"Welcome to the future of rifle cartridges,” says Federal's Jesse Whiteside. New for 2025 is Federal Ammunition's revolutionary long-action hunting cartridge, a non-magnum centerfire rifle hunting load optimized for today's shorter rifle barrels and suppressor use. If shot through 20-inch barrels and 170-gr. bullets, this new load can achieve a blistering 3,000 feet per second (fps). This is true magnum-strength performance in a standard bolt-face rifle, and it's set to shake up the way we hunt big game.
The patented Peak Alloy one-piece, high-strength case helped Federal rewrite the rules about what can be done with brass cased ammunition. As regular NRA Family contributor Dennis Bradley has pointed out, it generally takes more propellant (e.g., gunpowder) to increase velocity. With modern magnums, for example, it may take 30% more propellant to increase velocity by 10%. But the Peak Alloy case changes all that. Notes Whiteside, "We can achieve that same 10% velocity increase with less propellant than current magnums, and do so out of shorter barrels with less felt recoil." Better impact on the target with less kickback on the shooter? That's always a plus for sportsmen, regardless of experience level, but new shooters will especially appreciate it.
The 7mm Backcountry also allows for an additional round in the magazine of most hunting rifles due to its standard bolt face. "We expect factory gun offerings with barrels as short as 16” that match or outperform today’s current offerings with much longer barrels," continues Whiteside. "This new technology allows hunters and shooters to shoot a barrel with a suppressor on it that is essentially the same length of a barrel without a suppressor on it, in a conventional round today.”
The five initial offerings of 7mm Backcountry are: 155- and 170-gr. Federal Premium Terminal Ascent; 195-grain Federal Premium Berger Elite Hunter; 168-grain Federal Premium Barnes LRX Copper; and 175-grain Federal Fusion Tipped. These flat-shooting, heavy-for-caliber bullets offer the optimal range of options between sleekness and energy, touting high ballistic coefficients.
But what about firearms capable of shooting this round? Well, Federal’s working with many major gun companies, who are in turn working on multiple rifle models chambered for the new cartridge, which is shipping this month ... and we here at NRA Family will keep you posted! MSRP depends upon product chosen; FederalPremium.com.
