The ‘world’s fastest’ factory 7mm cartridge launches 170-grain bullets at 3,000 fps from a 20-inch barrel with relatively modest recoil. It’s even faster from longer barrels.
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I had a decision to make after stalking a big 3X3 desert mule deer in New Mexico. We snuck to within 226 yards before the scant cover of the high desert ran out. I was in a good position to shoot, but the buck I wanted was bedded down with several other bucks. I don’t shoot bedded bucks as a rule — and couldn’t have because a large rock covered his vitals. We could wait for hours for the buck to move, or we could try to make him stand. At my signal, my guide, Josh Coffey of High West Outfitters, blew on a fawn bleat call.
The buck stood, but quickly moved to exit the scene, leaving me only a split-second to shoot. I anticipated that, and was ready behind the trigger of the Weatherby 307 Alpine CT rifle. The shot took the buck quartering away, with the bullet exiting the offside shoulder. He didn’t go 20 yards before piling up.
The remarkable thing about the hunt wasn’t the shot or the fawn bleat call getting the buck to his feet. I’ve used that trick before. The truly remarkable thing was the innovative new Federal Ammunition cartridge I was using. I downed the buck with the just-announced 7mm Backcountry, which may redefine hunting ammunition as we know it.
7mm Backcountry Delivers Sizzling Velocity
Federal calls the 7mm Backcountry the “fastest production 7mm rifle cartridge on the planet.” That statement is heartwarming to a hunter like me, who grew up with a fondness for Weatherby magnum cartridges and rifles. Remarkably, the 7mm Backcountry achieves magnum speed out of a non-magnum cartridge, launching high-BC, heavy-for-caliber bullets with relatively modest recoil.
Consider this: I chronographed the load I used on the hunt, which employs a 175-grain Fusion Tipped bullet, at 3,024 feet per second. That’s a little faster than factory-stated velocity, and that was out of a 20-inch barrel. It’s even faster in a longer barrel. These numbers are unreachable with any other same-weight factory 7mm cartridge in same-length barrels.
Performance in Perspective
To put this performance in perspective, some quick comparisons with factory cartridges that use .284-inch diameter bullets are in order. The 175-grain Hornady 7mm PRC load achieves 3,000 fps, but that’s out of a 24-inch barrel. Out of the same barrel, the 175-grain 7mm Backcountry launches 125 fps faster. The 160-grain 7mm PRC load hits 3,000 fps out of a 24-inch barrel, but the heavier 168-grain 7mm Backcountry load is 150 fps faster from the same barrel. A 162-grain 7mm WSM can also launch at 3,000 fps out of a 24-inch barrel, but the 168-grain 7mm Backcountry does that out of a 20-inch barrel.
From a 20-inch barrel, the 7mm Backcountry is also considerably faster – and flatter-shooting – than 175-grain 7mm Rem Mag loads shot out of longer barrels. 284 Win and 280 Rem are not even close, and good luck finding a factory 175-grain load in either chambering. 280 Ackley Improved 168-grain loads are also slower, even from longer barrels. The only factory 175-grain .284 load that gives the 7mm Backcountry a run for its money in sheer speed is Nosler’s 175-grain 28 Nosler load, but that’s out of a 26-inch barrel.
What about the 7mm Rem Utra Mag? Remington lists two 150-grain loads as “currently unavailable.” They’re both slower than the heavier 155-grain 7mm Backcountry load out of same-length barrels. The same is true of Winchester’s 7mm WSM 150-grain load.
Compared to other 7mm cartridges, results with the 7mm Backcountry across a range of bullet weights are much the same – faster velocities from shorter barrels. The cartridge achieves this without punishing magnum recoil, and that is not just a happy accident.
Ideal for Shooting Suppressed
In developing the 7mm Backcountry, Federal recognized that hunters are increasingly moving to short, light, compact rifles with suppressors, says Mike Holm, Federal’s director of centerfire rifle ammunition. “Shorter-barreled firearms make everything easier when traveling with UTVs or other vehicles, hiking in a thick forest setting, maneuvering in hunting blinds, and you name it. However, shooters lose velocity when barrels are shortened, so there is a trade-off. Innovation was needed to deliver the advantages of hunting with shorter barrels while maintaining high velocities for flatter-shooting trajectory and projectile energy.”
Until now, cartridges haven’t kept pace. “Installing an eight-inch suppressor on a 24-inch barrel results in an awkward and impractical platform,” says Holm. “To counter this, many shooters are selecting rifles chambered in cartridges like 7mm PRC with 20-inch barrels to make room for their suppressor. But, in the process, they lose the magnum velocities, energy, and trajectories their cartridge supplied initially.”
What the 7mm Backcountry translates into for hunters is a hard-hitting, flat-shooting cartridge that achieves unprecedented velocity for a 7mm cartridge out of a shorter barrel. That’s great news for hunters who need flat trajectories and want to use suppressors. It’s also good news for those what want even more speed out of longer-barreled rifles.
How Federal Did It
At a glance, you would never suspect that the 7mm Backcountry delivers the type of performance it does. Superficially, it resembles cartridges like the 30-06 Springfield or 280 Ackley Improved, but accepts heavy bullets with a long ogive. It’s designed to fit in non-magnum, standard long actions to allow gun makers to retain higher magazine capacity. The cartridge has the same neck length as the 7mm PRC and shoulder angle as the 6.5 Creedmoor.
The secret to the 7mm Backcountry’s success is Federal’s new, patented Peak Alloy case technology. This has been in development for six years and has its roots in Federal’s work for the U.S. military. The case uses a special steel alloy, but let’s get one thing clear: the case bears no resemblance to steel cases used in cheap, imported ammunition. It’s much stronger than brass and, while Federal won’t reveal its exact composition, the alloy is similar to the steel used in such things as bank safes and nuclear reactors.
As a result, Federal says the case can be safely loaded at a maximum chamber pressure of 80,000 pounds per square inch, propelling bullets downrange faster. Federal says their testing revealed that their Peak Alloy cases loaded at higher chamber pressures produces similar stress as brass cases loaded at their normal pressures. This results in higher bullet velocities without a proportional increase in perceived recoil. When used properly in modern firearms, says Federal, 7mm Backcountry causes no excessive wear beyond that caused by legacy ammunition, and barrel wear is comparable to common cartridges. Cases are nickel-plated to protect against corrosion.
7mm Backcountry Initial Offerings
Federal initially offers 7mm Backcountry ammo in five different loads with bullet weights ranging from 155 grains to 195 grains. All of the loads work well with barrels with relatively fast 1:8 twist rates. In an interesting departure from the industry norm, individual ammo boxes will show two different lines of basic ballistic info – one for 20-inch barrels and one for 24-inch barrels.
The loads and their factory-stated muzzle velocities and G1 ballistic coefficients are:
155- gr. Terminal Ascent 20-inch 3,150 fps / 24-inch 3,300 fps / G1 .586
168- gr. Barnes LRX 20-inch 3,000 fps / 24-inch 3,150 fps / G1 .513
170-gr. Terminal Ascent 20-inch 3,000 fps / 24-inch 3,150 fps / G1 .645
175-gr. Fusion Tipped 20-inch 2,975 fps / 24-inch 3,125 fps / G1 .575
195-gr. Berger Elite Hunter 20-inch 2,850 fps / 24-inch 3,000 fps / G1 .755
Federal says 7mm Backcountry cases are reloadable, but the process requires strict adherence to Federal’s lab-tested processes and data. Detailed information on reloading wasn’t available at the time this story was written, but should be available soon at https://federalpremium.com/backcountry.html.
MSRPs range from $54.99 for the 175-grain Fusion Tipped load to $81.99 for the 168-grain Barnes LRX load per box of 20 cartridges. These prices are comparable or better than Federal’s MSRPs for cartridges like the 7mm PRC or 280 Ackley Improved using similar-weight bullets.
Gun Makers Onboard With the 7mm Backcountry
Federal says nearly a dozen rifle manufacturers will chamber rifles for the 7mm Backcountry, and the company is working with a half-dozen additional gun makers.
AllTerra Arms makes three rifles chambered for the 7mm Backcountry, including the AllTerra-X, Mountain Shadow Carbon and Mountain Shadow Steel. The Mountain rifles, by default, sport shorter 18- to 22-inch barrels, making them ideal for the 7mm Backcountry. Christensen Arms is chambering Ridgeline and Evoke rifles for the cartridge. Fierce Firearms will chamber their Rogue, Rival, Rage and MTN Reaper rifles for the 7mm Backcountry, giving hunters a wide range of options.
Geissele will chamber its first-ever bolt-action rifle, the King Hunter, in the cartridge. Gunwerks will support the 7mm Backcountry in its legacy Magnus MTX rifles, offering a handy, lightweight platform perfect for backcountry hunts. Ruger says the company is working on incorporating the cartridge into their rifle lineup, but specific models have not yet been announced. Seekins Precision will chamber Element and PH3 rifles for the cartridge.
Federal says that Horizon Firearms and Proof Research will also chamber for the cartridge, but detailed information was not available from those firms when this story was written.
Weatherby and Savage Entries
Weatherby is fully onboard with the 7mm Backcountry in the company’s Mark V and Model 307 lines. Mark V models chambered for the cartridge include the Backcountry Guide, Backcountry Guide Ti, Accumark, Apex, Backcountry 2.0, Backcountry 2.0 Ti, High Country and LiveWild. Model 307 rifles include the Range XP 2.0, Range SF, Adventure SD, Alpine CT, Alpine MDT, Alpine MDT Carbon and HUSH edition featuring a HUSH Tundra Camo stock.
Savage joins the list of supporting gun makers with the 110 Trail Hunter Lite, 110 Timberline, 110 Ultralite, 110 PPR and 110 Ultralite Elite rifles, giving hunters many options tailored to their hunting needs. Notably, Savage will offer most of these models in left-handed versions.
Superb Accuracy, Faster Than Advertised
I had only a couple of the new loads to test at the range, but both proved to be superbly accurate. I tested the rounds with the same scope I used on the hunt, a Leupold VX-5HD 3-15×44, set in Talley rings. Measured over my Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph, Federal’s 175-grain Fusion Tipped load stepped out at an average muzzle velocity of 3,024 fps out of the Weatherby 307 Alpine’s 20-inch barrel. That’s a little faster than the load’s advertised velocity of 2,975 fps from a 20-inch barrel.
Standard deviation was 9.4 fps and extreme spread was 21.2 fps. Those are good numbers for factory ammo, and they help explain why the load turned in a stellar performance at the bench. Average group size for the 175-grain load, based off three, three-shot groups, was exactly 0.50 inches at 100 yards. The best group measured just 0.30 inches. Terminal performance with this load on the desert mule deer I shot was, in a word, impressive.
Flat Trajectory
For my hunt, I used the old timer’s trick of zeroing the rifle three inches high at 100 yards. Desert mule deer live in some pretty open country. Shooting opportunities can be fleeting, and I didn’t want to take the time to dial corrections. With that zero at the elevation I was hunting, I could hold dead on out to 350 yards, where the bullet drops less than six inches. Time of flight to that distance is just 0.381 seconds, and bullet drift in a full-value 10 mph wind is less than six inches. If I were anticipating longer shots, I would zero this load at 100 yards and dial corrections.
The second load tested, which uses a copper Barnes 168-grain LRX bullet, was no slouch, either. That load launched at 3,033 fps, which is also a little faster than factory-claimed velocity from a 20-inch barrel. Standard deviation was 13.9 fps and extreme spread was 32.3 fps. This load printed 0.58-inch average groups and a 0.42-inch best group.
Too Good to Ignore
With this rifle and these two loads, at least, you can expect half-inch or better groups. I’ll take that all day long – especially from light, suppressor-friendly rifles launching heavy 7mm bullets at better-than-magnum velocities out of a standard long action with non-magnum recoil. If that isn’t innovation, I don’t know what is.
As with any new cartridge, how well the 7mm Backcountry fares in the long term, in a market built around brass cases, remains to be seen. Federal isn’t yet saying if they’ll apply the same technology of the 7mm Backcountry to other cartridges, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do. The results are too good to ignore.
