The 360 Buckhammer

john — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:34:13 +0000

The 360 Buckhammer is another new cartridge developed in 2023 between Henry rifles and Remington ammunition. The intention was to design a straight walled case utilizing a 358 Cal bullet while keeping the case length 1.800”. This allows the cartridge to be used in carbine only or restricted cartridge areas of the Midwest. Southern Michigan is one of these areas. 1.800” max case length while using a .358 caliber or larger bullet in a straight walled case. The 450 Bushmaster is probably the most popular round used in these areas. It is used in both the AR-15 and Bolt action platform of rifles. What makes the 360 Buckhammer special is its old school rimmed design. Because the 35 Remington is a bottle necked case, it does not meet the legal criteria of Straight-Walled. The 360 Buckhammer is ballistically identical to the old 35 Remington and better than the 30-30 Winchester. It was designed with a round nose bullet that allows it to be chambered in a lever action rifle. I purchased a Rossi R95 lever gun in 360 Buckhammer and used the 180 gr Federal cartridges on a Michigan deer hunt last season. I was able to down a good size doe in the late season at 75 yards. Great blood trail and 60 yards to recovery. There was plenty of snow on the ground and she was easy to follow. Hopefully this year is a repeat. I’m leaving my 450 Bushmaster in the safe and going to use the good old lever gun again. Just something about hunting a Michigan snow covered woods with the old timer. Maybe a good buck will show itself!

New kids on the block…..The Precision Rifle Cartridge

john — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 01:28:56 +0000

The family of PRC (Precision Rifle Cartridge) rifle cartridges are relatively new. They were developed by Hornady using the 375 Ruger case. The concept (similar to Remington using the Jeffery case to develop the Ultra Mag family of cartridges) was to use a Beltless case so the case did not headspace on the belt of the case. The difference in this development was the design of the case. The case is designed so that long and sleek bullets that have a very high ballistic coefficient (like Berger bullets) could be loaded in the case without the bullet being seated deep in the powder column. Sure, there are other cartridges that have similar performance (Like the Nosler 26, 27, 28 and 30), but the PRC family of cartridges really shine down range without the blast and recoil. I have shot all of the PRC cartridges and recently shot a good nine-point buck in Indiana with a 6.5 PRC using a Hornady factory 143 gr ELD-X. My Swarovski range finding scope had him at 276 yards. The buck traveled 40 yards before tipping over. Last year I acquired a Browning X Bolt II Speed in 300 PRC. The 300 PRC is WAY stouter than the 6.5 or 7mm PRC. Although you could hunt elk with a 6.5 or 7mm PRC, I think the 300 PRC would be another excellent elk round. I recently loaded Berger 245 gr Hunter Elite bullets behind Retumbo powder. Pushing that bullet around 2700FPS gives plenty of killing energy for elk, even at 500 yards! I am in the process of loading the 7mm PRC with Nosler 168 gr long range accubond bullets and Hornady’s 175 7mm bullets. Should be able to push them over 3000 feet per second. This will be my go-to for next year’s deer hunt. The 6.5 PRC is dead nuts accurate, and the 300 PRC will shoot those BIG bullets into ¾” groups. Can’t wait to see how the 7mm PRC performs!

J & J Precision Firearms

The 360 Buckhammer

New kids on the block…..The Precision Rifle Cartridge