Thread: New 7mm Backcountry ammo…$200 a box..

Made for people who don't mind turning a $10,000 hunting trip into a $10,005 one

When I inquired about 10 years ago for a pack of 10 rounds of 505 Gibbs I was quoted close to the $500 mark. It is very cheap compared to the price of an elephant tag.
Unfortunately I could not afford either. So I purchased the reloading components for about that kind of money and could easily make 60 rounds for the same price. I have killed one deer with one bullet so far. And it is not a gun that comes out that often from the safe.

Just hand load it’s way cheaper… oh wait you can’t

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

If i was buying a 20 box of ammo for $200, they'd better be the infra red homing "fire and forget" type .

And gut them as well.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

No.

Because this isn't even a cartridge you can realistically reload so again not a fair comparison. Not to mention it's performance is inline with a 7PRC so 7mm08 isn't even the right comparison.

Just to be clear, I have no intention of ever buying this cartridge, or ever buying factory centrefire ammo.
But you need to compare apples with apples.

You brought up reloading not me though.
Just because a Porsche drives fast faster than a Toyota does not mean that the price difference becomes less significant or the Porsche more affordable. And one would simply be comparing cars to cars. As I am comparing the prices of cartridges to cartridges.

A 16 inch magnum with factory ammo? Where do you reckon it would end up speed wise? 2650 or thereabouts? Stainless baffled suppressor, like all of them stainless the whole way down

You could get a rem mag with 162s doing close to that with handloads. I would be very surprised if the number on the box matches the speed at the end of anyone's barrel, maybe out of a custom barrel but not a factory one.

I'm definitely not buying one

Originally Posted by Rated M for Magnum

A 16 inch magnum with factory ammo? Where do you reckon it would end up speed wise? 2650 or thereabouts? Stainless baffled suppressor, like all of them stainless the whole way down

You could get a rem mag with 162s doing close to that with handloads. I would be very surprised if the number on the box matches the speed at the end of anyone's barrel, maybe out of a custom barrel but not a factory one.

I'm definitely not buying one

Nah pretty sure most tests they are getting 2900sh fps out of the 16 barrel with the 170grain factory load. Id say thats not too bad at all.

Check oz prices, we seem to be getting fleeced here lately.

Originally Posted by Friwi

When I inquired about 10 years ago for a pack of 10 rounds of 505 Gibbs I was quoted close to the $500 mark. It is very cheap compared to the price of an elephant tag.
Unfortunately I could not afford either. So I purchased the reloading components for about that kind of money and could easily make 60 rounds for the same price. I have killed one deer with one bullet so far. And it is not a gun that comes out that often from the safe.

9.3x64 brass from the US was $US 100 per 20 last lot I saw.

Originally Posted by C7A1

Check oz prices, we seem to be getting fleeced here lately.

Just checked, 170gr terminal ascent is $150 in aus and $170 here.

Originally Posted by H.M

Nah pretty sure most tests they are getting 2900sh fps out of the 16 barrel with the 170grain factory load. Id say thats not too bad at all.

Heard the US military have used the same concept on 5`56 case what would be good on a slow twist barrel

Will have to hook up a hydronic to the press to resize the bloody thing...will be interesting to see how barrel life pans out...maybe only 500 if that

Originally Posted by mickey

Thats pretty impressive, I'm still not buying one.

So, this could be a viable option for someone running two rifles and relying heavily on a ballistic app figures for the magnum.

A lot of people will mostly use a medium cartridge like 6.5Cr or 7mm08 and have a magnum for occasional South Is and open country hunting. If you have a matched pair of Tikkas you can do your skills training with the medium and transfer those to hunting shots with the magnum. There's a significant setup cost to reloading for a new cartridge even assuming you have all the gear for your usual cartridge.

Lets compare today's prices (14 Nov 2025) for the 7mm Backcountry factory ammo and the reloading 7mmPRC.

Looking at the amount of shooting needed for a very minimal preparation process and then 3 hunting trips:


Realistically you'd need 3 boxes to establish a long range trajectory on your ballistic app and fire 9 shots at animals. You'd likely fire twice as many shots using the reloads, due to the need to fireform new brass and do a bit of load development / safety testing. You may burn up less ammo than this; I'd burn more.


Tallying the costs:



Even expensive factory ammo does make sense if you're shooting a small amount (2-3 boxes a year).