Federal 7MM Backountry

[peterk123]

Did not see a thread on this yet. Had this hit anyone's radar yet?

Lightweight short barreled gun that can push a fairly heavy round over 3,000 fps.

It's using a steel casing to manage the pressure, so not sure it will appeal to reloaders. Although I rumors it can be reloaded.

Not sure this gun is necessary unless you are into sounding animals at a 1,000 yards, but they are really hyping it up on some of the hunting forums.

From Federal:
Federal’s 7mm Backcountry is an entirely new high-performance, all-range cartridge that reinvents ammunition as we know it. It not only provides superior ballistics and terminal performance, it does so through compact, shorter-barreled suppressed rifles.

The 7mm Backcountry cartridge achieves all of this through its patented Peak Alloy case. The next-generation, one-piece design allows higher velocities over modern brass case ammunition. And because the cartridge is dimensionally smaller than its closest brass-case counterparts, 7mm Backcountry achieves these ballistic advantages through smaller rifles and with an extra round in the magazine of most platforms. In developing 7mm Backcountry, Federal’s team of engineers set out to design a cartridge that answers a market need that seemed unsolvable—magnum velocity out of shorter barrels without increasing recoil. They did, but in the process they produced true innovation, creating a new way to make rifle ammunition faster, flatter shooting and more powerful.

 

[PappyM3]

Faster burning powders, leading to higher velocities in shorter barrels. And less powder needed for higher pressures, so less throat wear than regular brass cartridges in normal pressures at equal velocities.

Using a steel case to prevent primers blowing out due to the pressure. Very similar to the 6.8x51 hybrid case or the NAS3 cases. So it’s not a new idea to use steel to get higher pressures.

Neat that this type of thing is becoming more common and there does seem to be a lot of industry support. If it takes off, I don’t see 7 PRC going anywhere. Hornady really shot themselves in the foot by substituting slower powder without telling anybody.

I think the biggest question mark will be how hand loaders/reloaders can work with it.

 

[paul73]

80k pressure, 3100fps, i only wonder what will be the life expectancy of those barrels?

 

[peterk123]

80k pressure, 3100fps, i only wonder what will be the life expectancy of those barrels?

Not long. 1,000 rounds?

 

[paul73]

Not long. 1,000 rounds?

who knows. 6 creedmoor never lived up to anyhting because of that.

 

[PappyM3]

80k pressure, 3100fps, i only wonder what will be the life expectancy of those barrels?

Not long. 1,000 rounds?

Supposedly not bad, because they don’t need to use as much powder to get those velocities. They just use faster powders.

 

[peterk123]

I always figured it was velocity that wore out barrels faster. Powder plays a role?

 

[Markymk25]

I heard on some podcast that the casings are good for 6-8 reloads before they start to fail

 

[gerrycaruso]

It sounds like a civilian version of that new military round. I see 2 potential problems.
1 reloads use cannister powder and ammo makers don't. Can we achieve the same performance?
2 I don't think I want my face next to 80,000 pounds of pressure when it goes off.

 

[Woodsloafer]

It will be dead in 5 years at most.

 

[PappyM3]

I always figured it was velocity that wore out barrels faster. Powder plays a role?

Powder burning and heat. Typically correlated with velocity.

 

[Mark from ?]

It will be dead in 5 years at most.

This....new cartridges sell firearms...that's all they are invented for.

There are no problems to solve in the hunting world. You have more than enough to choose from now. If you reload with the new variety of powders and the standard cartridges, there is no need to go further.

Handloading.....If I had to pick only 2...for hunting......6.5 for smaller game and 30-06 for large game. You can get 30-06 up to 300 mag speeds now...why bother with anything faster.

I get it, you want short and light for the mountains but you want the ballistics for distance. And that is not a high volume application...... Christiansen makes some pretty light rifles...buy once cry once.

 

[PappyM3]

This....new cartridges sell firearms...that's all they are invented for.

There are no problems to solve in the hunting world. You have more than enough to choose from now. If you reload with the new variety of powders and the standard cartridges, there is no need to go further.

Handloading.....If I had to pick only 2...for hunting......6.5 for smaller game and 30-06 for large game. You can get 30-06 up to 300 mag speeds now...why bother with anything faster.

I get it, you want short and light for the mountains but you want the ballistics for distance. And that is not a high volume application...... Christiansen makes some pretty light rifles...buy once cry once.

Let’s just all go back to match lock then.

 

[peterk123]

This....new cartridges sell firearms...that's all they are invented for.

There are no problems to solve in the hunting world. You have more than enough to choose from now. If you reload with the new variety of powders and the standard cartridges, there is no need to go further.

Handloading.....If I had to pick only 2...for hunting......6.5 for smaller game and 30-06 for large game. You can get 30-06 up to 300 mag speeds now...why bother with anything faster.

I get it, you want short and light for the mountains but you want the ballistics for distance. And that is not a high volume application...... Christiansen makes some pretty light rifles...buy once cry once.

This is a really good point. I love guns. But I have not been able to get myself to purchase another bolt action for big game hunting. The 308 just gets it done. And I just don't have the time to get proficient with a bunch of other rifles. Never mind load development. I try to get out once every couple of weeks minimum with it, more often as the season approaches. Heck, I won't even shoot different bullet weights out of it for smaller animals like a wt doe or antelope. I rather sacrifice meat than now the shot.

 

[ChevyGuy91]

Faster burning powders, leading to higher velocities in shorter barrels. And less powder needed for higher pressures, so less throat wear than regular brass cartridges in normal pressures at equal velocities.

Using a steel case to prevent primers blowing out due to the pressure. Very similar to the 6.8x51 hybrid case or the NAS3 cases. So it’s not a new idea to use steel to get higher pressures.

Neat that this type of thing is becoming more common and there does seem to be a lot of industry support. If it takes off, I don’t see 7 PRC going anywhere. Hornady really shot themselves in the foot by substituting slower powder without telling anybody.

I think the biggest question mark will be how hand loaders/reloaders can work with it.

Apparently they are also doing 5.56 in this case to get an extra 2-300 fps. That is more interesting to me then the fancy hunting rounds.

 

[PappyM3]

Apparently they are also doing 5.56 in this case to get an extra 2-300 fps. That is more interesting to me then the fancy hunting rounds.

NAS3 has made similar cases for a few years now I think.

Black Arc Munitions and Badlands Munitions both offer some loads using them.

For Badlands they offer 62gr & 70gr TSX, 77gr SMK, and 75gr BTHP. They also offer 110gr Tac-TX for 300blk.

70GR 5.56 TSX-SBR OPTIMIZED AMMO – Badlands Munitions Co

70gr 5.56 TSX ammo with Barnes TSX bullets cased in Shell Shock technologies NAS3. 100 to 500 rounds. Manufactured with OEM components in the USA. 3000FPS from MK12

badlandsmunitionsco.com

But if Federal can put out even more options, I’m all for it.