The History of Federal Premium Ammunition

IGNITION SYSTEM: The two main types of rifle cartridges are rimfire and centerfire. Rimfire cartridges have primer mix located in the rim of the case.

It is ignited when the firing pin strikes the rim and creates a small spark. The most common rimfire cartridges are 22 Long Rifle and 17 HMR. Centerfire cartridges have a primer which contains primer mix and a metal anvil inside of a small cup.

The primer is placed in the center of the case head and is ignited when the firing pin strikes the center of the primer cup, forming a spark between the cup and the anvil. Most centerfire cartridges can be reloaded.

CASE: The case is generally made of brass, contains all of the components and fits within the chamber of a firearm. Different calibers have different shapes and sizes of cases.

Some cases have a neck to accommodate a bullet with a much smaller diameter than the body of the cartridge.

Others have straight walls. The case must fit the chamber because of the extreme pressures created by the burning of the powder pushes the case out against the chamber.

It is this pressure from expanding gases that pushes the bullet down the barrel. The caliber of the cartridge is stamped on the head of the case and must be matched to the cartridge stamped on the gun barrel.

BULLETS: There is a wide array of bullet types, and they all perform differently. It is important to match the bullet to the application.

Accuracy and precision of a bullet are important to consider, but in a hunting bullet it is equally important to consider a bullet's terminal performance, or what a bullet does when it hits and travels through a target.

Factors important to terminal performance include penetration (how deep a bullet travels into a target), expansion (how much a bullet mushrooms to increase energy transfer to the target) and weight retention (how well the bullet stays intact).

Target bullets are designed to be accurate and/or inexpensive, but they generally don’t expand reliably for use on game.

The full metal jacket (FMJ) is designed for military and target applications, and the jacket that extends from the point to base gives it a flat trajectory but poor expansion.

Hunting bullets are generally built to expand on impact. This creates a larger wound channel in the animal and transfers more energy, damaging even more tissue.

Soft points are often used on medium game because the lead nose and tapered jacket are designed to expand as much as twice their original diameter on relatively light, thin-skinned animals.

These are often considered the standard deer bullet and can be found in Federal’s Power-Shok line. Federal’s Fusion bullet offers a jacket that is molecularly fused to the core, increasing weight retention.

All-copper monolithic bullets are generally designed for medium or larger game, and have high weight retention, but generally don’t expand as much as soft points. Their hollow point design peels back with hydrostatic pressure in game animals to expand the frontal diameter and penetrate deeply. Trophy Copper is an example. Trophy Bonded Bear Claw is perhaps the most famous bonded bullet. Bonding means the jacket and the core are joined together chemically, similar to welding.

This helps keep the bullet together and reduce separation. While this bullet is a soft point, the solid limits how far the jacket can peel and mushroom, improving penetration on large and dangerous game.