Hunting

Federal Ammunition is one of the world’s largest ammunition manufacturers and a major sponsor of conservation organizations and youth shooting sports organizations. If you don’t know much about them, here’s an introduction.

Federal began humbly in 1922, when Charles L. Horn took control of a three-year-old fledgling ammunition manufacturer. Knowing he faced fierce competition from Winchester and Remington, he embarked on a novel strategy. Horn worked to get his products—which at the time consisted only of shotshells produced in a 9,000-square-foot factory—onto the shelves of barber shops, gas stations, and grocery stores. He also succeeded in establishing a contract to sell Federal Ammunition through two major department stores; Montgomery Ward & Co., and Sears. The strategy worked and helped the company grow. In 1941, Federal secured a contract worth $87 million from the U.S. government to build and operate the Twin City Ordnance Plant in Arden Hills, Minnesota, which was a critical contributor to military ammunition and other defense products production during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict.