accuracy in today’s trending sport of long-range shooting, and we are pleased to add these new cartridges to our SAAMI Standards.”

“You get a 200 fps improvement over the 6.5 Creedmoor, “Neal Emery, Hornady communications manager, said during the 6.5 PRC’s introduction late last year, labeling it the 6.5 Creedmoor’s “big brother.” Despite using a moderate powder charge, muzzle velocity of the 147-grain bullet in Hornady’s ELD Match load from a 24-inch barrel is 2,910 fps. At 500 yards it drops to only 2,275 fps and remains supersonic at 1,300 yards, the kind of performance with guaranteed appeal for long-distance shooters.

“Both the 6.5 PRC and the .300 PRC are multi-functional cartridges that are excellent choices for target and match shooting as well as hunting applications,” said Joe Thielen, Hornady’s assistant director of engineering. “The primary focus of the design of both the 6.5 PRC and the .300 PRC has always been long-range precision shooting. These cartridges and their respective chamber designs were carefully engineered to efficiently use today’s low-drag projectiles coupled with modern propellants that provide shooters with the capability to hit targets at ever increasing distances.”

Richard Mann tested the cartridge early, noting, “By comparison, at 1,000 yards the Hornady 6.5 PRC is traveling 5 percent faster than a .300 Win. Mag. But, the amazing statistic is that the 6.5 PRC does this with only about 68 percent of a.300 Win. Mag.’s recoil.”