Federal Premium announced a number of new ammunition offerings for 2017.  These cover rimfire, centerfire handgun, centerfire rifle and shotshells.  Here’s a quick preview of three of the new things coming. 

Federal .38 Special HST Micro

Optimizing handgun ammunition for short barreled handguns has become more popular with several manufacturers offering at least one load tailored for small guns.  Federal’s HST line already offers other short barrel loads, and now the company adds the .38 Special. 

With this load, the company seats the bullet deep inside the case so that it takes on a profile similar to a wadcutter.  Typically, a .38 Special has a lot of dead air in the cartridge case (hold one up and you can hear the powder moving if you shake it.)  I am curious to see what else the company has done with this load to ensure reliable expansion. 

Fusion MSR 6.5 Grendel

Fusion is Federal’s affordable brand of hunting ammunition.  For the new year, the company added the 6.5 Grendel to the MSR line.  Part of the goal of the MSR line is to ensure optimum performance from the shorter barrels typically found on AR style rifles (as compared to a traditional bolt-action hunting rifle.)  The Grendel load will use a 120 grain bullet, though no additional information is available yet. 

Black Cloud with Flitecontrol Flex

Waterfowl hunters looking for tighter patterns might be interested in the new loads in the Black Cloud line.  These new shotshells use the company’s Flitecontrol Flex wads to provide tighter shot groups.  In all, there will be 25 new loads that cover both 12 and 20 gauges.