by Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Whatever else one learns from the annual SHOT Show is that there is a great emphasis on shooting, and that’s where the nation’s ammunition manufacturers unfailingly step in with new loads for rifles, handguns and shotguns.
The ammo industry is catching up to the heavy consumer demands over the past two years, and now there are even more offerings, some carefully designed and loaded for specific purposes, such as self-defense, waterfowl hunting, turkeys or hogs.
CorBon is loading handgun ammunition with proprietary jacketed hollowpoint bullets for defensive purposes, and TGM has had an opportunity to try some of it out at the range. There are loads in .32 ACP, 9mm, .38 Special and .45 ACP. Long-range hunters now have several new loads featuring the Swift A-Frame bullet, in big bore calibers.
Winchester’s new Long Beard XR 12-gauge shells for turkey hunting include one in 3½-inch and another in 3-inch in No. 4, 5 or 6 shot. They feature Winchester’s Shot-Lok technology for tight patterns.
For upland game, the Rooster XR 12-gauge 3-inch magnum load is offered in Nos. 5 or 6 shot, while there are new entries in AA Tracker and AA Steel for trap shooters. The AA Tracker loads are all 12-gauge entries in 2¾-inch, all with 1-1/8-ounces of shot sizes 7½ or 9, depending upon the load. In the AA Steel family there are a pair of 2¾-inch 12-gauge rounds with an ounce of shot in 7½ or 8. There’s a 250-round Commemorative Wood Box of 12-gauge 2¾-inch loads in No. 8.
The new Deer Season XP loads are offered in .243 Winchester, .270 Winchester, 7mm Remington Magnum, .308 Winchester, .30-06 Sprg., .300 Winchester Magnum and .300 Winchester Short Magnum. Meanwhile, there is a new 40-round carton of Varmint X ammunition with polymer-tipped bullets.
Winchester will also market .45 ACP loads in the W Train & Defend series, both with 230-grain bullets. The training rounds come 50 to a box and the defensive loads come 20 to a box.
Federal Premium’s new 3rd Degree 12-gauge shotgun loads for turkey hunters.
There is lots of good news from Federal, starting with the new Personal Defense HST .380 ACP round. It has a 99-grain JHP bullet.
In the Federal Premium series, there’s a new .223 Remington with a 62-grain Trophy Bonded bullet, and a .30-30 Winchester with a new 150-grain Trophy Copper bullet.
For turkey hunters, the new Federal Premium 3rd Degree 12-gauge shotgun loads feature a three-stage payload consisting of 20 percent No. 6 FliteStopper pellets, 40-percent copper-plated No. 5 lead and 40 percent No. 7 Heavyweight pellets for downrange performance.
In the American Eagle line, there’s a new .17 Winchester Super Magnum with a 20-grian bullet and a new load for the .338 Lapua Magnum with a 250-grain jacketed soft point bullet.
Nosler is introducing BT Ammunition featuring its popular Ballistic Tip bullet. Initial offerings include a .243 Winchester with a 90-grain Ballistic Tip, a .270 Winchester topped with a 140-grain bullet, another entry in 7mm-08 Remington featuring a 120-grainer, a .30-30 Winchester pushing a 150-grain pill, and two loads each in .308 Winchester (125- and 165-grains) and .30-06 (125- and 180-grainers).
Barnes is expanding its line of VOR-TX ammunition with the introduction of two 5.56mm loads, a .300 AAC Blackout and .338 Lapua, plus a new 10mm handgun round. The new 5.56mm rounds come with two TSX bullet weights, in 62 and 70 grains. The .300 Blackout has a 120-grain TAC-TX bullet and the .338 Lapua is topped by a 280-grain LRX bullet.
The new 10mm load features a 155-grain Barnes XPB bullet that offers maximum expansion and weight retention.
Black Hills .308 Win. load featuring a 168-grain Sierra Tipped MatchKing (TMK) bullet.
Black Hills offers a special purpose 5.56mm round with a 70-grain Hornady GMX bullet, and a .308 Winchester load featuring a 168-grain Sierra Tipped MatchKing (TMK) bullet. The 5.56mm load is designed for tight rifling twists. The 70-grain 5.56 round is not armor piercing, but it will significantly outperform conventional bullets in law enforcement situations where officers may be required to engage deadly threats in vehicles or behind other light cover. In the hunting field, it is optimum for situations such as big game or hog hunting requiring great expansion combined with deep penetration and nearly 100% weight retention. The 168-grain is the traditional standard for .308 match and police sniper ammunition. This new projectile in Black Hills ammunition increases the ballistic coefficient of the bullet from .462 to .535. The effect is higher retained velocity, flatter trajectory, and increased wind performance.
There’s more ammunition coming from Sig Sauer in its Elite Performance Ammunition series. Joining the 9mm lineup are two loads, one with a 115-grain bullet and the other with a 147-grainer. They join a lineup that includes .380 ACP, .357 SIG, .40 S&W and .45 ACP.
Century International has new Hotshot ammunition and new loads in the Red Army Standard series. Hotshot ammunition features steel cases, making it more affordable. Available calibers include 9mm/115-grain and 124-grain; 9.92x57mm (8mm Mauser) in 170-grains and a 146-grain 7.62x51mm.
Red Army Standard is adding a 7.62x25mm Tokarev with an 86-grain FMJ bullet, a 7.62x54R with a 148-grain FMJ bullet and a 7.62x54R pushing a 148-grain copper-jacketed bullet.
Hornady has announced a new line of Superformance Varmint rounds, including a .222 Remington with a 50-grain V-MAX bullet; a .223 Remington with a 53-grain V-MAX; a .22-250 Remington topped by a 50-grain V-MAX, and a .243 Winchester pushing a 58-grain V-MAX.
There’s also a new .243 Winchester with a 75-grain V-MAX, while a new .17 Winchester Super Mag has a 20-grain V-MAX.
Also from Hornady is the new American Gunner handgun line with a .380 ACP/90-grain XTP, a 9mm/115-grain XTP, a 9mm +P/124-grain XTP, and a .38 Special/125-grain XTP, plus a .357 Magnum/125-grain XTP, a .40 S&W/180-grain XTP and a .45 ACP/185-grain XTP.
Hornady’s Full Boar ammo, all loaded with GMX monolithic copper alloy bullets, includes eight entries. They start with a .223 Remington/50-grain, a .243 Winchester/80-grainer, a 6.8mm SPC/100-grainer, a .270 Winchester/130-grains, a 7mm Remington Magnum/139-grain bullet,.308 Winchester/165-grainer, a .30-06/165-grain bullet and a .300 Winchester Magnum/165-grainer.
Hornady’s Critical Defense Lite 9mm load has a 100-grain FTX bullet with a pink Flex Tip, and a portion of the sales revenue goes to help fund breast cancer research.
New England Custom Guns will be marketing RWS ammunition in various hard-to-find metric calibers including 5.6x57mm, 6.5x57mm, 8x68mm and 7×64 along with more common cartridges including the .308 Winchester, .300 Winchester Short Magnum and 7mm Remington Magnum.
