What does hst stand for federal ammo

Notify Me. Warning for California Residents. Product Overview Effective self-defense requires ammunition that provides consistent expansion, optimum penetration and superior terminal performance.

Specially designed hollow point expands reliably through a variety of barriers Expanded diameter and weight retention produce the desired penetration for personal defense situations without over penetrating Superior performance in FBI test protocol used by law enforcement officials to assess and select duty ammunition Bullet nose profile, nickel-plated case and high-performance primer provide the ultimate in function and reliability in semi-automatic handguns.

Velocity Energy Average Range. Velocity in feet per second. Energy in Foot Pounds. First, I want a bullet that is well-constructed—durable enough to penetrate barriers like heavy clothing, yet capable of expanding and delivering maximum tissue damage to stop an attack. The hollow-point design features patented dual skives cuts in both the jacket and core to initiate expansion.

The team at Federal conducts extensive testing on these bullets to ensure the design and velocity are optimized to caliber, and that means consistent performance for everything from light, subcompact s to more powerful 45 Auto and 10mm Auto pistols.

In addition to bullet performance, reliable functioning is a critical component of a defensive load. HST ammunition comes with smooth-cycling nickel-plated cases and Federal primers, and that means these cartridges function properly in a wide range of pistols every time you pull the trigger. While HST is a proven performer, Federal offers another relatively new load that works well in defense handguns. Hydra-Shok Deep drew a great deal of attention when it was unveiled—not only for its impressive FBI protocol test results penetrating 15 inches in bare ballistic gel, the optimal depth by FBI standards but also because its unique center post design serves to penetrate barriers effectively without the risk of over-penetration.

While other loads were built for the unique needs and extremely high standards of law enforcement, Punch is the first line created by experts specifically for everyday defense.

Engineers focused on the most popular handguns, chambered in the top calibers, and developed rounds that provide the best all-around performance for self-defense.

Like all Federal Premium Personal Defense offerings, Punch loads also feature nickel-plated cases, high-quality powders, and reliable sealed primers. It works quite well and shoots accurately. If your handgun likes it, why change? Well, there are government agencies, some ammo buyers not on government payrolls and others who practically worship the FBI tests and the results that come from the test.

So Federal Premium rolled up its sleeves and worked at achieving better test-result performance than it was getting with the already excellent Hydra-Shok. The unique design of Federal Premium's HST load allows the bullet to expand quickly without sacrificing penetration. The FBI tests score both penetration and expansion. Traditional hollowpoint designs required a trade-off; if you wanted more of one, you had to pay for it with less of the other.

What Federal Premium did was develop a patented, improved nose-skiving design — one that produces a measurably large expansion and yet does not cost penetration. Skiving is the technical term for the thickness of the jacket wall and how it is shaped as it approaches the opening of the hollow point. Minor dimensional changes can bring large changes in results. In the HST, expansion is initiated and timed by the shape of the deep hollowpoint.

The dimensions and proportions of the jacket thickness have to be adjusted for each caliber and expected impact velocity. So the apparent size and shape of the hollowpoint on each caliber may differ from the other calibers in the lineup. How does this magic of gaining both expansion and penetration work? The FBI measures across the greatest point of expansion, so Federal Premium uses the expanded petals as the measuring points, and the gaps between the expanded petals allow for low enough resistance to penetration — which results in the bullet moving past where it otherwise would have stopped.

When I described this to a fellow club member, his reaction was not exactly scientific. Well, no, not really. The wider cross-section of the expanded bullet is going to do the terminal ballistic work we all expect, and the gaps will keep it going into the target. That is, after all, what we want, right? The HST bullet, which offers excellent expansion, utilizes a mechanical locking method for attaching the jacket to the core instead of being bonded.

And the FBI does not do this as a special favor for Federal Premium; the FBI rules for the test are applied to all ammunition tested, and other ammunition manufacturers work to take this approach. The HST bullets are not bonded. Instead Federal Premium uses a mechanical locking of the jacket to the core. I have not had any jackets come off the cores in testing, nor do I expect to because Federal Premium has done the FBI test dance many times in thoroughly wringing out the HST.

Federal Premium started work on the HST in and had gotten the various details worked out enough to start offering it to interested law enforcement agencies in