Federal Fusion Safari Ammo

Federal states that their Fusion® Safari uses an advanced process that electro-chemically fuses the jacket to the lead bullet core for consistent toughness. With enhanced aerodynamics, superior expansion and superb accuracy, Fusion Safari provides lethal performance on a variety of safari animals. Its high weight retention ensures deep penetration.

The jackets are electro-chemically applied to the core through a sophisticated and refined molecular application technique and jacket thickness and bullet construction are specifically designed for African game. The skived tip allows consistent expansion even at longer ranges where velocities have dropped. It’s designed to expand uniformly with each shot.

The bullet jackets are molecularly fused to the core to ensure that separation does not take place. With this type of fusion, the bullet core material is also more evenly distributed within the jacket. Federal claims this aids accuracy, penetration and expansion.

The test ammo we received, loaded with 300gr Fusion Soft Point bullets in .375H&H, has a factory advertised muzzle velocity of 2 440fps. The 32.89mm long bullets have a ballistic coefficient of .340.  Muzzle velocity at 100, 200 and 300yds is 2 195, 1965 and 1750fps respectively.

The ammunition can be regarded as a ‘midrange’ product and is available in a plethora of calibres that should accommodate almost all practical needs of hunters in the field.

In our limited range test the factory ammo groups measured just under 1 MOA out of a Musgrave .375H&H. The 300gr Fusion bullets averaged 2 415fps over a Magnetospeed and recoil was also noticeably less than that of 270gr Barnes TSX handloads (2 574fps) we  used as a control for our wet pack test.

The ‘wet pack’ consisted of 6 inches of water soaked magazines, 12cm of water (a 5 litre rectangular bottle of water) and another 12 inches of water soaked magazines. Shooting was done at 100m. The 300gr Fusion bullet started to expand through the first wet pack and seems to have expanded fully in the water and went on to penetrate another 4 inches in the second wet pack.

The 270gr Barnes TSX was shot through exactly the same media. This bullet expanded to full size in the first 6 inches of wet pack, penetrated the water and another 5½ inches of wet pack. Although it expanded faster and penetrated about 1½ inches deeper than the Fusion bullet the ‘wound cavities’ in the wet pack for both bullets were impressive.

The Fusion bullet expanded to 21.74mm, forming a classic mushroom shape, and lost very little lead as the recovered bullet weighed only 20gr lighter than the original. This is excellent for a ‘midrange’ bullet and performance is definitely comparable to a premium grade. In comparison the TSX expanded to 20.15mm and retained 100% of original weight.

Overall there was little to choose between the two bullets’ performance in our simulated test. The TSX is a premium monolithic with an excellent reputation, but if our verdict was that for normal plains game the Federal Fusion will get the nod due to its milder recoil, more controlled expansion and price. The bullets are well constructed and perform like a premium product. For stockists contact Formalito on 012-664-7793.

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