New for 2023, Enter Federal Custom Shop Ammunition

Federal recently introduced its new online custom loaded ammunition shop. Customers can order direct from several different shotshell and centerfire rifle offerings, with a wide selection of the best bullets from Federal, Speer, Nosler, Sierra, Berger, and more. In addition, custom TSS Shotshells for turkey, waterfowl and upland game are available.

“The Federal Custom Shop is an all-new way to deliver your preference of the perfect centerfire rifle or shotgun load built by our ammunition experts,” said Federal Ammunition President, Jason Vanderbrink.

What Is the Federal Custom Shop?

Custom Shop products are for hunters and shooters who demand ammunition tailored for their individual needs at the highest level of quality, or who can’t find the right ammunition on the retail shelf.

“If it’s not in Federal’s vast catalog as factory-loaded ammo, we may have it listed on our website as a load we will custom hand-load for you. We now have a specific selection of rifle and TSS shotshell loads that we will build on-demand, per order.” Vanderbrink said. “For example, Barnes 120-grain Tipped TSX in 6.5-284 Norma and 28-gauge TSS turkey loads aren’t products we list in our catalog, but you can certainly order them through our Custom Shop.”

The Inside Scoop

Is this factory ammunition or hand-loaded ammunition?

An elite group of Federal’s most experienced employees were selected to work in the Custom Shop. They are true experts, because every round of Federal’s industry-leading ammunition starts at the reloading bench. Using the best components available, these expert engineers handcraft this ammunition to order. In fact, each box of Custom Shop ammunition will be signed by the Federal employee who hand-loaded it.

Where is Federal’s Custom Shop located?

The Federal Ammunition factory in Anoka, Minnesota, is a 700,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility where 1,400 employees work in three shifts, 24/7, to produce millions of rounds of centerfire, rimfire and shotshell ammo per day. The custom shop is a separate, secured room inside the huge Federal Ammunition facility. It is a dedicated, state-of-the-art reloading workshop focused on the utmost attention to detail, quality and care for each hand-loaded round produced.

How it works

How does the order process work?

A dedicated page takes Custom Shop users to an order form, where they select their ammunition options and preferences, then purchase the custom ammunition via credit card. There will be a comment section where customers can add notes for Federal’s hand-loading technician to consider when building the loads. The order will then be meticulously hand-loaded in the Custom Shop. Each round is then hand-checked with a final cleaning and inspection before being packed in Custom packaging and shipped out. Since ammunition is made-to-order, typical lead time is approximately 3 to 4 weeks to produce. Buyers will receive their order after a few days of shipping time.

How much detail will a customer get to choose online?

Federal’s online shopping site for the Custom Shop offers visitors the ability to select their version of the perfect rifle or shotshell load. For centerfire rifle, customers can choose from a variety of cartridges and then select a specific bullet type and weight. For shotshell, customers can select gauges, hull sizes, shot size and other options. The Custom Shop is a way to provide customers with more options that are not in its vast commercial catalog. If a desired custom ammunition option is not listed, it is simply not possible through the shop at this time. The long list of options on the Custom Shop menu is set, although options will change as the shop grows.

Offerings

What cartridge options are available for centerfire rifle?

Hunters and shooters select cartridge, projectile, and grain weight, choosing from a menu of available options. The Custom Shop includes ammunition for hard-to-find, SAAMI-approved cartridges that will be offered by Federal for the first time. Examples include 6.5-284 Norma, 26 Nosler, 257 Weatherby, 264 Win. Mag., 284 Win., 300 PRC, and 6.5-300 Weatherby Mag. Expect to also find popular calibers such as the 243 Win., 257 Roberts +P, 270 Win., 270 WSM, 308 Win., 7mm Rem. Mag., 30-06 Springfield, 6.5 Creedmoor, and 338 Federal in the Custom Shop.

What bullet options will be available for centerfire rifle?

Customers are able to buy ammunition with bullets not currently offered in Federal’s factory ammunition lineup. Examples include the Nosler AccuBond Long Range, Speer Impact, Barnes Tipped TSX, Nosler Partition, and Hornady ELD-X. Other bullets include Trophy Copper, Federal Premium Terminal Ascent, Berger Hunter Hybrid, Sierra MatchKing, and Nosler AccuBond. The specific list of available bullets varies per cartridge selected.

What types of inspections are done to make this ammo accurate?

Expert loading technicians check multiple accuracy-enhancing specifications to maximize the potential of Custom Shop ammo. Technicians start with case/hull inspection, culling any potential defects, and will execute a series of inspections including, bullet-to-case concentricity, overall length, and base-to-bore dimensions. These checks coupled with extremely tight powder drop tolerance will ensure the maximum potential accuracy of all Custom Shop loads.

What about shotgun shells?

What shotshell options will be available?

The Custom Shop offers more than 35 possible shotshell combinations loaded with Federal’s dense tungsten super shot (TSS) that is designed with turkey and waterfowl hunters in mind. Customers choose their gauge, shell length, shot size and shot weight from a list of options. Gauges include 10, 12, 16, 20 and 28, as well as .410 bore, with shotshell length varying from 2¾ inch up to 3½ inches. Payloads will range from ¹¹/16-ounce up to a heavy-hitting 2½-ounce, and TSS shot sizes such as 7, 8, 9, and 10 will be available for selection.

For Custom Shop Shotshell, will Tungsten Super Shot (TSS) be the only shot type offered?

TSS is an incredibly dense shot that has taken the hand-loading world by storm in recent years. And it’s an integral part of Federal Premium’s HEAVYWEIGHT TSS and Black Cloud TSS loads. Shotshells loaded with TSS represent a big upgrade from anything previously available. The new distances allow hunters to kill gobblers, waterfowl and upland game farther than they ever thought possible. Payloads of No. 7, 8, 9 or 10s TSS shot provide high pellet counts. In many cases, these are more than double compared to lead loads of the same weight.

The shot is 18 grams per cubic centimeter density and is 56 percent denser than lead. TSS provides optimum energy and the highest velocities at long ranges. Customers who have been asking for more options in TSS loads, such as 2¾-inch shell length, 28-gauge or 16-gauge, can now get them from the Federal Custom Shop.

What Will Custom Shop Ammo Cost?

Prices depend on caliber and shotshell configurations chosen. Customers can expect to see prices of $99.95 for a box of 20 rounds of rifle ammunition. A box of 10 shotshells will range from $79.95 for smaller payloads of TSS such as 410 bore, up to $120.95 for the larger 10-gauge payloads of TSS.

For more details or to order, click here!