Federal branded ammo is manufactured by the company known as Federal Premium Ammunition, a subsidiary of Vista Outdoor. With its base in Minnesota in the town of Anoka, it’s a large producer of rimfire, centerfire, and shotshell cartridges that employs around 1,500 people.
The company was founded around a century ago by Charles L Horn who bought a factory the manufacturer still uses today on April the 27th of the same year. Initially retailing the rounds through barbershops, grocery stores, and gas stations, it’s an enterprise that now represents one of the biggest of its type.
Centerfire & Shotshell Excellence
Moving closer to the present day, Charles’s grandson William launched their now well-known range of shotshell and centerfire ammunition in 1977. Federal branded ammo as we know it today wouldn’t exist without this move and one of the major reasons why Federal was able to carve out its own niche in the industry was its insistence on exceptionally tight tolerances in its products.
This meant that it was able to offer cartridges of such high quality and performance that it exceeded what was previously thought possible with hand-loaded ammo.
Also contributing to the excellent products produced by Federal was the fact that they were happy to use projectiles created by other major names in the industry. At the start of March in 2019, this is still something that they were still doing.
A Major Modern-Day Manufacturer
Fast forward to today and Federal branded ammo is something that’s manufactured on an ongoing basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.. Another subsidiary of Vista – Lewiston-based CCI – has also helped to modernise the current production techniques used by the company.
Another thing that sets the company apart is the way in which its quality control setup works. The company’s manufacturing processes allow any products that are later found to be defective to be traced all the way back to the person responsible for putting it together.
An Strong Environmental Conscience
In its four factories, the whole process occurs, with the raw materials coming in at one end and the completed products issuing out at the other. It’s a company with an impressive eco-friendly method of manufacturing too, reusing recycled materials like lead from automobile batteries.
Also used are recycled brass and plastics – something that greatly reduces the carbon footprint of Federal branded ammo and it’s eco-credentials are boosted even further by its involvement with environmental charities.
A Company That’s Respected Across the Industry
There are many ammo manufacturers out there, each with its own unique history and heritage, but there are scant few that are quite as interesting as Federal.
100 years in the industry has positioned Federal as one of the most respected names in the ammunition industry, with its cartridges used widely by gun owners in the states and indeed, all around the world.
Also famed for their impressive quality, they have a reputation that will likely be just as impressive in a century’s time. Maybe you should check back with us in 2121 and we’ll tell you all about how their second 100 years went!
