Ammo 2000

Shooting Industry, Jan, 2000 by Roy Huntington

To gain an idea of the wide range of innovation in ammunition available to you and your customers, Shooting Industry polled a cross-section of makers to see what's new for 2000. While unarguably incomplete, it provides a snapshot of the innovation available in over-the-counter ammunition.

Aguila

This maker of a cross-section of quality ammunition imported from Mexico offers several interesting loads. The one generating the most interest is a 45 ACP High Power load using a 117-grain metal alloy bullet at 1,450 fps. Fans of high-velocity, lightweight bullets will surely want this one.

Another innovation is their 12 gauge "mini-shotshells." The overall length is only 1.5 inches and generates corresponding low recoil. They are available in birdshot, buckshot and a slug load. Just perfect for cowboy shooters.

Aguila's introduction of the .22 caliber Colibri round brings a 20-grain .22 round powered solely by the Eley primer mix. At short to medium ranges, it's a dandy target round for "garage" plinking or makes short work of varmints around the farm.

Black Hills Ammunition

Jeff and Christy Hoffman, owners of Black Hills, continue to take advantage of their company's ability to react quickly to the changing marketplace. For one of the "big three" ammunition makers to gear-up and offer a new load or caliber might take months of marketing research, tests and evaluation, load development, and cooperation between many different departments within their companies.

At Black Hills, from the time Jeff Hoffman decides to do something different until the ammunition is sitting on a shelf ready to ship can be just the matter of a couple of meetings and they are off and running.

Black Hills has taken advantage of this by offering a new .32 H&R Magnum load featuring a Hornady 85-grain XPT hollowpoint at 1,100 fps. This popular round refuses to die and is all too often ignored by the big makers. Hoffman's line of cowboy loads continues to grow and encompasses virtually all the standard (and non-standard) loads an aspiring cowboy might need.

CCI

An interesting load from CCI is a .40 S&W Blazer aluminum cased shot load. This round is loaded with #9 shot and gives excellent pattern density at close ranges. New to this Blazer shotshell ammunition line is the .45 Colt shotshell. The line is ideal for short-range pest and varmint control.

Federal Cartridge Co.

Federal's hunting loads using the Barnes XLC Coated X-Bullet will be offered in standard hunting calibers like .270 and 30-'06. The Barnes bullet is 100 percent copper and designed for deep penetration with virtual 100 percent weight retention.

Look for a unique and exciting personal defense handgun load from Federal. The unique ammunition looks and feeds like full-metal case ball ammunition, yet expands like gang-busters on the target. Its thin, pre-scored jacket shape is maintained by a filler of soft-plastic material.

Once the projectile strikes the target, the jacket gives, expanding like high-performance conventional ammunition but without losing jacket material.