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BULLET BULLETIN: H.S.T. BULLETS MAKE FOR HAPPY HANDGUNS, HANDGUNNERS
BULLET BULLETIN
Among the premium handgun bullet choices, Federal’s HST is high on the list of the best.
H.S.T. BULLETS MAKE FOR HAPPY HANDGUNS, HANDGUNNERS
Even with all of today’s great self-defense options, Federal line ‘sits at the top of the list’ for our ammo expert.
STORY BY PHIL MASSARO • PHOTOS BY MASSARO MEDIA GROUP
Should you ever be in the unfortunate position to need a handgun to defend your life or the lives of your loved ones, I hope you have the best ammunition available. Perhaps unfairly, the handgun projectile is asked to perform in a large number of different scenarios, and to neutralize a threat immediately. Just exactly what that scenario may be can vary from a one-on-one confrontation to a home invasion to many other nightmare scenes, so when you pick your defensive projectile, you want something tried and true and that has met all the qualifications that the military and/or law enforcement have set.
For me, Federal’s HST is the best I’ve come across; it checks all the boxes I need it to check, and for reasons I’m about to outline, it is held in high regard among all factions of the handgun community.
Federal is about to celebrate their centennial, and if anything has been proven over the course of the last century, it’s that Federal strives to meet the demands of the market. They have a long history of developing their own projectiles, for both handgun and rifle, and were the first to embrace the designs of boutique component
manufacturers in their ammunition, and continue to do so to this day. That said, Federal’s own engineers have been as busy as a hive of bees over the last few decades, and many of their developments have become personal favorites, none more so than the HST.
WHAT, EXACTLY, IS the HST? Pull up a chair, and allow me to explain. Simply put, it is a jacketed hollowpoint bullet, but there is so much more to it than that. The HST is the brainchild of Federal’s Tom Burczynski, who also designed the Hydra-Shok bullet. Now, there are no flies on the HydraShok, but Federal had seen room for improvement.
Designing a hollowpoint bullet that functions properly in the wide variety of situations in which a handgun bullet will be employed requires much more than simply drilling a hole in the nose, and one of the problems of earlier designs was “plugging.” When impacting certain types of materials – namely thick clothing and/
Federal Ammunition has signed on to be the Centennial Sponsor of the Boone and Crockett Club’s 31st Big Game Awards to be held July 21-23 in Springfield, Missouri.
The event recognizes the biggest heads, horns and antlers from North America entered into the Boone and Crockett Club’s record book during the last three years. The 31st Big Game Awards coincides with the centennial anniversary of the National Collection of Heads and Horns, as well as Federal’s 100-year anniversary as one of the largest ammunition manufacturing companies in America.
“Federal Ammunition is proud to be the Centennial Sponsor of the 31st Big Game Awards to celebrate the synergy between our 100 years in business and the conservation of the nation’s wildlife species,” commented Jon Zinnel, Federal’s conservation manager. “Federal has long supported conservation efforts both through the excise taxes we pay on the sale of ammunition as part of the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration program, as well as through philanthropic support of conservation and advocacy organizations. We are excited to celebrate the successes of hunters having the opportunity to hunt amazing animals only because of extraordinary efforts to conserve them and the habitat on which they depend.”
When the National Collection of Heads and Horns was dedicated in May 1922, Boone and Crockett Club member and the collection’s original curator William T. Hornaday noted, “The National Collection of Heads and Horns was founded and formed as a duty owed to the American people and to the vanishing big game of the world. … As wild animal extermination now is proceeding all over the world, it is saddening to think that 100 years hence many of the species now shown in our collection will have become totally extinct.” However, most of those North American species have not gone extinct and in fact have thrived thanks largely to sustainable wildlife management and the consistent funding provided through the excise tax paid by companies like Federal Ammunition.
In response to public interest generated by the National Collection of Heads and Horns in the 1920s, and increased interest in the recovery and conservation of big game species, the club established an official measurement and scoring system for trophy big game. The National Collection and the measurement system were initially conceived to record species of North American big game thought to be vanishing. As conservation efforts began to pay dividends and populations recovered, so did the number of mature male specimens. Wildlife managers and others in the scientific community soon recognized that the system was an effective means of tracking the success of new conservation policies and programs. Trophy entry into the Boone and Crockett Club’s records program now occurs during three-year periods, followed by a public display of the finest trophies entered in each category and the Big Game Awards banquet.
“The nation’s awakening to the conservation crisis a century ago led to the passage of legislation supported by the Boone and Crockett Club, including the excise tax paid by the shooting sports industry that has largely bankrolled our conservation successes,” commented Tony A. Schoonen, chief executive officer of the Boone and Crockett Club. “It is fitting that the centennial of Federal and the centennial of a display that helped to raise that awareness coincide. I have had the pleasure of working with Federal for over 20 years and their commitment to conservation is significant and very real. We are happy to have Federal as our Centennial Sponsor of the 31st Big Game Awards so that we can celebrate our conservation successes together.”
The public display of the 31st Big Game Awards mounts will open on May 1 and will be part of the Bucks and Bulls exhibit within the wildlife galleries at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri. Travel and ticket information to view the display this summer can be found by visiting wondersofwildlife.org.
Information about attending the 31st Big Game Awards events in July will be posted on the Boone and Crockett Club website at boone-crockett.org as event details are finalized.
An upset recovered from ballistic gelatin; note the level of expansion and sharp edges. The 230-grain Federal HST in the celebrated .45 ACP. Author Phil Massaro says he can’t think of a better stopping combination in an everyday carry gun. or gypsum used for sheetrock – some hollowpoint bullets will have the cavity at the nose plug up with that material, and act much like a full metal jacket bullet, failing to expand at all. This can invariably result in overpenetration and small wound channels, neither of which are a desirable result.
So Burczynski decided that his new bullet would have both its copper jacket and lead core skived at the nose in order to see the bullet open routinely and reliably. Instead of chemically bonding the jacket and core, a cannelure would be employed in order to keep the bullet’s components together, and what you see is a defensive bullet that retains 95 to 100 percent of its original weight, with expansion nearly double the caliber, capable of handling a number of different barriers while still saving your bacon. Recovered projectiles look like some sort of nightmarish metallic flower, with sharp petals that will neutralize the threat through both extreme tissue damage and the immediate transfer of energy.
I HAD THE opportunity to test the HST at the Federal Ammunition plant in Anoka, Minnesota, shooting the projectiles into bare ballistic gel; gel covered with varying layers of clothing fabric; and through sheetrock into gel. We grabbed a good 1911 clone chambered in .45 ACP, and a few boxes of 230-grain HST ammunition. Into bare gel, the HST gave 12 inches of penetration, expanded over double its original caliber to measure an even inch, and weighed 228
The .45 ACP 230-grain HST load; note the skives on the jacket and on the interior of the hollow cavity. A 230-grain .45-caliber HST in ballistic gelatin, with an impressive wound channel.
The HST as upset in bare ballistic gel. Expansion is wonderful and weight retention is in the 99-plus-percent range.
The author chooses HST for his 1911, based upon its performance in bare gel, and through clothing and drywall.
grains after recovery.
Next, we draped several layers of clothing, including swatches of cotton T-shirt, flannel shirt and winter coat. The new material did have an effect on the bullet’s performance, though not nearly as much as other handgun bullets I’ve tested. The clothing restricted expansion slightly, with the recovered projectile measuring 0.82 inch, increasing the penetration to 14 inches. You could think of it this way: the faster a bullet expands (without physically being stopped by a hard barrier) to a wide diameter, the less penetration you’ll have because the diameter of the expanded projectile will effectively act as a parachute, restricting penetration. For example, a full metal jacket nonexpanding projectile will offer a small wound channel yet very
The .38 Special +P load – designed for the “Micro” line, optimized for short-barreled guns. See the HST bullet seated flush with the case mouth.
Massaro’s favorite defensive handgun load: the 230-grain Federal HST in .45 ACP.
For the fans of the diminutive .380 Auto – which is often housed in wonderfully concealable guns – a bullet as reliable as the HST changes the cartridge’s capability.
impressive penetration. This might not be the ideal performance inside your home, as overpenetration could wound or kill innocent people within the house. Where other hollowpoints have plugged and failed to expand when penetrating thick clothing, the HST opened time and time again, with effective yet sensible penetration. Recovered bullet weight was 227 grains.
Last, we used a section of drywall as a barrier in front of the ballistic gelatin, as I was extremely curious to see how even the least of barriers would affect the projectile. As this was a hard substance – even if not extremely thick – I anticipated that penetration would be reduced, but only if the bullet opened properly. I wasn’t disappointed. Though the sheetrock reduced penetration to 8 inches (I was personally pleased with that reduction), the HST still opened to a diameter of 0.81 inch, retaining 228 of its original 230 grains.
I was sold on the HST, and it remains my daily carry ammunition to this day. BUT EVEN THE best designed hollowpoint bullet isn’t worth a hill of beans if it won’t feed reliably. Federal has taken considerable steps to design a nose profile that is feed-ramp friendly, and I’ve yet to meet a handgun that wouldn’t feed HST ammo routinely. Furthermore, Federal loads the HST ammo in corrosion-resistant nickel-plated cases to keep things clean and functioning properly, no matter how many times the ammunition may be handled on a dayto-day basis.
The HST is available in both
The Federal HST will only enhance the performance of the .40 S&W, giving excellent terminal ballistics.
standard and “Micro” loading in the Personal Defense ammunition line – the latter being optimized to perform in the shorter-barreled handguns so popular for concealed carry. Options include Federal’s new .30 Super Carry (100 grains), .380 Auto (99 grains Micro), 9mm Luger (124 and 147 grains standard, 150 grains Micro), .38 Special +P (130 grains Micro, seated flush with the case mouth), .40 S&W (180 grains), 10mm Auto (200 grains) and .45 ACP (230 grains). New for 2022, the Personal Defense line has been extended to include the .327 Federal (104 grains) and the .357 Magnum (154 grains).
Federal’s engineers have taken the time to optimize each of the HST designs for its cartridge/velocity combination, such as nose profile,
New for ’22, Federal has extended the HST line to include the proprietary .327 Federal cartridge.
As if the .357 Magnum wasn’t impressive to begin with, it is now available in the 154-grain HST for 2022.
depth and length of skiving, and bullet weight, in order to ensure the best performance is delivered from your handgun, including changing the bullet for the Micro series developed for shortbarreled handguns. Sadly, at least to me, the HST isn’t available in component form, but perhaps that will change soon.
While accuracy can assuredly vary from handgun to handgun, my experiences have shown that even the worst results from HST ammunition were perfectly acceptable, and that the velocities and group sizes were consistent. Federal’s primers have served me very well over a career of hunting globally, as well as carrying a defensive handgun on nearly a daily basis, and their proprietary primer sealant keeps the powder dry, no matter how long you carry that ammo, even in the humidity of summer or the cold of winter.
I will be the first to say that our ammunition and projectiles are the best they have ever been, and that there are many sound choices on the market, but in my personal opinion the Federal HST sits at the top of the list, and is carried in my gun to this day.
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