Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 7 PRC Factory vs Handloads

I just tell my wife that ammo and components are better than money in the bank. She believes it after the last 3-4 panics.

Now I've got to figure out which 300 prc to get.

Bb

Interesting, I have a Manson 7PRC reamer that I bought shortly after the SAAMI spec was announced. Wonder if it falls in-line with the ".535 @ the .200 line".

I'll be interested to see what DeanA's results with the ADG brass are.

DeanA, what rifle do you have chambered in 7PRC?

What are the reaner issues going on with the 7 prc. A local shop said they had to return several 7 prcs to the manufacturers because the chambers were out of spec but they didn't elaborate on what it was. My element has been fine and shoots well.

Bb

Could be the same as the 6.5 and 300, If you reload and get about 4-5 reloads on brass start getting clickers withe the original sammi .532 reamer.
If you run nothing but factory ammo you will have no problem. Its seems to happen alot with ADG and Lapua but I know guys who have had it happen in Horny brass also. The fix is the PRC AW reamer, the AW stands for Alex Wheeler hes the one who came up with the .535 reamer that fixs the issue.
I had to do the same on my 30-28 Nos with ADG go from .552 to .554 to fix clickers.
If you look at saami specs they allow.001 tolerance i believe so if you have a reamer ground to saammi it could be .533 instead of .532 so it could be why there's some that don't have issue with horny brass.
I know when JGS sends me a print to approve for a reamer they say .0005 tolerance. I had a reamer ground from a previous reamer make i used that was .002 small at the .200 last time I used them because of previous issues and they wouldn't make good on it.

Sherm,

What does ‘clickers’ mean?

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The ADG and Lapua is thicker in the web area compared to Horny brass so as you resize them it work hardens. You can only get the them back to .531 a small base die won't even work alot of people tried because you can only squeeze a piece of brass so far.
I've had the same problem with the original Tod Kindler reamer design for 20 VT that was set up for Rem 221 fireball grass, then when Lapua started making 221 fireball brass and switch over then clickers started even the necks with the Lapua were thicker so everbodyvstarted opening up the .200 line and neck area if you wanted no turn.
I believe Alex released his print in late 2020 now JGS and Mansion build theres .535

Its at the very top of the stroke on your bolt when the primary extraction is trying to extract the case you get the sound of " click"and then it gets very hard to extract. If you hear a click its starting and only gets worse

Eric Cortina has a discussion on his YouTube channel, Alex may on his website and there a bunch of discussion on the PRC clickers on Accurateshooter, LRH and LRO I know.

Thanks.

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Some guys have polished out the back of there chamber and some have ran in an AW2 reamer by hand to fix the clickers.

My plan from the start with my 7PRC was to run with box ammo. Due to the inconsistency I’ve been seeing from the ammunition. I’m heading in the roll my own load direction.

I will be paying attention for clickers, when I’m shooting my own stuff.

Is there an approximated round count when this issue may show up?


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4-5 seems to be the number.
I'm sure we're you run it will matter on how many times also.

I'd never heard the term 'clickers' before, until mentioned in this thread. I've been spending some time this evening reading up on the subject to educate myself. In the following partial quotes from my earlier posts, I mentioned 'slightly sticky bolts'. What I observed is exactly what has been described here as a 'clicker', not a heavy bolt lift.


In my initial load development with the 7 SAUM, I worked up to 62.5 gr RL26 with 180 Scenars in new brass (ADG) with good accuracy throughout the range of loads and no observed 'clickers'. I observed ejector marks and 'clickers' at 61.5 gr RL26 with my first run with once fired brass. I resized the once fired brass with a Redding neck die, so no body sizing.


Same as in the 7 SAUM, 270 load development was in new brass (Starline). No observed 'clickers' in the new brass and good accuracy. I'm now working with once fired brass and observing 'clickers' and inconsistent accuracy with the 150 ABLR. I haven't shot the 165 ABLR in once fired brass. I resized the once fired brass with a RCBS full length die backed off the shell holder a touch.

It sounds like I need to revisit my die set-up and sizing process. I've learned a lot on this thread and want to thank everyone for all the great input.

So is it mostly the PRC's that are prone to the clicker problem? The issue being that the chamber dimensions of the saami spec reamers are too tight near the base or at the .200 line on the print?

Is it because the brass doesn't expand enough for the size die to work it back down? So a little more clearance allows the die to sized fired brass down enough to get clearance after a bit of bounce back from the brass.

I had a lot of problems with my 7 lrm that Gunwerks chambered for me. They had just had their own brass made by Hornady and the necks were too thick for their throat on their reamer. The fired cases came out with the same neck diameter as loaded rounds. My dies then weren't moving the necks and I had tension issues and had pressure issues.

I couldn't get the first few guys at gunwerks to listen to me. One was the owners brother and he told me i didn't know what i was talking about. I even sent the gun back with a nice clean bore. They sent it back to me with a nice clean bore saying it shot great. Finally I spoke with the owner Aaron I think it was and he said he'd personally look into it. He was pretty sharp and understood that a .284 bullet in brass with .018 walls didn't have any clearence in a .320 neck. Eventually they admitted the necks on that batch of brass were too thick for their reamer. Which i figured out really quick. I didn't want to turn all my necks so I got rid of it at a big loss.

I had high hopes that that 7 lrm was going to be just what I wanted. I kind of have the same hope for my 7 prc. I haven't loaded any brass enough times yet to know if my prc is a clicker. What's unfortunate is that is seems like these problems could be avoided with a minor change to the reamer spec. Unfortunately in this industry I doubt any manufacturers will change their reemers. Especially since it's a reloaders problem.

I was just looking at what 300 prc I wanted to buy but now I'll probably go custom and have it chambered with a bit looser reamer.

Bb

I just measured some fired brass and then sized it and measured again. I'm worried there may be some clickers in my future. At the .200 fired measured .531 and resized measured the same. New ammo was about .528 in that area. So I'm getting a bit of expansion but my die is not taking it back down any at that height. Once I get my brass fired a few times I may have a problem.

Typically I rarely used brass for more than 4-5 loads because I don't anneal the necks. But some brass is pretty expensive these days so I'm looking at the options for annealing and hoping to get more loads out of my cases.

Several of my custom rifles were chambered with minimum spec match type reamers. I often find that if my brass for them gets fired in a different rifle I can't resize them enough to get them to work in the custom. For example I had a 6.5 Creedmoor build right when the cartridge was announced. I sent a Bartlein 8 twist to stiller and had them chamber it on to one of their tac30 aw actions. The gun is incredible accurate but I shot some ammo I had loaded for it in a factory built gun. I then full length sized the brass but it will no longer work in the tac30aw. I even have a small base redding die that doesn't get the brass back to working in the custom. My 300 wsm on a predator with a brux barrel is the same way. Brass for those rifles stay with them. I had a good lot of Norma 300 wsm brass that I bought a bunch of and so I know if it's Norma brass it's for that rifle. My other 300 wsms are not allowed to use Norma headstamp so I can keep track and make sure tge brass wasn't fired in a different chamber.

I may have to rethink the whole min spec match thing. Sounds like your better off being a bit wider or at least wide enough that your die resizes the body a bit. It's really about finding a good match between a chamber and a sizing die so the body is sized as far down as possible at least a few thousandths.

Bb

WiFowler, I have a Fierce CT Rage with a 24" barrel.



sherm_61, thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely be watching to see how the ADG brass runs in this rifle.

I use the Redding Master Hunter die set with a FL sizing die and micrometer seating die. Also use a Hornady Chamber Guide to check my re-sized brass in after reading about some of the reamer/chamber issues being found with the 7mm PRC. To date, every piece of re-sized brass slides right in, and out, of the chamber guide. A while back I picked up some Hornady once fired so that I'd have some brass to reload right away without the need to make my own empties. That once fired brass is the hardest I've ever had to push brass into a FL sizing die, really have to be sure it's well lubed! My press is a RCBS Rock Chucker my dad got back in the 60's. Haven't resized,and fired, brass from my rifle yet, but will soon. The reloads from that once fired I picked up, chamber, fire and extract without issue. But now that I've heard about "clickers", I'm sure my rifle hypochondriac will kick in! Lol!

More to follow as I get deeper into this. I've also picked up an excellent Gentry Mountain Rifle in 7x57 that I'm starting to mess with as well. I do have a schoolboy crush on most anything .284"!

Fierce might use the .535 reamer.
the brass you bought may have been shot in a .535 chamber explaining why it sized down harder gotta squeeze it more.

Thanks! When I sized the very first piece of brass, it was hard enough that I double checked the sizing die that it was marked 7mm PRC! Lol! I'll get out a piece of the brass that's been fired in my rifle and "feel" how it sizes.

Very interesting. I called Christensen Arms last week and chatted with a guy about the 7 PRC and discrepency in velocities with 175 gr bullets, brass issues, and "clickers". He said Hornady changed the dimensions on their reamer for the 7 PRC in Aug which should solve the issue - at least according to him. I didnt ask the particulars of "changing the reamer dimensions" but suspect it is what you guys are discussing. He indicated they are using the new reamer since Aug. I'm trying to locate a post-Aug CA .Mesa FFT in 7 PRC to stick my toes in the 7mm/high BC bullet game.

Interesting on the reamer. Good info. I think I am going to go as light as possible to partially offset a suppressor on the end of it.