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Saturday, January 29, 2005
SHOT Show: Day 2
Trends in the ammo business continue on the fast and hard-hitting track. This year should bring some intense shotshell loads in the waterfowl category, with more price-sensitive in the non-toxics.
Centerfire ammo continues to get fatter and faster, with even more offerings for home safety and law enforcement. This translates to a greater selection and more reasons for your customers to buy some new ammo in 2005. Here’s a brief look at what will be available:
Winchester Ammo: When you decide to offer the most powerful production handgun cartridge in the world, you better have a bullet up to the task. Winchester has it – the new 400 grain Platinum Tip Hollow Point. This heavyweight for the 500 S&W delivers massive knockdown power on big, dangerous game. Winchester will also offer a new Super-X load for the .204 Ruger, which features a 34-grain jacketed hollowpoint bullet.
Sierra Bullets: Sierra will add tow new bullets to the popular BlitzKing line for 2005, ideally suited for the .204 Ruger and other .20-caliber cartridges and the .20 Tactical.
Remington: Late-season pheasant hunting can test the skill, patience and especially the ammunition of the serious upland hunter. New for 2005, Remington has tilted the odds in the hunter’s favor with the new Nitro Pheasant shotshell loads.
Designed to deliver maximum performance, these shotshells consist of premium, extra-hard Copper-Lokt plated shot, protected by Remington’s famous Power Piston wad and encased in a unique sparkle-hull design.
The Nitro Pheasant high-brass loads deliver a 12-gauge, 1-ounce payload at 1,400 fps and a 20-gauge, 1-ounce payload at 1,300 fps. For hunters that prefer a magnum shot charge, Premier Pheasant loads are also offered in a 12-gauge, 1 3/8-ounce payload at 1,300 fps and a 20-gauge, 1 ¼-ounce payload at 1,185 fps.
Federal: With the introduction of the Ultra-Shok High Density Tungsten waterfowl loads, many waterfowlers will quickly come to the realization that the load is simply devastating on hard-fliers.
The new loads are 3.5 times softer than tungsten-iron yet have the equivalent density. The also manage 20 percent more payload than the previous 1 1/8- to 1 3/8-ounce loads, have guaranteed uniform pellet size and perform with 15 percent less wind drift than steel shot.
Nosler: Like most companies in the bullet business, Nosler’s Ballistic Lab has provided custom ammunition for some of the biggest names in the shooting industry for years. Initial offerings include more than 200 different loadings for 39 hunting and varmint cartridges – all with premier Nosler Partition, Ballistic Tip, AccuBond or Solid Base bullets.
Hornady: There was a time when hunting deer with a shotgun slug meant close shots only. Those days are over. Hornady’s SSTTM Shotgun Slug transforms your favorite rifled-barrel slug gun into a weapon that will outperform some centerfire rifles. The Hornady Shotgun Slug allows you to bring unheard of accuracy and terminal performance to slug-only areas.
The accurate SSTTM bullet delivers sub-two-inch groups at 100 yards with the flattest trajectory on the market. The polymer tip of Hornady’s field-proven SSTTM helps it slice through the air, minimizing drop and wind drift. And when the bullet strikes its target, the tip initiates violent expansion, transferring its energy payload to ensure a swift kill.
