| In the last few years there has been a resurgence of high tech developments by the major ammunition manufacturers. Gone are the days when shooting a state of the art bullet meant you had to load it yourself. All of the major ammunition manufacturers as well as a growing chorus of specialty manufacturers now provide state of the art hunting bullets in high performance loadings. In addition, manufacturers have added to their lineups specialty loadings like reduced recoil offerings and heavy magnum high energy loads. Remington started the trend of providing slightly downloaded and optimized loads in several calibers to give people a lower recoil option for their shooting. Hornady went the other direction and through the use of proprietary powders exceeded the best of the traditional offerings in several cartridges with their heavy magnum line. In addition to these specialty offerings, all of the manufacturers now offer some kind of premium hunting bullet loading in their lineups from the specialty bullet manufacturers. You can easily buy factory loaded Hornady, Speer, Nosler, Barnes and other premium bullets factory loaded. In addition to the premium offerings from these manufacturers, their standard loads have improved by incorporating many of the design features of premium bullets. The quality of factory produced ammunition has never been better and there have never been as many option as there are today. Below we look at some of these manufacturers and see what they have to offer: Remington:
Remington has taken the managed recoil concept to a new level with what they are calling their "Power Level" hunting ammunition for the .300 ultra magnum. They have three offerings that duplicate the ballistics of the 30:06 on the low end, the standard .300 magnums in the middle and the full power ultra magnum loading at the top. The low level load is loaded with the classic Remington Core-Lokt or AccuTip bullet. The mid level load uses more premium Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded or Scirocco bullets while the full power loadings use A-Frame, Core-Lokt Ultra Bonded or Scirocco bullets. These premium bullets are also offered in several other calibers and loadings. Winchester:
Winchester has four levels of ammunition available for rifles starting with their economy USA brand, using typical jacketed bullets. The next level is the classic Super-X label which provides intermediate bullet technology and performance. Included in this level is the Silvertip bullet that has been a mainstay of their line up for decades. The Supreme line of ammunition includes premium bullets such as the Partition Gold, Fail Safe bullet with it's lead filled steel insert and the Ballistic Silvertip. At the top of their line is the Supreme Elite ammunition featuring the ultra premium XP3 bullet. Federal:
Federal offers two levels in their premium line. Power-Shok ammunition that uses Speer Hot-Cor bullets. Speer and Federal are owned by the same company and their respective lineups feature products form each company. Their super premium Vital-Shok line features premium Nosler AccuBond, Nosler Partition, Barnes TSX, Barnes MRX, and Trophy Bonded Bear Claw bullets. Hornady:
Hornady has been very busy in recent years teaming up with firearms manufacturers to produce new cartridges. Some of their efforts include the .450 Marlin, .308 Marlin Express, .375 Ruger, 450/400 Nitro Express 3 and the .450 Bushmaster. In addition to their Light Mag offerings for non magnum cartridges and Heavy Mag loadings for magnum cartridges they provide high quality Interbond, A-Max and SST bullets in their ammunition. Black Hills:
Black Hills ammunition has been produced for many years. The offer both remanufactured and factory new ammunition at very reasonable prices. Many of their rifle loads use Nosler, AccuBond, Barnes Triple Shock and Hornady A-MAX premium hunting bullets. All trademarks listed in this article are owned by the respective companies listed above. |
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