Fussion Ammunition

[Code-Man]

I just got home from the range tonight and for once we actually had a CALM night no gale force winds and I just missed the rain shower so after work I went to the range with my 243 and 30-06. I am/was a Remington Corelok fan. My 30-06 had never seen anything other then the remingtons in her life. I tried them this year and I don't know what was going on but I couldn't get a grouping to save my life. Got really mad and decided I would try my 243 100 grain for my Pro Hunter. Couldn't get a grouping to save my life. I keep hearing these commercials for the Fussions and they were same price as my Remington's so I decided to give them a try. Tried my 243 and I didn't get them to touch but they were within a half inch at 100 yds. I can't complain with that so I tried my 30-06. Well I took 4 shots and I don't have a center of my target any more. I completely blew the (Contact Us Please) out of my target. 3 of my 4 shots were touching at 100 yds. Yes I was using a rest but not a vise. I was really impressed with them. I was using a Ruger All-Weather 30-06 and I shot the 150 gr Fussion's and a Thompson Center Pro Hunter with a 243 barrel (stainless and Fluted) and I used the 95 gr Fussions.

I was really impressed with the accuracy but I have a question for everyone how leathel are they? Anyone else had good luck/bad luck I finally found something my gun likes but I'm just wondering how everyone else has thought about them. For 16 and 17 bucks a box I couldn't really argue with the accuracy.

Code-Man

[Powerstroke]

I don't know much about the fusion ammo other than its made by Federal and I've thought about trying it. I use a .30-30 so its not like I'm going for distance or anything, but I want to find a consistant ammo that has a round nose (lever action gun).

[mille lacs muskie bum]

try the new hornady lever-evolution ammo. i have never tried them but they look good. i use 170 grain winchester soft points out of my 30-30.

[xedge2002]

I've used 150gr Fusion's in my .270 the last two years for hog hunting and had really good luck with them. They have dropped a couple of hogs in their tracks, a raccoon and a few coyotes without a problem. IMO if they can drop a hog on the spot they will drop a whitetail with no problem.

[northerndave]

I am also transitioning most everything from rem core lokts to fussion... except for my 300 wby bcause fussion doesn't offer it. In fact, I met a fussion rep last week & asked him if there were any plans to load fussion for the 300 wby, nope... too bad.

as far as performance.. I guess I haven't shot a deer with a fussion yet, shot a coyote with a 243 fussion that was supposed to be meant for deer... but I guess I haven't used one on a deer yet.

I've got em in my .308, in my daughters .243 & in my 30-06.. so hopefully I'll find out this year.

[huntnfish]

I shot Fusions out of my .243 last year and was very impressed with the accuracy and with how much damage they did. I shot a doe that was quartering away. My shot hit the second to last rib and quartered up through a lung and into the spine. The deer didn't take another step and when we skinned it out I had to go and get the gun to prove that the hole was from a .243. They swore that the hole had to come from at least a 300 and some thought bigger. I am going to use these in my 30-06 this year also and will never use anything else in my .243. When sighting it in I could cover my four shot group at 100 yards with a quarter.

[TrophyEyes]

I have heard they have excellent weight retention. For the price I think they are what I am going to look at using next. I am sick of the Winchester ammo prices getting in the upwards of $38 a box. I shoot a 7mm rem mag, so it is going to be a little more, but come on. For $38 a box I should get a winchester rep come out and gut my deer for me. I am kidding obviously, but all ammo is getting way to expensive. I saw yesterday in the cabela's waterfowl catelog that you can by a case of tungston shotgun shells for $460. Four hundred dollars, are you kidding me. The thing is, that when you have never had to track a deer, you don't really want to change ammo.

Fussion is the only thing that is somewhat reasonable.

[northerndave]

I have the fear that the fussion prices will start creeping up & we are just seeing introductory prices, it just seems to have too much going for it to be priced as low as it is.

[fishwithteeth]

Just my .02 worth. I recently did some reasearch; reading, watching a video, and asking a lot of questions of knowledgeable people, and they concur that the Barnes bullet is top notch. Everybody is concerned with energy at impact, but with most bullets this energy is greatly diminished because the bullet begins falling apart at impact, thus making smaller blood channels. The Barnes bullet is made out of copper and retains almost 100% of it's weight as it creates a large blood channel and retains a lot of energy. I'm by no means an expert, but I trust the people I have talked too. I have not shot the Barnes bullet, but plan to next week. The draw back - some loads are very expensive. The other draw back is most of us only see groupings, we don't actually see what the bullet is doing after impact. We soley rely upon our own experiences and that of others. If anyone has experience with Barnes please share. I am shooting a 30.06 and my wife a .243.

[TrophyEyes]

I have a lot of guys that muzzleload in my group and they all love Barnes. I couldn't get them to pattern out of my gun, but we have recovered 2 and it was a perfect mushroom. I have found the same to be true of Hornady. I have never found my Winchester silver tip, but like you said accuracy is impressive. I have also never had a deer move another step, but the exit wound was no larger than a nickel. It did liquefy the lungs and exploded the heart on another. I don't know.... I think with a large enough caliber and rounds coming out of the magnums these days, a bullets weight retention and mushroom has little to no difference if you put the bullet where it is supposed to be. On bigger game like Bears and moose, absolutely it matters.

[fishwithteeth]

Thanks for the info. The 3 guys I spoke with said even heavy bullets (180 gr.) have diminished effectivness because the bullet begins to fall apart, even Nosler. The bullet they recommended besides Barnes was the Scirocco. The Scirocco is supposed to have a thicker copper jacket to prevent the bullet from falling apart. I bought 100 gr. NP bullets for the .243 but I'm considering changing to the Barnes 85 gr. bullet because of the retention. I have not yet found a heavier Barnes bullet in the .243. Barnes has a video out, it's free at Gander, and may be on the Barnes HSOforum, it is a very interesting watch. Thanks again for the info. I will pattern both and get back with a report.

[Powerstroke]

Prices for bullets are going to keep going up. With metal prices going up recently its finally trickling down to hunters and shooters because of the cost of ammo. Small gamers have noticed first cause their seasons are open. Most rifle owners are gonna feel the price hike as they buy new ammo this year.

[huntnfish]

If anyone is interested in the ballistics of the Fusion loads you can go to fusionammo and they have data for all the loads that are available.

[vister]

i know 3 guys who use the hornady lever-evolution in their 30-30s. and they didn't like them. lots of misfires and dud rounds. I believe something to do the new bullet design. not round on the end like they used to be, and the point was soft plastic so while in the tube they didn't push the primer of the round on top of it and set them off. maybe they beefed up the primer to help avoid accidental discharge, leading to dud rounds.?? as far as the fusion goes, like most other guns, they all take different brands of ammo differently. my 7mm can not group fusion or any kind of remington, but sling some low to high grade federal in there and she is spot on accurate.

[huntingislife]

Yes the Barnes bullets are definetely top-notch, but you pay for them too. The more weight retention in the bullet, the more damage it will do. All of your bonded bullets will retain more weight. The Fusion bullets is essentially a lead core with a copper plated jacket. This forms a good bond leading to excellent weight retention. I havent shot any yet but will probably pick some up to see how they shoot. I have had good luck with the Vital-Shok Nosler Partitions in my 7Mag. If anybody is interested in patterning some new bullets for a 7Mag let me know, I can test some for you to see how they shoot.

[c&amagn]

"VISTER" I'm not sure on this but do think that a person needs to buy/purchase the NEW Marlin Lever-Evalution 30-30's that were made to take the new Horady Lever-Evalution 30-30 ammo you spoke about. The new Marlin's have a redisigned Magazine/action and loner barrel made special for the Hornady Ammo, that might be why all the bad results from above you spoke about. The new Marlin's went in together with Hornady ammo as a combined effort to get the 30-30/.308 calibers to reach out to 300-yards with more energy etc...

[benelli_dude2002]

Thats all I have shooting lately out of my 300 WSM. I use mostly 180's. Only a few moose I shot in my life where I dropped them in their tracks and one of them was with a 180 gr Fusion. I like the price and I get decent groups with the Fusion. Good Luck this fall

[Powerstroke]

vister, just to be clear, the Fusion is made by Federal, so if your gun shoots federal so well it should like the fusion ammo.

[vister]

I know it is made by federal, but I think it has something to do with the powder. However, fusion just won't fly consistently out of my barrel. The best flying is the federal classic, the stuff in the blue and gray box, about as cheap as you can get federal ammo too! Trophy bonded bearclaw is great, as well as sierra game king BTSP, and the nosler partitions group, just in a different spot. As far as the comment on 30-30 lever-evolutions, i guess the fact of having the new gun as well makes a lot of sense.

[Powerstroke]

I know I don't shoot as much as I should with my rifle. I've become such a bow hunter that I only use my rifle for the 1 or 2 weekends of rifle season. I know that is the same as many hunters, but to me thats not enough for such a nice gun. I have no idea what shoots best out of my gun because I've alrways just used standard Rem. Core-lokt's since I bought it. Its killed both deer I've shot so thats what I shoot.

[TrophyEyes]

I have an 7mm A-Bolt an it shoots Winchester Ammo like a champ, but it was a little inconsistant with some of the original Federal ammo. Has anyone had luck with Fusion with the 7mm Rem Mag A-Bolt?

[vister]

personnally, I think every barrel will take all sorts of ammo differently, just got to find the one that works the best with yours. just like on crime shows, they check bullet rifling to match it with a particular gun, so the barrels have all got to be a bit different.

[brassman]

I shot 150 gr. .308s last year with gresat accuracy out of my tikka but once deer season rolled around I had a problem, I shot a doe at 217 yards and she dropped in her tracks, I had it right where it needed to be, she then promptly got up and ran off never to be seen again. I couldn't get another shot since she got into the woods right away. I walked up to the spot and there was hair on the spot as well as pink frothy blood indicating a lung hit and we looked for about 4 hours that day and then 2 the next.

I do not know if this was a factor of the deer just being on adrenalin or if the smaller gr bullet, I don't know, I did my part in placing the bullet where it needed to be. I am switching to rem corelokt this year in 180 gr. that has always put deer down in short order.

[fishwithteeth]

Here is my report on 165 gr Barnes out of A-Bolt 30-06:

At 50 yds. (where most of my shots are at) groupings of < 1".

At 100 yds., groupings of 2-3". They won't win any target competitions but they will kill a deer.

[Lund4Fish]

I know everyone has their favoite bullets and loads, but for someone that's looking for a good bullet at a reasonable price, especially if you reload, I'd recomend trying out the Hornady Interlock bullet. I have used the 165 grain Hornady, Boat Tail Spire Point (BTSP) in my .30-06 and have taken over 40 big game animals (antelope, deer & elk) with no bullet failures and every bullet that I did recover was nicely mushroomed with very little weight loss when weighed on a scale. The best part is that these also shoot under 1" groups and only cost around $15-18 per box of 100 bullets. I had tried several of the other well known brand bullets and had trouble with the bullets seperating from the core on impact. Now Hornady also sells factory ammo with these same bullets, for those that don't reload.