At first I wrote this cartridge off. I just watched about 3 hours of interviews and podcasts flying home last night, I think this peak alloy may be a bigger hit than I first imagined. Several Manufacturers are chambering rifles now for the 7BC, from Savage to Gunwerks and many in between, 14 manufacturers or more. Advertised velocity is checking out. Bolt lug set back after several hundred rounds is no more than many of the big mags we shoot now. Barrel life is longer than I presumed. It’s early but I’m watching with interest now. Federal will have load data up soon, it uses the same primers, extracts fine and is reloadable so they claim. I’ll try and link a couple of the more interesting podcasts that I watched.
Like I said, I wrote it off as a marketing ploy when I first heard about it but I’m rethinking things and watching with interest now. I won’t buy in anytime soon, I’ll let others be the guinea pig but there might be something to this.
This year we hunted pretty hard, back country, rough country. Our rifles had suppressors and 22.5” barrels. I was using a thunderbeast 7, it’s just makes for a very long rifle and didn’t fit in my pack very well at all. It was getting old.
I just took delivery of a 6.5 PRC with an 18” brux barrel today, I’ll be comparing it to the same rifles with a 4.5” longer barrels over the next couple of months so I can see the numbers for myself. I’m also having a 20” 7 Saum improved being built as we speak. I’m hoping to get 2800+ fps with the Saum and a 180gr Berger. If your using a can and your migrating to shorter barrels the 7BC actually makes a lot of sense, I’d love to get 3000 fps with a 170-180gr bullet and a 20” barrel.
I think it was 1925 when cartridges started hitting 65k PSI. There really hasn’t been anything earth shattering since. Yeah, lots of new cartridges but they all are limited by the brass, you can only push it so hard. If this peak alloy does everything they claim I can see it being used in other cartridges and I can see them expanding the cartridges they offer. Imagine a 223 operating at that pressure, imagine what a 24” barrel would do in a .284 with a 180gr bullet if a 20” is getting 3000 fps. I’m not promoting it because I have no idea what it’s all about but I am keeping an open mind. This might be a pretty cool step in the history of centerfire cartridges. I‘ll stay on the sidelines and watch with interest for now.