Federal Premium 7mm PRC: Full Review

Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We earn from qualifying purchases.

About six months after the announcement of the 7mm PRC, I started asking rifle manufacturers what the hottest-­selling new(ish) cartridge was. The answer: 7mm PRC. “No one thought it was going to be this big,” most brands responded. I also directed that question at rifle manufacturers. (It’s easy to get an unbiased response from gun makers about cartridges that sell.) Another data point about the cartridge’s popularity was the almost immediate introductory loads from Federal. Federal is deliberate about loading new cartridges, especially when the cartridges were developed by its competitor. Still, no time was wasted with the 7mm PRC. Rifle shooters who like high ballistic coefficients (BC) and reduced recoil — compared to .30-­caliber magnums — should rejoice because of these options.

What makes Federal’s 7mm PRC loading special is the combination of the match standards they hold with the projectiles they offer. All of Federal’s 7mm PRC loads comply with Gold Medal Match (GMM) standards. Those standards touch every ammunition component. Dimension-­wise, the brass is the same as standard 7mm PRC brass. However, the specifications and standards for neck concentricity and neck thickness are a lot tighter. Controlling the brass’ neck concentricity ensures that bullets seated in the case point straight down the center of the barrel, and are not angled to the side. Bullets that are crooked when they enter the rifling don’t get more accurate as they move down the barrel. If it starts bad, it stays bad. Neck thickness is also tightly controlled. Variations in neck thickness create variations in how tightly the neck holds the bullet, and that creates variations in chamber pressure at the moment the bullet releases from the case. Changes in chamber pressure can be measured as an increased extreme spread (ES) and standard deviation (SD) on a chronograph.

Federal’s GMM standard with its 7mm PRC loads is a comprehensive brass manufacturing process. Most 7mm PRC brass cases have a single ­case-head ­forming process where the heads are stamped once to create the primer pocket. Federal uses a multi-­hit process that forms the primer pocket and work-­hardens it, too. For those that handload, this means the primer pocket will maintain its shape and retain a primer longer. Each brass case is annealed multiple times during the forming process. The annealing is focused on the case neck and shoulder. The finished case that’s ready for loading has a carefully annealed neck and shoulder with a hard case head. These are ideal pieces of premium brass.

Next in the creation of these loads is the primer and powder. Federal uses its Gold Medal primers for these rounds, applying sealant to each primer pocket. I like the sealant application because it keeps moisture from penetrating the case, even in really wet weather or an accidental dip in a river.

The powder Federal selected is one of the reasons this 7mm PRC ammunition needs to be on every PRC-­lover’s radar. Powder has been hard to come by the past few years, especially powders from Alliant, a company that Federal owns. The 7mm PRC was developed around a family of powders that include RL-­26, H1000, and Retumbo. However, the advertised velocity of 3,000 feet per second (fps) for a 175-­grain bullet, and 2,950 fps for a 180-­grain bullet is only possible with RL-­26, if staying under max pressure is a constraint. All other powders — even when loaded to maximum pressure — are about 125 fps slower when loaded to the same pressure. RL-­26 is one of the most temp-­stable double-­base powders. The presence of nitroglycerine in the powder is what gives it the added velocity boost versus all the single-­base powders, it’s just the folks in Switzerland who figured out how to make it temperature ­stable.

If a guy went to the gun shop and bought every factory 7mm PRC load from every ammunition manufacturer, there is a high probability that only these Federal loads will hit the velocity advertised. 

RL-­26 isn’t for sale publicly anymore, and it appears that it isn’t being sold to another ammunition manufacturer besides Federal, at least according to my chronograph. This could always change. Of course, Federal also applies its thorough GMM standards to the powder quality-­control process and conducts burn tests on each lot prior to loading to ensure each lot of ammunition is loaded to exactly the same pressure.

The most obvious unique feature of the Federal loads is the use of the Terminal Ascent bullet. I’ve killed lots of game with it and can attest to its performance across a broad spectrum of applications. It is bonded, so it stays together and penetrates well, even when shot at close range into heavy bone and muscle. I took a large kudu in Africa with the 170-grain Terminal Ascent, and the only reason I recovered the bullet was because it traversed the entire body and crushed a joint on the far side, lodging just inside the skin. All other Terminal Ascent bullets I’ve fired have broken bones, passed through the body and exited. I’ve never seen one fragment to the point of destruction. Bullets that fragment violently can fail to penetrate deep enough to be instantly fatal, especially quartering shots on large animals.

Federal offers both 155-­grain and 170-­grain Terminal Ascent projectiles. These bullets start out as copper slugs that are formed into shape using specialized machinery. The next step is to insert the lead core with the addition of some flux to bond it to the copper. Then, relief grooves are cut into the bearing surface to help control pressure and velocity. Then the ogive and boattail are formed. Finally, Federal inserts the polymer tip. Terminal Ascent bullets are the most complex bullets Federal makes, which is why they are expensive. However, you’d be hard-­pressed to find a bullet that performs as well at short range and high velocity as at long range and low velocity.

Federal also loads Hornady’s 175-­grain ELD-­X bullet in 7mm PRC ammunition. I think highly of the ELD-­X bullet, and I recommend it without reservation. It is one of the most accurate hunting bullets ever created. The consumer wins by having this bullet offered by two manufacturers because the factory ammunition from each will be loaded with different powder. Since just about every rifle will have a preference for powder it shoots the most accurately, lovers of the ELD-­X now have a source for 7mm PRC loaded with this bullet and RL-­26 from Federal.

The 7mm PRC is currently my favorite big-game hunting cartridge due to its excellent ballistics and low recoil. I think 95 percent of most .30-­caliber magnum shooters would be better served with the 7mm PRC, especially when chambering these loads from Federal. 

---