Federal Premium Ammunition is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vista Outdoor, located in

Anoka, Minnesota Anoka ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 17,142 at the 2010 census. Anoka is the "Halloween Capital of the World" because it hosted one of the first Halloween parades in 1920. It ...

. With a workforce of nearly 1,500, Federal manufactures

shotshell A shotgun shell, shotshell or simply shell is a type of rimmed, cylindrical (straight-walled) cartridges used specifically in shotguns, and is typically loaded with numerous small, pellet-like spherical sub- projectiles called shot, fired th ...

centerfire Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...

, and rimfire

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other we ...

and components.

History

On April 27, 1922, Charles L. Horn took control of a small plant in Anoka, Minnesota and refounded Federal Cartridge Corporation. Horn launched a distribution plan that involved merchandising Federal products in grocery stores, barbershops, and filling stations. In 1941, Federal won an $87 million contract from the United States government (approx. $1.3 billion in 2010) to build and operate the $30 million Twin City Ordnance Plant. Federal ranked 59th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production. In 1977, William B. Horn introduced Federal's Premium line of centerfire rifle and shotshell ammunition. Federal also owned Hoffman Engineering, a company that made electronic enclosures. In 1985, Federal was sold to a group of private investors including

Kelso & Company Kelso & Company is an American private equity firm focusing on leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and growth capital transactions. Kelso invests in a variety of sectors, including communication, manufacturing and restaurants. Kelso is based ...

, BancBoston Capital, and members of the management team. The two companies were united under the name Federal-Hoffman, Inc and taken private during the sale. However, in 1988,

Pentair Inc. Pentair plc (PNR) is an American water treatment company incorporated in Ireland with tax residency in UK, with its main U.S. office in Golden Valley, Minnesota. Pentair was founded in the US, with 65% of company's revenue coming from the US a ...

, a diversified manufacturer based in Minnesota, agreed to acquire FC Holdings Inc., the holding company for Federal-Hoffman Inc., for $175 million in cash and the assumption of debt. Federal-Hoffman has since split, and Federal is currently owned by Vista Outdoor. Vista Outdoor group, formerly a group of outdoor and sporting companies owned by

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace, defense, and sporting goods company with its headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The company operated in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and other countries. ATK's ...

; was spun off from Alliant Techsystems in February 2015. Federal Cartridge does business today as Federal Premium Ammunition.

Products and marketing

Federal makes hundreds of types of ammunition for a wide variety of customers and uses. In 2019, Federal started selling directly to consumers through its online store. This was partially prompted by Walmart's decision to stop selling certain calibers of ammunition. Federal also started a new service where customers can order hand-loaded ammunition customized for their needs.

Defense ammunition

HST 380 Auto Micro

The HST 380 Auto Micro was designed for self-defense and use in small pistols such as the

Smith & Wesson Bodyguard The Smith & Wesson Bodyguard is a family of small J-frame revolvers with shrouded hammers manufactured by Smith & Wesson. They are available chambered in either .38 Special or .357 Magnum. Models Model 38 The Model 38 is aluminum-framed, has ...

. It has a nickel-plated casing and special primer that improve its reliability in semi-automatic handguns. It weighs 99 grains and has a deep, tapered hollow-point to provide consistent expansion. This ammunition does not meet the FBI Ammunition Testing Protocol. With a 3.75-inch test barrel, HST 380 Auto Micro ammunition achieves a muzzle velocity of 1,030 feet per second, a velocity of 990 feet per second at 25 yards, and a velocity of 950 feet per second at 50 yards. Using the same sized test barrel, it measures 235 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.

Hydra-Shok

Hydra-Shok Hydra-Shok is a type of hollow-point projectile made by Federal Premium Ammunition. It was originally patented by ammunition designer Tom Burczynski. Hydra-Shok was released in 1988 after the FBI requested a bullet with better terminal ballisti ...

is a type of cartridge with

expanding bullet Expanding bullets, also known colloquially as dumdum bullets, are projectiles designed to expand on impact. This causes the bullet to increase in diameter, to combat over-penetration and produce a larger wound, thus dealing more damage to a liv ...

s. It was originally patented by Federal Premium bullet designer Tom Burczynski. Hydra-Shok was introduced in 1988 after the FBI requested a bullet with better terminal ballistics than traditional cup and core projectiles. Hydra-Shok ammunition has a patented center-post design and notched jacket with a non-bonded lead core. Hydra-Shok is designed to provide more reliable expansion and deeper penetration than other hollow-point projectiles used at that time. Federal Premium claims that the scored jacket and center post design provide a "programmed" expansion. There has been much debate regarding the bullets unreliable expansion when fired through clothing or media other than ballistic gelatin. In

ballistic gelatin Ballistic gelatin is a testing medium designed to simulate the effects of bullet wounds in animal muscle tissue. It was developed and improved by Martin Fackler and others in the field of wound ballistics. It is calibrated to match porcine mus ...

, the bullet typically displays very rapid expansion resulting in a larger but more shallow wound channel than would be typical from most other bullet configurations in the same caliber and of similar weight.

Vital-Shok

Federal Premium announced a

.30-30 Winchester The .30-30 Winchester/.30 Winchester Center Fire cartridge was first marketed in 1895 for the Winchester Model 1894 lever-action rifle. Federal Premium sells shotgun slugs with Vital-Shok branding. These slugs use the Foster, also known as American, design. Foster-type slugs have rifling to make it easier to pass them through a choke and have hollow tails that help stabilize the slug in flight.

.327 Federal Magnum

The

.327 Federal Magnum The .327 Federal Magnum is a cartridge introduced by Federal Premium Ammunition and also sold by Sturm, Ruger & Co. It is intended to provide the power of a .357 Magnum in a six-shot, compact revolvers, whose cylinders would otherwise only h ...

is a cartridge introduced by

Federal Cartridge Federal Premium Ammunition is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vista Outdoor, located in Anoka, Minnesota. With a workforce of nearly 1,500, Federal manufactures shotshell, centerfire, and rimfire ammunition and components. History On April 27, ...

intended to provide the power of a

.357 Magnum The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...

in six shot, compact

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that has at least one gun barrel, barrel and uses a revolving cylinder (firearms), cylinder containing multiple chamber (firearms), chambers (each holding a single ...

s. The .327 has also been used in full-sized revolvers and Henry's Big Boy Steel carbine. The .327 Federal Magnum is actually a super magnum having replaced the .32 H&R Magnum as the pinnacle of power in this diameter revolver cartridge.

Shotgun shells

Black Cloud Snow Goose

Federal Black Cloud Snow Goose loads are designed for use against large waterfowl. It comes in BB and 2. Federal claims a muzzle velocity of 1,635 feet per second.

Shorty Shotshells

Shorty Shotshells are very short for shotgun ammunition as they have a length of only 1.75 inches. Federal says the Shortys work just as well as full-sized shotshells. The Shorty Shotshell comes in #8 shot, #4 buck, and a rifled slug as well.

.224 Valkyrie

Federal significantly expanded the number of

.224 Valkyrie The .224 Valkyrie (5.6×41 mm)
(5.6 mm) rim ...

loads it offers. The Varmint and Predator load hold 60-grain

Hornady Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition cartridges, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska. History The company is currently run by Joyce Hornady's son, Steve Hornady, who took over ...

V-MAX bullets. The 80.5-grain Gold Medal Berger Match was designed for long-range target shooting. The 78-grain Barnes TSX copper hollow point is a hunting round for large game such as deer.

American Eagle brand

Syntech

In late 2015, Federal Premium introduced Syntech ("synthetic technology") line of pistol bullets for the 9mm Luger, .40 S&W and

.45 ACP The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...

calibers, under Federal's American Eagle brand. The "Syntech" trademark derives from the Total Polymer Jacket (TPJ), a synthetic low-friction polymer jacketing that replaces the traditional bare lead or copper jacketing. With no metal-on-metal contact with the bore and rifling, the polymer-jacketed bullets theoretically will impose much less wear on the rifling and generate less heat, which helps to extend barrel life as well as eliminate lead and copper fouling in the bore. Cartridges using Syntech bullets also use special primers and clean-burning propellants to further minimize carbon fouling. Syntech was designed for indoor range shooters. In addition to being cleaner than conventional ammunition, Federal Premium claims that Syntech is also safer due to decreased splash and fragmenting when hitting hard targets. The company says its studies show that what little spray there is stays close to the target.

References

External links

Official website
{{Alliant Techsystems Companies based in Minnesota Ammunition manufacturers Alliant Techsystems Anoka, Minnesota