If you are curious about the new High Country powder from Accurate, this is the place for you. We are going to talk about high-pressure, high-performance loading with the 7mm Backcountry cartridge, take a look at how this powder performs in the 25 Creedmoor, and explore where it falls on the burn rate chart.

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About Accurate High Country

New for 2026, Accurate High Country is a double-base spherical (ball) powder made in the USA. As a ball powder, it offers excellent metering out of rotating drum or sliding bar powder measures. Whether you are using a modern progressive reloading press for bulk ammo or simply throwing charges on a single-stage or turret press, that consistent metering is a huge plus.

When looking at the Hodgdon burn rate chart, High Country falls right in the middle of the Magnum powder segment.

It sits near powders like MagPro, H4831, and H4831SC, and is faster than powders like Retumbo and StaBALL HD. This makes it incredibly well-suited for modern magnums and overbore smallbore calibers. Accurate currently lists it for use in cartridges like 243 Winchester, 25 Creedmoor, 270 Winchester, and 300 Win Mag.

Under the microscope, High Country features a similar granule size to Ramshot Grand, though High Country has a notably duller appearance inside the canister compared to Ramshot Grand’s shiny, specular finish. The granules are also slightly different in shape and length compared to extruded powders like H4831SC or Retumbo.

The 7mm Backcountry and Geissele King Hunter

The 7mm Backcountry was SAAMI certified around the time of the 2025 SHOT Show. The value proposition of this cartridge is achieving about 2,900 fps from a short 20-inch barrel using a non-magnum 7mm cartridge (utilizing a standard .308 bolt face). The secret is the Peak alloy steel case technology, which allows chamber pressures to be elevated into the 80,000 PSI segment.

On account of these extreme pressures, the firearm is a critical component in the system. To test this, we used the Geissele King Hunter, a premium factory rifle featuring a special high-pressure receiver optimized for the 7mm Backcountry. It utilizes a long action with a roller-guided firing pin.

The rifle features a 20-inch barrel with a 1:8 twist (as specified by SAAMI), a Super 700 two-stage trigger, and a Manners long-range hunter stock. The setup weighs in at about eight pounds, which is a perfect weight to manage the highly-reasonable recoil of this cartridge.

Reloading the 7mm Backcountry

Loading the 7mm Backcountry requires a highly precise process due to the ironclad nature of the steel cases.

Unlike brass, which has a bit of give, sizing steel requires exact tolerances. We used the new RCBS 7mm Backcountry dies for this process.

After neck sizing and decapping, we primed the cases.

We had to use a neck expander because brand-new Federal cases lack a chamfer and have a sharp edge on the case mouth.

This slight case mouth expansion ensures smooth bullet seating. Finally, we seated the bullets and applied a crimp.

The results were phenomenal with both factory ammunition and our reloads. The factory Federal Fusion 175-grain ammo yielded 2,995 fps on our Athlon RangeCraft chronograph.

With our handloads, we worked up to a 67.0-grain charge of Accurate High Country (always verify load data with Hodgdon’s reloading data center) and achieved 2,997 fps.

Not only did we match the factory velocity, but our handloads actually showed better pressure signs. The factory ammo exhibited very slight primer backout and slight bolt lift stickiness upon extraction, but our High Country handloads eliminated those issues entirely. On target, we shot groups down into the 0.3-inch range!

Testing the 25 Creedmoor

To test High Country’s versatility, we also loaded it for the 25 Creedmoor using new Peterson brass, CCI 400 small rifle primers, and 135-grain Berger Hybrid Target bullets.

Starting with a charge of 47.2 grains, we achieved a muzzle velocity of 2,920 fps with an incredibly low standard deviation of just 6.6 fps across a five-shot string.

For a PRS shooter, pushing a 135-grain bullet near 3,000 fps with single-digit SDs is a highly-competitive load. Pushing the charge up to the maximum of 47.5 grains yielded 2,932 fps, showing that we had reached the top of the velocity node.

Conclusion

Accurate High Country is undoubtedly the optimal powder for the 7mm Backcountry, but its versatility makes it an excellent choice for multiple applications, including the 25 Creedmoor.

It delivers impressive velocities, handles high pressures wonderfully, and meters consistently. Our next test will be to evaluate its temperature stability across different conditions.

Get the Gear

Shop Accurate High Country at Hodgdon (Use code UR10 to save 10%!)

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Thanks,
Gavin Gear