Federal’s New Action Shotgun Rifled Slug

Federal Ammunition has started shipping a rifled slug under its Action Shotgun banner, handing multigun and 3-gun shooters a 12-gauge option built around the company’s TruBall design.

The 1-ounce, hollow-point slug weighs 438 grains and travels out of a 2¾-inch hull at 1,300 fps. Boxes hold 25 rounds and carry a $39.99 suggested retail price. Federal previewed the load earlier this year, and it has now reached distribution.

The load pairs a 1-ounce slug with Federal’s TruBall system, which seats a polymer sphere in the slug base to center it in a smoothbore barrel. (Photo courtesy Federal Ammunition)

Action Shotgun launched as a single-load family: a 1⅛-ounce charge of No. 7.5 lead running 1,235 fps., aimed at the clay and steel portions of a stage. Slugs are a different problem. Match directors routinely hang knockdown plates and poppers past the range of birdshot, and the shooter who has to swap to a hunting slug mid-match inherits whatever that load does out of a cylinder-bore barrel.

TruBall is Federal’s answer to that. A polymer sphere sits in the hollow base of the slug and wedges between the slug and the wad under pressure, holding the projectile square in the bore on its way out. Smoothbore barrels have no rifling to stabilize a slug, so keeping it centered is most of the accuracy battle, and the system has been on the market long enough in Federal’s hunting and law enforcement loads to have a track record.

Hull rigidity is the other half of the pitch. Competition shotguns feed from tube extensions and, increasingly, detachable box magazines, and a shell that flexes under spring pressure or during a fast load is a shell that hangs up. Federal built the Action Shotgun case stiff for that reason.

“Action Shotgun ammunition is designed specifically for competition, where reliability and accuracy are critical,” said Sam Oftedahl, shotshell product manager at Federal.

The load is available now through Federal dealers and at federalpremium.com.