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Hornady has orchestrated the most successful cartridge rollouts in recent decades, introducing rounds like the 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm PRC, and 22 ARC. Many of those have generated tremendous media coverage — including plenty from Outdoor Life — and have greatly shifted the hunting and precision rifle markets. These rounds are solid performers. They’re accurate, efficient, and pleasant to shoot. Shooting editor John Snow and I have been praising them as better than older cartridges but, after conducting in-depth cartridge comparison testing, Hornady now says they got it all wrong.
“It’s been our mission to improve the performance of rifle systems with better cartridge and bullet design and we’ve really thrown our weight behind it,” says vice president Jason Hornady. “But we never really gave the old, time-proven cartridges a fair shake — until now.”
A combination of consumer feedback and beta testing among top-tier competitors prompted Hornady to re-evaluate the performance of its flashy new cartridges and conduct a deeper re-evaluation of the company’s identity. The company’s ballisticians just wrapped up an unprecedented cartridge test that’s compelled a huge shift in brand strategy.
“We’re a data-driven company,” marketing communications manager Seth Swerczek told me in an interview. “The numbers don’t lie, and where they lead, we have to follow.”
What does it mean? According to the numbers, it means that real hunters and shooters have been right all along — The new Creedmoor and PRC cartridges do not outperform the old. He added, “I think we [Hornady] got so caught up in our marketing efforts that we simply tried to re-invent the wheel — when it was built right the first time. Rather than continuing to roll out new cartridges and sell Creedmoors, we are shifting production space to maximize the performance in rounds that everyone really wants.”
This effort to right the ship will come as a disappointment to some. I’ve been a big fan of the Creedmoor and PRC lineup, and it’s likely that ammunition for cartridges like the 25 CM, which was just SAAMI approved, will become harder to find. The vast majority of serious shooters and hunters, however, will benefit greatly from this retooling.
In the coming months we can look forward to Hornady’s Precision Hunter ELD-X and Outfitter CX loads for cartridges such as the .358 Winchester, .30/40 Krag, .25/20, .222 Magnum, and .219 Zipper. They even dropped a hint at revitalizing the highly underrated 6mm Lee Navy — which outperforms the 6mm GT and 6mm CM handily and PRS competitors have quietly been dominating with it. All this will kick into full gear in the coming months, right after they finish development of their bullet cam and corresponding app.
Of course, it is the eve of April first, and most of this is nonsense — except that Hornady genuinely is a data-driven company and their cartridge development has shaped the way we think about modern rifle performance. They will, of course, continue to support the Creedmoor and PRC lineup and work diligently to improve cartridge and bullet design. It’s also true that Hornady still does support many otherwise obscure cartridges such as the .218 Bee, .220 Swift, .30/40 Krag, .35 Remington, .405 Winchester, and more. It’s easy to get attached to rifle cartridges we like, but there’s always room for improvement. I’m happy that there are folks out there constantly working to make our rifle and shooting systems better.
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