I doubt it. Low Recoil is a major factor of the 6.5cm success. This is more in the 6.5prc/7prc realm.
Federal introduces 7mm Backcountry
- Thread starter mikeyb
- Start date
I think the main focus of this new technology is to have a shorter barrel while maintaining velocity and that is because a lot of countries like the US are allowed suppressors, so with the added length of the suppressor, you don’t end up with a ridiculously long gun being awkward to carry all day! And plus with the suppressor you pretty much eliminate blast that otherwise a 16”-18” barrel would have with that kind of powder charge. Or at least that is what I understand when I looked into it!
- Location
- Steel Town
Yeah, M77's are very strong. But do the math: 106,000 minus 85,000 psi is not a huge difference. Future reloading of high psi cartridges, like 7BC, gives little in the way of margin for error if custom jobs are built on conventional actions. 
You sure hope this thing is a failure don’t you?
For this specific round, yes, probably.
The larger focus is taking "brass" to 80,000 psi and all of the opportunity that comes with it, regardless of barrel length.
As mentioned, more is always more.
Potentially adding 200fps to any cartridge is fairly significant.
This all depends on if the metallurgy will be shared.
For all we know, the case could be a one and done. Most of Federal's brass already is...
R.
- Location
- Steel Town
That's my guess too. One and done, and a warning disclaimer about reloading.
Dec 12 2024, the five iconic American ammunition brands of Federal, Remington, Hevi Shot, Speer, and CCI were sold to the CZ holding company
From Outdoor life about reloading
"I know that RCBS is working on reloading dies for the 7 BC, and I’m eager to try them. But from what I’ve heard from RCBS, the dies are having trouble resizing the cases. In order to get them back to their original factory size they need to be run through the die multiple times — more than a dozen cycles, in fact."
"If that remains the case, then the appeal of the 7 BC for reloaders will be significantly diminished."
"I know that RCBS is working on reloading dies for the 7 BC, and I’m eager to try them. But from what I’ve heard from RCBS, the dies are having trouble resizing the cases. In order to get them back to their original factory size they need to be run through the die multiple times — more than a dozen cycles, in fact."
"If that remains the case, then the appeal of the 7 BC for reloaders will be significantly diminished."
dangertree
Business Rep
- Location
- NL/ON/FL/PL
It's not.
In todays day and age, unless you've been loading for 10+ years and your press, scale, tools etc are paid for (paid for as in you've loaded 1000+ rounds with them) its still cheaper to just buy factory ammo for 90% of people. You have to shoot A LOT of shells to make it worth your time and save money. By the time you factor in prices of components, dies and your time its not as cheap as some think.
Me and a fellow reloader/gunnuter sat down the other day and actually figured out how many round you'd have to shoot to pay for your reloading gear if you were just starting out or even if you used a friends press, scale etc etc. We used the 300 win mag, and said the average price was $85/box for factory ammo.
So at $85/20 (1 box) is $4.25/round.
On average a QUALITY hunting bullet (Accubond, Partition, Berger etc) bullet is $1.50/lead (this is average, obvisouly some are $1.75 and others are $0.80)
1lb of magnum powder (h1000, retumbo, etc) $110/1lb or 7000gr OR $0.015/gr
Primers we all know $25/100 or $0.25/pop
So to load 300 win mag, 180gr Nosler Accubond, 79.0gr of H1000
Leads: $89+tax= $98 or $1.97/lead (box of 50 leads remember)
Powder: H1000 at $99+tax/lb= $110 or $0.015/gr x 79.0= $1.19/shell
Primers: $25+tax/100=$0.27/ea
Total NOT including brass, dies or your time, load development to achieve your accuracy goals (more time and components) is $3.43/shell. Now factor in either new brass, or even buying once fired at say $0.60/ea grand total is $4.03/shell. Then if you factor in dies at say $80/set, if you load 100 shells (5 boxes of ammo, call it 5 years of ammo, for some thats 10 years of ammo) thats another $0.80/shell. So now your at $4.83/shell, so $0.58/shell MORE than factory ammo. And again, your time isn't free, your trips to the range for load development aren't free AND who knows how many round you'll need to test before you find accuracy and velocity equal to or better than factory ammo.
Reloading is just another VERY expensive hobby. If you shoot a box of shells a year like 90% of hunters do, you don't save anything by loading your own. And FWIW, I am an avid reloader. I am not against it whatsoever BUT for those who think they save money to load 20-50 rounds a year to hunt, you really don't unless you consistently do that for
If the velocity from Federal stay as high as it is and the accuracy is acceptable, I don't even see the point in reloading. Go buy 3 boxes of shells and be on your way for the next how ever many years.
You are missing the very reason that many of us load, it's not to save money, and it's not just a hobby, it's the ability to work up accurate loads for a specific rifle, using a bullet, that we want to use. We could just pick a factory load, and settle for whatever accuracy that load produces in our rifle, and if we are lucky it may be sub moa, but it could just as easily be 1-1/2 to 2 moa. Or we could spend a few hundred dollars, and buy an assortment of factory loads, and test them, and hope that one of them produces the level of accuracy that we desire, with a bullet that we want to shoot. Of course we could get lucky and the first load or two does well in our rifle, but we could also test 3-4 loads, and none meet our accuracy standards. And if we do find a load our rifle likes, we can buy 4-5 boxes, and in a couple of years hope that load is still available, and that the manufacturer hasn't changed the recipe. Instead of that, some of us prefer to develop our own load, that is accurate in our rifle, and that we can replicate for decades.
And of course some of us purchased a large amount of components several years ago, and are still using primers that we paid $50/1000 for, and powder that we paid $40/lb for and bullets that we paid $1 each for. I personally have enough components on hand to load my hunting rifles for the next 10-20 years, and I haven't bought any components in 5 years. And I have been loading for over 40 years, so my reloading gear was paid for years ago.
So for me, if I can't load for a cartridge, I don't want that cartridge.
Weatherby Fan
CGN Regular
- Location
- Maple Ridge,BC,Canada
I reload a lot but also shoot a pile of factory ammo,
For myself it’s simply the convenience of it,
I can go downstairs to my reloading room load up 50 or 100 rounds and head to range and have 5 different bullets to test or various charge weights,
It’s also nice to know a current load that I developed for my hunting rifle and load up 20 rounds quickly and be out the door hunting.
And again if I can grab a cpl boxes of factory ammo sight my rifle in and go hunting that works for me as well.
But saving money nowadays with the cost of everything for reloading hhmmm probably not !
And thats totally fair, I also enjoy the ease of having "instant ammo" and again for me its a hobby, and I enjoy it. But i've also realized in the last 5 years my bank account thanks me for not reloading as much as I used to. The only cal's I still load for religiously are my wildcats (22-284, 20x47 Lapua) my 257 wby for obvious reasons and my 6BR as its my PRS rifle AND you can't exactly find 6BR factory ammo anywhere in Canada. But again, you know when you own a wildcat, reloading comes with that. Thats just a given.
