Long COAL Mags for 300 PRC Bergara B-14 HMR?

[calinb]

I was lucky enough to find an older model (non-Wilderness) HMR in stock online so I ordered it. I'll backorder some dies and ADG and Lapua brass while I wait for delivery, but what about mags? Given 300 PRC max. COAL=3.700", only a 338 Lapua mag appears to be long enough to support max length. Do the MDT and AI 338 Lapua mags fit this rifle or does it use regular magnum (300 Win Mag) size AICS style mags, limiting long COALs to single feed only? 338 Lapua mags sure are more expensive than PMags!

From the Bergara specs I found, it seems like the HMR differs from the Wilderness version mostly in finish (matte blued CM rather than Cerokote SS barrel, non-fluted vs. fluted bolt, speckled stock finish vs. hand-painted camouflage) and also thread protector vs. muzzle brake.

Did I get the differences right?

The HMR is also over $100 cheaper than the Wilderness HMR and I figure I can use the extra cash to buy a more effective muzzle brake (or put it towards a can).

Has anyone heard anything about Peterson and 300 PRC brass?

Thanks for any feedback!

-Cal

 

[Dooby]

Accurate-Mags
300wm CIP length

.300 Win. Mag. SSSF Magazine

Our single-stack, single-feed magazines for the .300 Winchester Magnum are the perfect magazines for any shooter-one caliber, three different cartridge lengths. The .300 WM magazines from Accurate-Mag are built from steel, heat treated, and then coated with a special Teflon for a better finish...

accurate-mag.com

 

[MrGTO]

I got these. They are the same as what came with my wilderness terrain.

AICS 5 Rd Magazine 300WM 300 PRC 3.850 CIP Long Action Savage MDT | eBay

Has Savage baseplate since it was OEM magazine with Savage Stealth rifle but is a standard AICS magazine and will fit any applicable AICS rifle. Never loaded or inserted into rifle. 5rd Single Stack Single Feed AICS 3.850 CIP. 300WM or 300 PRC Magazine with Savage Arms Floorplate, Cerakote...

www.ebay.com

 

[calinb]

Accurate-Mags
300wm CIP length

.300 Win. Mag. SSSF Magazine

Our single-stack, single-feed magazines for the .300 Winchester Magnum are the perfect magazines for any shooter-one caliber, three different cartridge lengths. The .300 WM magazines from Accurate-Mag are built from steel, heat treated, and then coated with a special Teflon for a better finish...

accurate-mag.com

The page you linked has a very useful table. CIP 3.850 overall length accommodates 3.750 OAL. That'll do it!

I got these. They are the same as what came with my wilderness terrain.

AICS 5 Rd Magazine 300WM 300 PRC 3.850 CIP Long Action Savage MDT | eBay

Has Savage baseplate since it was OEM magazine with Savage Stealth rifle but is a standard AICS magazine and will fit any applicable AICS rifle. Never loaded or inserted into rifle. 5rd Single Stack Single Feed AICS 3.850 CIP. 300WM or 300 PRC Magazine with Savage Arms Floorplate, Cerakote...

www.ebay.com

The price is right (comparatively these days) and good to know it's the same mag as Bergara shipped with your rifle.

Thanks for the help, DDRH65CM and MrGTO!

 

[ChadG460]

I was lucky enough to find an older model (non-Wilderness) HMR in stock online so I ordered it. I'll backorder some dies and ADG and Lapua brass while I wait for delivery, but what about mags? Given 300 PRC max. COAL=3.700", only a 338 Lapua mag appears to be long enough to support max length. Do the MDT and AI 338 Lapua mags fit this rifle or does it use regular magnum (300 Win Mag) size AICS style mags, limiting long COALs to single feed only? 338 Lapua mags sure are more expensive than PMags!

From the Bergara specs I found, it seems like the HMR differs from the Wilderness version mostly in finish (matte blued CM rather than Cerokote SS barrel, non-fluted vs. fluted bolt, speckled stock finish vs. hand-painted camouflage) and also thread protector vs. muzzle brake.

Did I get the differences right?

The HMR is also over $100 cheaper than the Wilderness HMR and I figure I can use the extra cash to buy a more effective muzzle brake (or put it towards a can).

Has anyone heard anything about Peterson and 300 PRC brass?

Thanks for any feedback!

-Cal

The Wilderness does not have a stainless barrel. The premier series has a stainless barrel. The difference in with B14 and the Wilderness series is that the Wilderness series has the cerakote finish and the camo stock. New for 2021 production Wilderness rifles will come with the fluted bolt. If it was made in 2020 it will not have the fluted bolt.
-Chad

 

[calinb]

The Wilderness does not have a stainless barrel. The premier series has a stainless barrel. The difference in with B14 and the Wilderness series is that the Wilderness series has the cerakote finish and the camo stock. New for 2021 production Wilderness rifles will come with the fluted bolt. If it was made in 2020 it will not have the fluted bolt.
-Chad

Chad,

Thanks so much for your reply! Now I understand what I'm buying better. I don't know where I got the idea that the Wilderness rifles had SS barrels but it makes sense they'd be CM in that price range. So the fluted bolt is new to the Wilderness for 2021, but flutes didn't make it into the regular B-14 HMR, apparently?

Going slightly off-topic...after I read the followig long thread, I began to worry that maybe I should have purchased my an HMR in 300 Win Mag instead of 300 PRC. My first post is down page 14 a bit. Link: The PRC die "problem"

I've looked at the 300 PRC prints vs. the Win Mag family prints and I personally think it's a problem with the brass manufacturers making the case head / base too large, but there are plenty of experts on that thread with more experience than I!

With the PRC and Win Mag cartridges, the nominal cartridge to chamber clearance is 0.001 and the SAAMI cartridge "minus" spec is -0.008. If the original posted theories about the cause of the "clickers" are correct, it leads me to conclude that all PRC brass is being manufactured too close to nominal when it should be manufactured closer to the minus end of the SAAMI spec. Still, it's correct that SAAMI tolerance stackups with brass at or near nominal and chambers tightly reamed at the SAAMI nominal (chamber spec is -0.000/ +0.002) seems to result in difficult extraction by the third or fourth reloading--especially if the FL dies used are on the large side but, regardless of the die size, case heads and the neighboring brass of the case can't be resized down much after they expand.

No one has specifically mentioned Bergara PRC barrels so I hope I won't ever encounter a clicker/extraction problem! Two or three Redding FL die users on the thread report that they've not had this problem but Redding is in the lockdown state of NY and lead times look very long for Redding dies at present. Forster dies appear to be the only 300 PRC dies available. Should I order Forster? Then I get to wait for brass backorders!

I'd sure like to hear what you think about this alleged issue and maybe obtain some advice--either here or on the LRH thread!
-Cal

 

[ChadG460]

Chad,

Thanks so much for your reply! Now I understand what I'm buying better. I don't know where I got the idea that the Wilderness rifles had SS barrels but it makes sense they'd be CM in that price range. So the fluted bolt is new to the Wilderness for 2021, but flutes didn't make it into the regular B-14 HMR, apparently?

Going slightly off-topic...after I read the followig long thread, I began to worry that maybe I should have purchased my an HMR in 300 Win Mag instead of 300 PRC. My first post is down page 14 a bit. Link: The PRC die "problem"

I've looked at the 300 PRC prints vs. the Win Mag family prints and I personally think it's a problem with the brass manufacturers making the case head / base too large, but there are plenty of experts on that thread with more experience than I!

With the PRC and Win Mag cartridges, the nominal cartridge to chamber clearance is 0.001 and the SAAMI cartridge "minus" spec is -0.008. If the original posted theories about the cause of the "clickers" are correct, it leads me to conclude that all PRC brass is being manufactured too close to nominal when it should be manufactured closer to the minus end of the SAAMI spec. Still, it's correct that SAAMI tolerance stackups with brass at or near nominal and chambers tightly reamed at the SAAMI nominal (chamber spec is -0.000/ +0.002) seems to result in difficult extraction by the third or fourth reloading--especially if the FL dies used are on the large side but, regardless of the die size, case heads and the neighboring brass of the case can't be resized down much after they expand.

No one has specifically mentioned Bergara PRC barrels so I hope I won't ever encounter a clicker/extraction problem! Two or three Redding FL die users on the thread report that they've not had this problem but Redding is in the lockdown state of NY and lead times look very long for Redding dies at present. Forster dies appear to be the only 300 PRC dies available. Should I order Forster? Then I get to wait for brass backorders!

I'd sure like to hear what you think about this alleged issue and maybe obtain some advice--either here or on the LRH thread!
-Cal

Hi Cal,

The flutes will not make it to the B14 series as far as I know. At this point it will be an added feature to the Wilderness series.

As far as the the other topic honestly I am not familiar with what you are referring to. We use factory Hornaday ammo here for our testing and set up our chambers to SAAMI spec.

I would be glad to answer anything
that I can. Give me a call at the office and I will give ammo on anything that I can 770-449-4687

-Chad

 

[7mmShooter]

Not necessarily 300PRC related but I'd love to see the 300 Win get the CIP length dbm as well...

 

[calinb]

Not necessarily 300PRC related but I'd love to see the 300 Win get the CIP length dbm as well...

300 Win Mag? That's actually what shooters are using in their 300 PRC rifles. The link to the Accurate Mag page that DDRH65CM provided above has a table that includes CIP lengths and it says they are for 300 WM. Check it out: https://accurate-mag.com/shop/magazines/300-win-mag-sssf-magazine/

The 3-round mag

00100-0050​

.300 WM​

SSSF 3RD​

.736​

3.850​

2.93​

3.750​

and the 5 round mag

00100-0050​

.300 WM​

SSSF 3RD​

.736​

3.850​

2.93​

3.750​

They are CIP lengths supporting up 3.750 max. COAL.

MrGTO's link is also for another max. length CIP mag that also works for both 300 Win Mag and 300 PRC:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AICS-5-Rd-...-4337-401f-81ae-1895cb707b50&epid=27040070353

I'm new to this AICS pattern CIP stuff so maybe I'm missing something...like is the aperature size in your 300 Win Mag bottom metal too small to accept these 3.850" long mags?

 

[7mmShooter]

300 Win Mag? That's actually what shooters are using in their 300 PRC rifles. The link to the Accurate Mag page that DDRH65CM provided above has a table that includes CIP lengths and it says they are for 300 WM. Check it out: https://accurate-mag.com/shop/magazines/300-win-mag-sssf-magazine/

The 3-round mag

00100-0050​

.300 WM​

SSSF 3RD​

.736​

3.850​

2.93​

3.750​

and the 5 round mag

00100-0050​

.300 WM​

SSSF 3RD​

.736​

3.850​

2.93​

3.750​

They are CIP lengths supporting up 3.750 max. COAL.

MrGTO's link is also for another max. length CIP mag that also works for both 300 Win Mag and 300 PRC:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/AICS-5-Rd-...-4337-401f-81ae-1895cb707b50&epid=27040070353

I'm new to this AICS pattern CIP stuff so maybe I'm missing something...like is the aperature size in your 300 Win Mag bottom metal too small to accept these 3.850" long mags?

Yeah the dbm between the 300 win mag and the CIP length that comes with the 300 PRC are different. Standard 300 Win AICS mag length is like 3.6xx if I remember correctly, which for Accurate Mag is their 3.715" magazine I believe

 

[calinb]

Yeah the dbm between the 300 win mag and the CIP length that comes with the 300 PRC are different. Standard 300 Win AICS mag length is like 3.6xx if I remember correctly, which for Accurate Mag is their 3.715" magazine I believe

Okay--that makes sense. Thanks for the info!

What happens when you shove a regular length AICS mag into a CIP length rifle? I guess I'll find out, because I have two 10-rd and one 5-round brand new AI 300 Win Mag magazines that I just dug out of a box. I got them nearly 10 years ago for a project that I've never found time to complete (7mm-300 RCM in a Model 70 magnum action with CDI DBMl).

Anyway...I just loaded some 338 Win Mag that I had laying around into them and it looks like they might accept up to about 3.650, which is plenty long for my 1:8 7mm-300 RCM but a tad short for the longest 300 PRC loads. They measure 3.725 in length on the outside of the mag.

As an aside, nearly 10 years ago I bought a brand new 338 Win Mag Black Shadow Model 70 off Gunbroker for only $500 as a donor action for the 7mm project but I've hunted with it several times and it's a great sub-MOA shooter. So now I don't want to sacrifice it and I need to find another cheap M70 action for the 7mm project. I guess that's a good problem to have (except maybe right now, because there are no good donor action deals to be found)!

 

[7mmShooter]

No problem! Haven't done it but I would imagine the magazine likely won't latch up due to the extra space in the CIP length magwell

 

[MrGTO]

No problem! Haven't done it but I would imagine the magazine likely won't latch up due to the extra space in the CIP length magwell

The AICS magazine i linked above and the magazine i received with my Bergara both have .300 win stamped on them fwiw. They all are 3.850 and they function in my 300PRC. Its a Wilderness Terrain not a HMR tho.

 

[7mmShooter]

The AICS magazine i linked above and the magazine i received with my Bergara both have .300 win stamped on them fwiw. They all are 3.875 and they function in my 300PRC. Its a Wilderness Terrain not a HMR tho.

Yeah, they should be. The bottom metal the rifles come with is the difference.

 

[MrGTO]

Yeah, they should be. The bottom metal the rifles come with is the difference.

Gotcha. I figured they would use the same bottom metal, but thats what i get for figuring.

 

[7mmShooter]

Gotcha. I figured they would use the same bottom metal, but thats what i get for figuring.

I know the last time I talked with someone at Bergara about it, they hadn't tried any CIP length mags and the 300 PRC wasn't even an option in the B14 line... Maybe they have gone CIP length for the long action magnums now, idk...

 

[CNC-Dude]

I have a 3.850" magazine in my WinMag, but I still have to single feed because the COAL I use is too long for the magazine. Plus, the magazine is a pain in the ass to eject and reinstall without it falling out every couple of rounds.