Federal blue box ammo, any good?

canadaman30

canadaman30

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Was out shopping for some factory ammo and found a good deal on Federal blue box ammo, I've always used Rem Corelokt but the price of the Federal is much better. How does this ammo fair for hunting big game, deer and black bear and the calibre will be 30-30. Is this stuff comparable with Corelokt or no, as I seldom ever see this stuff on store shelves around here?
 
have gone thru a few thousand or more rounds of powershok 150gr (in my m14 type rifles) and 180gr .308 , very effective on deer I can say that much. my results based on kills inside 200yards.
have also taken many deer and a couple moose with the 180gr powershok .303, effective 1 shot kills

it's good ammunition and if yer rifle shoots it accurately should get the job done if you do yours.
 
I'd sure as heck pick it verses any Remington products..........there, I typed it.

Ammo is ammo, if yer out use what's available.

Hence reloading and stocking up the piles........... :wave:
 
My Rem 700 30-06 prefers Blue Box 180gr over any other lower end factory loaded ammo. It groups up there with most premium factory loads for me. If I'm going pre-rolled this is my best value.

If your rifle likes it, it's good value.

Now hand loading is another level of accuracy again.
 
Having recently acquired a pair of 7x57's,



a Ruger Hawkeye RSI and below, a Zastave, at the last local gun show in Duncan, I was on the hunt for some ammo. Needed some brass anyway so when I saw four boxes of Federal blue box ammo, final 'price' was right so I jumped on it. Accuracy seems to be acceptable and I'll see if I can improve on that once I start some load development.
 
How far are you shooting and "what" are you shooting?

40 years ago when I started moose hunting a soft point or pointed soft point in a Remington or Winchester box was about the only thing on the shelf. And "amazingly" every Deer, Bear and Moose that I ever saw shot up until the 1980's fell to one of those "sub-standard" bullets.

If you are hunting thin skinned game at the "typical", less than 200 yards, you absolutely don't need more than a Fed blue box soft point.

If you are pushing the envelope at 600 yards these are probably not your best choice.

I do shoot premiums for Moose (Swift A-Frames) because I "need" the moose to go down where it's shot (terrain does not allow for the pursuit of game after the shot). That means you only take the perfect/near perfect shot and use the "hammer of thor" to try and put him down.

But for Yogi and Bambi, which I stand hunt (so typically 50 yard shots), a "somewhat less premium" bullet is more than enough and "miraculously" was for many many years before electrically bonded, chemically bonded, plastic tipped, long range copper solid and gliding metal bullets were even thought about in science fiction novels.

Don't sell them short.

Historically they have taken a lot of game.
 
galamb said:
How far are you shooting and "what" are you shooting?

40 years ago when I started moose hunting a soft point or pointed soft point in a Remington or Winchester box was about the only thing on the shelf. And "amazingly" every Deer, Bear and Moose that I ever saw shot up until the 1980's fell to one of those "sub-standard" bullets.

If you are hunting thin skinned game at the "typical", less than 200 yards, you absolutely don't need more than a Fed blue box soft point.

If you are pushing the envelope at 600 yards these are probably not your best choice.

I do shoot premiums for Moose (Swift A-Frames) because I "need" the moose to go down where it's shot (terrain does not allow for the pursuit of game after the shot). That means you only take the perfect/near perfect shot and use the "hammer of thor" to try and put him down.

But for Yogi and Bambi, which I stand hunt (so typically 50 yard shots), a "somewhat less premium" bullet is more than enough and "miraculously" was for many many years before electrically bonded, chemically bonded, plastic tipped, long range copper solid and gliding metal bullets were even thought about in science fiction novels.

Don't sell them short.

Historically they have taken a lot of game.
Click to expand...

Main use, 30-30 for blackies over bait..30-40yds. My only concern is a shoulder hit on a decent size bruin, will they break through to the vitals? Decided after so many years to finally give a 30-30 a try.
 
Didn't work for #### on a buddy's elk a couple years back. 3 shots into the boiler room. Fragmented bullets, we found copper jackets and bits and pieces of lead shrapnel throughout the chest cavity. Range was sub-50 yards. I shot several deer with it no problem, but after that...no more blue box.
 
I use it in 22 250 for coyotes with great results even shot one deer with it at 80 yards with the 22 250 right in the lungs both were scrambled and she never went anywere ,,Dutch
 
On one occasion I bought 1200 rounds of blue box 180 gr .30/06 because the price was so appealing, although not so appealing when I got my credit card statement, but that's another story. I'll admit I didn't expect much from the ammo, but it proved to be surprisingly uniform, in terms of both component weight and velocity across the chronograph, averaging 2630 IIRC, from my ZG-47, and I don't recall seeing a velocity spread exceeding 20 fps. While that velocity seems a bit slow from a handloading point of view, it is probably representative of factory ammo. I wouldn't expect expensive premium ammo to have more velocity, just loaded with "better" bullets. Most of that stuff I sold at cost, because I'n not particularly enamoured with Federal brass.
 
Biggest downside to Federal blue box is it comes in Federal brass. I suppose handloaders aren't the target audience, but that stuff is soft. I've shot a fair amount of 150 grain in the 30-06s and it always seems to clock 2950 out of a 24" barrel. Its a good reality check for all those 7mm rem loads that are lucky to match it.
 
My son uses blue box in his 30-30 because one can't load for it for cheaper than buying it.........even if one could find the components these days......He has shot a couple blackies with it at very close range and the performance was up to par. One most certainly does NOT need a premium bullet at 22-2300 fps. My own experience with blue box is that it is one of the most accurate factory ammos out there, but as Dogleg says, the downside is that it comes in FC brass which is 30% butter...........
In 30-30 I would buy all you need or want and hunt with complete confidence within the limitations of the cartridge itself. Like I said at 22-2300 fps the bullets used are more than up to the task, you needn't worry.
 
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