There are changes in the wind, and all for the better when it comes to the outdoor buying public. Federal Cartridge is under new ownership and that top gun ram rod is none other then ATK or Alliant Tech Systems. When your owned by a company that blows things up for a living you
can't miss if your product is ammunition for sporting purposes.
Alliant Tech ( ATK ) makes Federal Cartridge one of the largest ammunition manufactures in the world today. With their offices in Edina Minnesota they are a back yard company with 11.400 employees, and direct much of their attention to aerospace and defense. Current satellite companies will include CCI, Speer, Estate Cartridge, and the Lake City Ammunition Plant. The company is rock solid at $1.7 billion, and we can expect many positive changes coming in from the big red F this coming year.
Among some of the very first developments out of Federal will be a complete price restructuring in terms of hi-tech
"designer" non-toxics. These are the Tungsten-Iron shot loads, and Tungsten/ Steel duel payload offerings by Federal Cartridge Company. Federal has long known that cost is a major factor when hunters select a shotshell for field use, and up until now the price of a tungsten shotshell load has been quite high by any standard. When development costs become paramount when compared to standard steel shot or lead load manufacturing something has to give, and that crushing element up to now has been the hunters pocket book. With tungsten loads now a standard with Federal those development costs have been recouped and now the hunter will get the next level of pricing, and in this case massive reductions in the individual shotshell load cost.
Anticipated new pricing for Tungsten-Iron shot loads in 2002 will be as follows. Real world pricing. 10 gauge 2001 was $ 2900 per box. 2002 $18.00 per box.
12 gauge 3.5" 2001 was $26.00 per box. 2002 $17.00 per box.
12 gauge 3" 1 1 / 4 oz was $ 21.00 per box. 2002 $ $14.00 per box.
12 gauge 3" 1 3 / 8th oz ( New For 2002 ) $15.00 per box
* Box count 10 shotshells.
As you can see by the final load listed the heavy tungsten shot is going to be offered in an upgraded 1 3 / 8 oz load for 2002.
These loads are presented for those hunters that continue to think that previous tungsten iron shot loads by Federal were under loaded in terms of pellet count. Actually the very early 1 oz loads in tungsten iron even as light as they were in the 2 3 /
4" offering were deadly when the hunter could put the shot on the target. because tungsten shot patterns so well due to its roundness and weight ( mass ) it does not require massive amounts of the stuff to gain good quality patterns on targets. That
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being a paper 30" circle at 40 yards, or flying duck or goose out over your decoys.
Hunters will see an increase close to 20 pellets in the new loads as applied to BB tungsten shot,(
3.5" 12 gauge ,) and more in smaller pellet sizes. When tested in Stuttgart Arkansas this past fall I found that the loads were very effective against snow geese gunned on passing points from levy ditch banks. When setting up on previous days feeding grounds at one point my paired team of writers gunned a complete flock of five out of the sky in one volley. The birds had decoyed well, but like snows will do, started across the far end of the decoy spread giving way to a strong 65 yard crossing low level angle shot. The BB tungsten slapped the white birds out of the sky like so many sacks of grain, leaving only a single bird requiring a second ground swat shot.
Not stopping at the new heavy weight tungsten shot loads Federal is also offering a new double payload type BB steel X #2 Tungsten-Iron as a 3 1 /
2" 12 gauge offering this year. While the load was up and running in 2001 very few ever made it to the dealers shelves, and only California got any actual ammunition for sale.
The new 12 gauge 3.5" BBX2 is loaded to 1 3 / 8 oz at 1375 f.p.s. 10 gauge loads will retained 1 1/ 2 oz payloads giving way to an added healthy charge of both steel and tungsten iron shot. Again these loads in the
3.5" 12 gauge were extensively shot in Arkansas this fall against snow geese with some very solid performance results. Being the new twin shot type loads
don't use as much tungsten as found in full house tungsten loads, again the cost will become a positive factor when hunters select the loads they will take into the field this coming year.
As a final early load introduction by Federal the Classic line of shotshells being steel shot have been upgraded to 1450 f.p.s. barn burners. We know from extensive testing that speed kills in steel and you
can't drive the stuff fast enough to offset the problems encountered down range re lost energy per pellet. By moving up the velocity of the payload you gain small amounts of kinetic energy mounts, velocity levels that allow the shooter to cut down on forward allowance, and in general improved performance on the target.
The past year I tested a number of new loads in steel shot that moved all the way into the 1550 f.p.s. velocity range and found in each case the loads hit harder, penetrated even large geese better, and allowed some reduction in forward allowance. What has cause this new wave of velocity improvements ? ATK in a burned out shotshell hull. Alliant Tech Systems turned loose Alliant STEEL as a new steel shot propellant and because of that move alone the while face of shotshell ballistics is changing for the better. Steel shot
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requires propellants that burn slowly and evenly so as to hold down peek chamber pressures. Because steel
won't give at all during detonation ( setback strain ,) the energy has to go someplace. Prior to now all that excess energy went directly to the shotguns chamber walls and wow, what a mess it could make of perfectly good equipment if it got away from the handloader or factory load builder.
ATK has developed propellants ( powders ) that allow an increase in energy as the payload gets rolling down the shotgun tube. This is a controlled pressure increase, and enough so to produce almost unheard of velocity increases.
I shot ultra fast loads in Nebraska on Canada's, as well as Arkansas snows and Minnesota Rochester gray bombers. ( Super geese.) I can say for a fact that I made kills that were up to then not at all possible with previous steel shot fodder. Within the 50 to 60 yard range limit the new loads drive large shot deep and held to very uniform patterns of 85% through 94 % at a tested 40 yards. Extended range limits to 65 yards were effectively achieved, and even a few birds were harvested a bit further out. Federal Classic steel shot ammunition is the Federal middle of the road in price and for the most part a top seller with Federal Cartridge.
After bringing the above discussed loads into the retail market Federal has announced that some older less productive loads will be eliminated from the product line. This allows a streamlining of the shotshell line at Federal and saves money that can be better utilized to increase the value for the buck hunters will gain from the more useful and higher volume load introductions.
As a final note it is my thinking that when you have tied up with a company that can take out a Russian built T-80 main battle tank with eight inch armor at 4000 yards by way of a very big rifle bullet, your in the drivers seat when it comes to upgraded waterfowl and upland sporting ammunition for some time to come. This new picture of Federal Cartridge is just starting to develop.