By Nick Rositano 

Federal Ammunition first opened its doors in 1922, in Anoka, Minnesota. With a lot of hard work and a few teething problems in the early days, Federal is now regarded as one of the world’s leading ammunition manufacturers. Federal Premium Ammunition is the product of countless hours of designing to produce one of the most premium ammunition available on the market. 

What one will notice at first sight is the stylish packaging Federal have encased their premium ammunition in. The Federal Premium in 7mm PRC feature a nickel case wrapped behind Hornady’s proven 175 ELDX projectile, making it a hard hitter for most of the game we have over here in Australia. Although not all Federal Premium Ammunition feature a nickel case, they do feature a wide range of popular and proven projectiles from Berger, Hornady, Barnes, Sierra, Nosler and Trophy Bonded Tip Bullet, which are among some of the most popular brands of projectiles on the market today. After using the chronograph on another popular brand of factory ammo, which I won’t disclose here, I found variations of between 20-100 fps difference in my 7mm PRC, which is unacceptable. I found that the consistency of a three-shot group was average. At $115 a box, you do the math and work out that over $5 a shot, you would expect more. This is when I had doubts about the consistency of factory ammo, as it is mass produced; however, determined I began researching and found that the Federal Premium Ammunition line may be the saviour to this problem! Being a bit time poor these days with a young family, I don’t find myself spending near as much time on the reloading bench as I use to. What came to my mind about the Federal Premium Ammunition is the wide range of projectiles, which – let’s face it – no other ammunition manufacturer caters for. 

I was eager to test out the Federal Premium Ammunition for the 7mm PRC down at the range first, checking on how well they group and the velocity speeds while adjusting my zero to ensure the rifle is good to go, as I had a hunt planned on a good friend’s property. I managed to head down to the local range with a day off from work during the week. The first target I placed out at 100 metres. With three-shots, I could see that two bullets were well ‘clover leafing’ while the third shot was what looked to be around .5 of an inch away. Checking the Garmin Xero chronograph, the shots were between 2870-2880, which is somewhat impressive! However, I was determined to put the Federal Premium to the test, as three shots doesn’t quite mean justice for me! The 7mm PRC which I am running is a Defiance Ruckus action based on a Remington 700, fitted with a Proof Carbon Sendero 24’ barrel. Only a small adjustment was made to get the Federal Premium shooting good enough for me. After going through around 30 shots of the Federal Premium ammo, I was able to gauge a pretty good picture for velocity variations and am happy to say the average difference was between 10-15 fps, which is exceptional! The average grouping at 100 metres was around .5 MOA, with the best at .45 MOA. For a hunting rifle, I was impressed to say the least. 

A few weeks after my range visit, it was time to head down for a hunt. I was hoping to find either a red stag or a fallow buck post rut, as this rut had been relatively quiet for me. Walking out about 45 minutes before first light, I had a game plan in my head and wanted to make it there before the crack of dawn so I could glass a particular part of the property, which looked promising from a few weeks back. With a fair bit of foot traffic around the place, I set up at my preferred spot. I grabbed my binoculars and started glassing the area on the freshly planted crop. With the crack of dawn and heavy fog rolling through, I made out a red stag probably around 250-300 metres away, on which I could just see the timber work of the stag on one side and the adrenaline kicked in immediately. With the wind in my favour, I began crawling along the freshly cropped paddock to the top of the gully where I wanted to set up and take a shot if it offered. Five to 10 minutes passed, and I had lost sight of the stag, but with the fog starting to slowly fade I made him out and lined up for a shot. With the squeeze of the trigger, the Federal Premium 7mm PRC 175 ELDX projectile went straight through the engine room of the red stag and dropped him on the spot. I was stoked! With these excellent results for me, it is safe to say I will continue to use the Federal Premium Ammunition for my 7mm PRC among other calibres, as they have ticked all the boxes from reliability through to their consistency. The Federal Premium ammunition in 7mm PRC is on the higher end of the market pricewise and retail for around the $150 mark, making them not a cheap round; however, if reliability and precision are what you are chasing from factory ammunition that will not fail, look no further than the Federal Premium range.