7mm Backcountry pfft

streamerfish

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 12, 2025
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Probably a jerk move that some of us were hijacking the SHOT show thread. Apologies everyone.

I find the discourse on the 7mm Backcountry interesting. I don't have an issue or disagreement with the belied that the alloy case allows for an improvement over current offerings.

I just don't think, as currently configured its some kind of ground breaking situation. (maybe it will be in the future). Your running 200ish fps maybe 250fps faster then a 7 SAUM , 7mm WSM, 280 AI range regardless of barrel length. Clearly an improvement. Your buying 100-150 yards more range before hitting 1800fps to shoot at animals, your buying a bit flatter trajectory. (btw, how was the 7 SAUM not more popular, was it just a decade too early...food for thought).

Or looking at it another way that was brought up. Your buying roughly equivalent ballistics to a 7mm prc/ 7mm mag in 4" less barrel. And really running this direction probably favors the backcountry more as you go shorter due to the faster burning powder. The slower burning powders are going to get progressively worse the shorter the barrel. Which flips it back to the above paragraph.

Sooo...my conclusion is that it fills a nice niche for people that want to shoot heavy for caliber 7mm bullets in shorter barrels a little faster then what they can out of 280AI, 7 SAUM type.

I mean, lets be real. At this point all we are really doing is filling in niches from a cartridge standpoint.

And for me, Just to set the parameters. I need something like 30%+ movement to consider something like this groundbreaking. 225/250 yards + over other options for max range.

Also to address some of the stuff on the other thread.

Yes, I know and understand that factory ammunition makers often times use either powders not available for purchase to the public, or proprietary blends of available powder. I would contend that it is fairly rare for the factory ammunition to be rated quite a bit faster then publicly available reloading data. But, then again, maybe it happens more often then I realize and I just haven't paid close enough attention....

People pointed out that recoil was just a cool afterthought and not a primary concern. Which I guess makes sense to me how people think that. If your shooting rifles with over 25ftlbs of recoil, do you really care about a little bit of recoil shift one way or another. Maybe not.
 
I like it due to the ability to have a shorter overall rifle with 7mm PRC performance with less felt recoil. I plan on leaving the break on and have no desire to use a suppressor. We hunt a lot of open ag fields from blinds and shorter rifle with flat trajectory and plenty of energy sounds perfect to me!
 
I would only add that they had to start somewhere and I personally cant see any reason to start with another caliber over 7mm......all are crowded, all have excellent existing options and all have owners who have chosen to take the velocity hit to have a shorter package. There would likely be the same grumbling from the 30 and 7mm folks if they started at 6 or 6.5.

The only other way to do it would have been to launch a .30, a 7, a 6.5, a 6, and maybe even a .22 simultaneously which would be a massive risk on Federal's part. And much less likely to get rifle makers to chamber all of them.

I would bet Federal is watching 7BC rifle sales before launching another.
 
At this point all we are really doing is filling in niches from a cartridge standpoint.

With the exception of the .223 in the early 60's, this is all we've been doing since about 1910. We certainly could have stopped in the early 60's and nobody here would have killed any less game. The new stuff is undeniably "better" but only incrementally.

The bi-metal cases are a noteworthy engineering change though and may possibly prove to be more than a niche-filler when its said and done. We shall see. I think the real advantage is going to be realized in long barrels where you can load it with fast powder and keep a really long impulse on the bullet. We'll probably start seeing some amazing speeds from this stuff if the long range crowd starts dabbling in it and maybe some new high scores.
 
I agree on Federal watching sales as well. I knew that going in and will purchase enough ammo to last me a lifetime. I'm happy with the fusion performance and will stick with that. Its always a possibility the 7mm bc could end up with ammo availability similar to the 300wsm.
 
This in 308 or 7-08 would be interesting as well!
NAS3 cases for 308 available.

Im thinking 308 tikka with the LA bolt stop and .30-06 mag running 212 boreriders. Unfortunately, while Tikka updated the 308 with the latest model to 1:10, Barnes says you need 1:8 to properly stabilize the borerider so a barrel would likely be necessary too.

Should be .30-06 perf, maybe a bit better, in SA.
 
With the exception of the .223 in the early 60's, this is all we've been doing since about 1910. We certainly could have stopped in the early 60's and nobody here would have killed any less game. The new stuff is undeniably "better" but only incrementally.

The bi-metal cases are a noteworthy engineering change though and may possibly prove to be more than a niche-filler when its said and done. We shall see. I think the real advantage is going to be realized in long barrels where you can load it with fast powder and keep a really long impulse on the bullet. We'll probably start seeing some amazing speeds from this stuff if the long range crowd starts dabbling in it and maybe some new high scores.

Yeah, I agree, it may at some point become a game changer.

And we are getting incremental improvements in general. Which is just fine.
 
My only grief with it is that it further dilutes the ammo market. Its all at least partly by design, but each of these releases further splits the supply chain and drives cost up and availability down for all other cartridges.
 
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