Review of Federal Power-Shok Ammunition

This most recent deer season I found myself working a lot of overtime. Rather than using my little free time to reload for my 270 Winchester, I decided to buy a box of factory ammunition and hunt with it. By buying ammo instead of loading it I had more time to shoot and scout for that big buck deer. As I am a very frugal person I simply bought the cheapest 130 grain for my .270. My local retailers' least expensive offering was the Federal Power-Shok at just over eleven dollars. I purchased two boxes to sight in, let my teenage son practice field shooting, and to hunt. The Power-Shok from Federal is loaded with a standard soft point bullet. Federal's factory information lists the muzzle velocity as 3060 feet per second and at the foot pounds of energy at the muzzle as 2703. 1000 foot pounds of energy is the rule of thumb for humanely harvesting deer. This Federal Power Shok load provides over 100 foot pounds at 500 yards according to the factory information which is farther than most people need to be shooting.

The Federal Power-Shok ammo shot well from the bench with my first three shot group from a cold barrel covering just over an inch at a hundred yards. I can do better with my hand loaded .270 rounds using Nosler Ballistic Tips, but an inch at a hundred is perfectly satisfactory for hunting. In fact, two of the bullet holes were touching so the Federal Power-Shok may have the ability to produce better groups. While it is just mere chance, the gun shot true to aim without any adjustment. I shot a couple more groups, one just under and one just over an inch. My 13 year old son was next to shoot. After shooting a group from the sandbags (inch and a half) we moved the target in to 75 yards and he practiced firing from each side of a tree, as well as from kneeling, sitting, and offhand. There were no failures to fire and extraction was clean and easy with the Federal Power-Shok ammunition.

After suffering through rain, wind, and snow for the first four days a nice 8 point presented itself in front of my son on Friday. The shot was kneeling from about 70 yards. The combination of kneeling, cold hands, and a 13 year olds excitement produced a fairly marginal shot on the deer. The deer however fell as if struck in the head by the hammer of Thor. After having our Ted Nugent moment of celebration of the hunt and the deer we took a look at the wound. The bullet entered a little far back of the lungs on the quartering forward buck. The bullet broke through the near side ribs toward the far right hind leg and did not exit. The bullet was found while skinning inside the hide retaining just over 50% of its weight. The Federal Power-Shok bullet was nicely mushroomed.

The Federal Power-Shok ammunition performed well. As the bullet did not pass through at such a close distance, I may have concerns with using it at long range. However given that the short range shot did pass through the deer a long way including through a hind quarter before resting just inside the far hide it would probably perform well. For the low price, the Federal Power-Shok ammunition shot well and did its job on a nice West Virginia 8 point. Federal Power-Shok is available in a variety of calibers including: .243 Winchester, 25-06 Remington, 7x57 Mauser, .280 Remington, 30-30 Winchester, .308 Winchester, 30-06 and others. 7mm Remington Magnum, .300 Winchester Magnum, and .270 and .300 Winchester Short Magnum rounds are loaded as well.