Any Experience With Federal Fusion Ammunition For Plains Game?

Wondering if any of you have had any experience with Federal Fusion ammo, especially in 165 or 180gr 300 win mag, for plains game. Considering that for 20 rounds a box is half the price of Federal vitalshok 180gr NP's, I picked up a box to see how they will group in my rifle.

Thanks!

I used 180 grain Federal Fusion ammo in my 30-06 when I shot 5 different PGs in SA this year.
They all died, but I am not sure what to say about the bullet.
The Springbuck and the Impala both dropped at the spot with huge exit wounds.
The Black Wildebeest, Kudu and Oryx ran 50-100 yards before they dropped. That is not moving far at all, but what I reacted to was the very small exit wounds.
If you see the pic of the young Kudu bull I shot in my hunting report from SA in this forum, then you see the exit wound and not the entrance wound as it looks like to be.
I am sure the bullets made much damage in the body cavities, but I prefer bigger exit wounds than I got. Even on the Oryx where the bullet went in behind the shoulder and exited behind the shoulder, the entrance and exit holes where about the same size. And that made for a tricky tracking job for the 100 yards in the bush I shot it as we only found very few lung pieces and blood drops that all where in the size of pin heads for the first 20-30 yards of tracking it.
Luckily that gave us a direction of its path and we saw it lying dead when we were looking for more signs in that direction.

Clearly the bullet acted very different in light and thin animals compared with more heavy and thick animals.

Even if all my animals got killed by the bullet, I will not use it again on PGs. I rather use a bullet like Swift A-frame instead.
Maybe it will perform differently in a 300 win mag, but I would not personally choose to test it.

The cost of ammo is so very little compared to the other costs involved in hunting PGs, so I would rather buy the best ammo I can get no matter the cost than risking to pay for a trophy you lose and still need to pay for because of a bullet failing you.
Do yourself a favor and buy some boxes with Remington Premierï½® A-Frame 180gr or 200gr for you 300 win mag and you will be sure that the bullets will never fail you.
There are also other ammo makers that load ammo with Swift A-frame bullets that will perform very well on all PGs.

thanks for the great input!

I have a hunting partner that has used 150 gr. fusion in his 7mm Rem. Mag. on two safaris and several animals in the states from steinbuck to kudu and elk. He thinks they are the best thing since sliced bread.

From the recovered bullets and wound channels that I have seen I feel that it is a very good bullet for the price. In quality I would put it between sierra gameking and nosler partition similar to the Accurbond. If it shoots good in your rifle I wouldn't be afraid to shoot PG with it.

However as Norwegianwoods said ammo is a small cost of a safari and would lean toward a partition or A-frame, I've had better accuracy with the partition in my rifles. I used a TSX it worked very well but I believe that you will get faster kills from lead core bullets and I feel the TSX it is really better then is needed for most PG unless you are under gunned.

I chest shot a mountain goat and a Pere David deer with 30-06 150grn fusion and had similar results to Norwegianwoods. The bullets had failed to expand.

I had bad experience with the Federal Fusion bullets. Failure to expand and stay intact - was very lucky that this ammo did not cost me a wounded animal. I would highly suggest against using it in Africa.

Only good experience with ammo was at 250 yards on out versus 150 yards and on inward.

I would recommend the Swift A Frame too, I have used them on PG of all sizes and they perform flawlessly.

Having shot everything on your list I suggest that you pony up for the premium ammo. I use accubonds tsxs and for the small stuff thin skin like springbuck berger. These are accurate retain thier wieght and create devastating wound chanels.

BARTFRNCS said:

.....I suggest that you pony up for the premium ammo......

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Same here.

Thanks again for the input. I have since decided to stick with federal premium vitalshok 180gr NP's and feel very comfortable with them in my rifle. I have averaged about forty rounds a month over the last few months in prep for my May trip date but the confidence gained from shooting from multiple positions using the cartridge I will be taking has been worth the money spent. I bought one box of fusions but haven't fired a single one yet.

Now that you have your ammo picked indulge me a little and practice more than 40 rounds a month. All of your shots in Africa will have an audiance at the very least your PH and a tracker. Also depending on what your shooting at one shot=$$$$$ how good are you under pressure? In short practice, practice then when you think your good enough prictice some more! Give a decent tip to your tracker because you want to not becasuse you worked him to death.
Bart

Thanks again for the input. I have since decided to stick with federal premium vitalshok 180gr NP's and feel very comfortable with them in my rifle.

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I would keep practicing you will be fine!

Totally agree with Bart on this.

I knew we would eventualy find common ground Sestoppelman.
Bart

I think very many of us totally agree with you on that one BARTFRNCS

Practice, practice and then practice some more.
The most important thing you can do as a hunter.

A Fusion Bullet is not nearly as tough as folks think it is. I found it ok for Impala, Blesbok etc, but lacking in penetration on Wildebeest.

If cost is somewhat of an issue, you can still practice by dry firing. I went through about 100 rounds of ammo in the 6 weeks prior to leaving for Africa last year. I also spent time almost every evening in my basement dry firing off of my shooting sticks. First trip to Africa I had never shot off of the sticks. Took me a while to get comfortable. This last trip it felt good and had good results. You don't have to have a shell in the chamber to know if you pulled a shot or not. Good luck. Bruce

Buy the BEST AMMO! there is simply no reason to buy cheap ammo. If a box of the good stuff was four times the price of the fusion I would still buy the good stuff. There are many guys here that are telling you about good bullets, hate to tell you but they are all right! The A frame, partition, Barnes TSX, Barnes MRX, Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, all are great bullets, find the one that groups the best in you rifle and buy that one. You must remember that the bullet is the only part of your hunting gear that touches the animal. Your rifle has to put it there but bullet does the work. So why be cheap and risk anything on a half priced bullet? The animal deserves more, and you don't want to track a wounded animal.

As its been said before on this site if you cant afford the premium ammo you cant afford the safari.

I just come across this site by accident , I know I am more than late to the game, commenting on the federal fusion ammo.
But I was so put off by the, talking down about the ammo I had to throw my 2 cents in.

I have hunted for 46 years , In Canada's north. I started when I was 10.
With some of the biggest game in North America .
1200 lb moose, 800 lb elk, 600 lb bear, 200 lb deer, and they all dropped with one well placed shot, I never sprung for 100 per box ammo , or 1000 rifles, the average shooting ranged from 50 yards to over 300 yds.
I have shot with federal ammo, most my life , and only had one dud in all of those years .

I started shooting fusion with my new rifle 8 years ago, Approx. I think, it was when I first seen them, 165 grain , 300 win mag. Fusion
I can consistently shoot 1 inch groups at up to 200 yards on the bench.
I have shot 6 big game animals in that time , all with a 165 gr federal fusion, moose, deer, they all dropped like a bag of wet Landry with one shot , and I broke the moose's shoulder , and tore through all the vitals with the 165 grain!
This is my personal favorite ammo, and would recommend it to any one , no matter where they are hunting.
Spending buckets full of money on guns and ammo won`t guaranty , you will get your game. and frankly has never been a issue when hunting in the north, in 46 years.