7 PRC vs 7mm Rem Mag: Here’s Why the New Cartridge Is Superior

There was a time when American shooters were not very fond of rifle cartridges with “mm” in their names. The 7mm Remington Magnum helped change that attitude when it was introduced 64 years ago alongside the iconic Remington 700 bolt action rifle. For Big Green, the timing was perfect. Big-game hunters quickly came to view the combination as a perfect marriage, especially for hunting elk and mule deer in big, open country.

Since then, shooters have been able to employ numerous 7mm cartridges, but few could challenge the popularity of the 7mm Rem Mag. That’s changing with 7mm offerings that showcase advances in cartridge design. One newbie that not only challenges, but in many ways beats the 7mm Rem Mag, is the 7mm PRC, brought to us by the innovative minds at Hornady. 

With these two cartridges, we have a classic old-school versus new-school matchup. Here’s a closer look at how they stack up against one another and what you need to know to choose the cartridge that’s right for you.

History

The 7mm Rem Mag was largely a creation of outfitter and firearms writer Les Bowman, who experimented for some time to come up with an optimal cartridge for hunting elk in high, open country. What he really wanted was a cartridge that would bring more energy than a .30-06 Springfield, without generating terribly punishing recoil, while flying with the flat trajectory of the 270 Win. 

He found a solution by necking down the .338 Win Mag to 7mm and shortening the neck. He initially called the cartridge the .280 Rem Mag, but Remington changed the name to 7mm Rem Mag upon introduction because the company didn’t want to kill its 280 Remington cartridge. Sales took off almost immediately, and the 7mm Rem Mag established itself as one of the most popular hunting cartridges of the time. It has since been used to take virtually every game animal on the planet.

The 7mm Rem Mag remains popular today in a world awash in new cartridge designs, but the newer 7mm PRC is stealing some of the 7mm Rem Mag’s thunder.  

The 7mm PRC made quite a splash when it was introduced by Hornady just four years ago, with some calling it the “modern magnum” of 7mm cartridges. That’s because it embodies the same modern cartridge design principles used in rounds like the 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, and 300 PRC. In some ways, it outshines all of these, and delivers more efficient performance than the 7mm Rem. Mag. It does so from a standard-length action without using a belted case.

Based on a shortened .375 Ruger parent case, the 7mm PRC uses long, heavy-for-caliber bullets in rifles with fast rates of twist (most often 1:8). As a result, it shoots flat, bucks the wind, retains velocity downrange and is inherently accurate. Using Hornady’s 175-gr. ELD-X bullet, the round stays supersonic past 1,800 yards, and energy doesn’t drop below 1,000 foot-pounds until nearly 1,200 yards. That’s overkill for the whitetail woods, but it makes the cartridge a great choice for Western hunters pursuing mule deer and elk at longer ranges. It is also very much at home on the African plains.

Accuracy

Rifles chambered in 7mm PRC generally produce great accuracy — especially when compared to some of the traditional magnum cartridges. PRC stands for Precision Rifle Cartridge, and the entire family of PRC cartridges was designed from the beginning to produce superior accuracy at distance.

The 7mm Rem Mag was not. It was designed to perform well on game at a time when 1.5-MOA accuracy was considered very good for factory rifles using factory ammunition. This isn’t to say that the 7mm Rem Mag is an inaccurate cartridge. Over the years, my average 3-shot groups with most 7mm Rem Mag rifles were fairly close to one MOA, or a little better with loads those rifles preferred — a few guns occasionally did better. This, of course, is just my anecdotal experiences shooting the cartridge, not the end-all-be-all commentary on its accuracy.  

The rifles I’ve shot in 7mm PRC have seldom failed to print 3/4-MOA-or-better average groups and half-inch-or-better best groups at 100 yards (these were 3-shot groups, again take this as anecdotal evidence).  

Individual 7mm Rem Mag rifles are capable of very good accuracy, but based on my experiences, the overall accuracy advantage goes to the 7mm PRC. Outdoor Life Shooting Editor John Snow also gives the 7 PRC the nod.

“The 7mm Rem Mag can certainly shoot well, but you typically need to jump through a couple of extra hoops to get great performance with the top 7mm target bullets,” as he puts it. “The 7 PRC is the easy button because of the inherent accuracy baked into its design.”

Recoil

You will often hear that the 7mm Rem Mag produces more recoil than the 7mm PRC, but that’s necessarily the case. Yes, the 7mm Rem Mag can produce a punishing level of recoil, especially out of lighter rifles with heavier loads. However, many hunters commonly shoot 7mm Rem Mag ammo loaded with lighter 140- to 160-gr. bullets, which can produce less recoil than shooting the 7mm PRC’s heavier standard bullets. 

Those fast, light loads came in handy at a time when hunters were mostly using the holdover method for longer shots (before laser rangefinders were invented). Part of the 7mm Rem Mag’s appeal, especially with Western hunters, was that it shot relatively flat.

On average, the 7mm Rem Mag produces about 22-25 ft-lbs. of recoil energy, while the 7mm PRC produces average recoil energy of approximately 25-29 ft-lbs. However, those average numbers can be misleading because recoil energy varies greatly depending on factors like rifle weight, bullet weight, and powder charge. 

With heavy rifles, recoil with both the 7mm Rem Mag and 7mm PRC is manageable for most shooters. Drop the rifle weight down, and recoil can become a problem for either cartridge. With seven-pound rifles, for example, the 7mm PRC produces 33.9 ft-lbs. of recoil energy with a 175-grain bullet, while the 7mm Rem Mag generates 29.45 ft-lbs. of energy with a 162-grain bullet. 

With both cartridges, recoil is significantly higher than with short-action cartridges, but it’s less than the recoil of most belted magnums producing true magnum velocities. Of course, recoil can be partially mitigated with the use of good recoil pads and muzzle brakes.

Ballistics

There is no question that the 7mm PRC is ballistically superior to the 7mm Rem Mag when used with the heavier, sleeker bullets the cartridge is designed for. But is the difference enough to justify choosing one over the other? Let’s look at two cartridges using the same relatively heavy bullet weights, with all numbers calculated for an altitude of 5,000 feet and a 200-yard zero. 

Hornady’s 7mm PRC Precision Hunter load launches a 175-gr. ELD-X bullet at 3,000 fps. That’s 240 fps faster than Federal’s 7mm Rem Mag 175-gr. Fusion load. Performance out to 300 yards isn’t terribly different. At that distance, the 7mm PRC load drops 5.99 inches, while the 7mm Rem Mag load drops 7.57 inches.

Beyond 300 yards, however, the greater velocity and higher BC of the 7mm PRC load provide exponential advantages. At 500 yards, the 7mm PRC runs at 2,405 fps, drops 33.49 inches and hits with 2,247 ft-lbs. of energy. The 7mm Rem Mag load, in contrast, runs 358 fps slower, drops 9.57 inches more and delivers 619 fewer ft-lbs. of energy at 500 yards. The 7mm Rem Mag load drops below 1,500 ft-lbs. of energy before it reaches 600 yards. The 7mm PRC still carries 1,500 ft-lbs. of energy beyond 900 yards. 

The story is much the same when it comes to bucking the wind. With 175-gr. bullets, drift in a full-value, 10 mph wind for the 7mm PRC is 3.64 inches at 300 yards, 10.40 inches at 500 yards and 46.53 inches at 1,000 yards. The 7mm Rem Mag drifts 1.62 inches more at 300 yards, 5.11 inches more at 500 yards and a whopping 26.28 inches more at 1,000 yards.

7mm Rem Mag Federal 175-gr. Fusion

7mm PRC Hornady 175-grain ELD-X

The clear winner in this case is the 7mm PRC, but a funny thing happens when you compare the 7mm Rem Mag and 7mm PRC using lighter bullets. If you check the numbers for Hornady’s new 154-grain SST American Whitetail Tipped 7mm PRC load (with a G1 BC of .525) against the ballistics of Federal’s 155-grain Terminal Ascent 7mm Rem Mag load (with a G1 BC of .586), there’s very little difference in ballistic performance. If anything, the 7mm Rem Mag has a tiny edge, outrunning the 7mm PRC by 67 fps at 500 yards. The advantages of the 7mm PRC are real, but they are mainly achieved when using heavier, higher-BC bullets.

Read Next: Federal 7mm Backcountry, Tested and Reviewed

Ammo Availability and Selection

The 7mm Rem Mag easily beats the 7mm PRC in terms of ammo availability simply because it has been around for so long and is manufactured by so many ammo makers. At least 30 different ammo brands currently load 7mm Rem Mag ammo. Only about a dozen load 7mm PRC ammo, but that represents a relatively rapid rise in popularity since the cartridge’s introduction in 2022.

Collectively, Federal, Remington, Hornaday, Winchester and Barnes offer 40 different 7mm Rem Mag loads. The same manufacturers sell just 14 loads in 7mm PRC (Winchester and sister company Browning don’t load for 7mm PRC at all). Over time, I expect the 7mm PRC to steadily gain ground in availability. 

The 7mm Rem Mag is a bit more versatile in terms of factory ammo offerings, with factory bullet weights ranging from about 120-180 grains. The 7mm Rem Mag effectively slings lighter bullets because most rifles in 7mm Rem Mag have barrels with relatively slow 1:9 to 1:10 twist rates. These twist rates are not optimal for stabilizing some of the longest and heaviest 7mm bullets. This is where the 7mm PRC shines, with its standard 1:8 twist rate, and that’s reflected in factory ammo offerings with a narrower range of bullet weights concentrated in the 155-180 grain range.

Premium ammo for both cartridges tends to command premium prices. 

Terminal Performance

Hunters are well equipped with either the 7mm Rem Mag or 7mmn PRC to tackle pretty much any game on the planet, but there’s room to quibble even about that depending on what bullet the cartridges are loaded with. Remember, “Karamojo” Bell used the .275 Rigby (renamed from the 7x57mm Mauser) to deflate tonnage of elephants, and others have used 7mm cartridges to kill some of the most dangerous animals on the planet.

At standard hunting distances, animals hit with either the 7mm Rem Mag or the 7mm PRC, with similar bullet weights and designs, aren’t likely to notice any difference between the two cartridges. At distances beyond 300 yards, the sleek, heavier 7mm PRC bullets will impact with significantly greater retained energy. Of course, animals aren’t killed by energy levels alone. They succumb to terminal damage created by well-designed bullets. All other things being equal, heavier bullets with greater sectional density will generally perform better than lighter bullets with lower sectional density.

Some shooters still think that the word “magnum” imbues cartridges with some magically elevated killing potential, and they don’t consider anything to be a magnum cartridge if it doesn’t have a belted case. With their earned reputations as thumpers, belted magnums like the 7mm Rem Mag are not going extinct anytime soon, but they will likely continue to lose ground to more efficient and modernized cartridges like the 7mm PRC. The 7mm PRC delivers true magnum performance with the added benefit of better concentricity, because it headspaces off a 30-degree shoulder rather than a belt, and potentially greater resulting accuracy. 

Read Next: The Best 7 PRC Rifles

Final Thoughts on 7 PRC vs 7mm Rem Mag

The sheer number of 7mm Rem Mag rifles in circulation ensures there will be ongoing demand for the cartridge for a long time to come, as there should be. It is, however, a 20^th century design, and the 21^st century 7mm PRC has it beat in several important respects. 

In addition to offering greater efficiency, wind resistance and energy retention, the 7mm PRC can feed more smoothly in some rifles than belted cases and produce relatively moderate recoil for true magnum performance.

Choosing which cartridge is right for you is a different matter. That depends on whether the 7mm PRC offers you a significant advantage in your specific shooting and hunting pursuits. If you will never shoot at an animal beyond 300 yards, either cartridge will do the job. But if you plan to hunt big game at longer distances in the open country of the West, you’re better-served with the modern 7mm PRC.