New From Federal: Train + Protect VHP and Non-Typical Whitetail Ammo

1. Unless the the street price of the 9mm is substantially lower, I don’t see why anyone would pay $31 for this ammo when you can get a box of Federal HST 147gr (which is my personal choice for best performing 9mm defensive ammo on the market today) for $20.

   • 100% agree. HST is my go too defensive round. Best bang for your buck.

     • I prefer the heavier 9mm for home defense because its subsonic. Even without a suppressor it’s helpful.

2. Not sure what is non-typical about this ammunition. Looks like it is priced to compete with Hornady American Whitetail which has been a good performer for me in 30-06.

3. This whole train-and-defend thing seems to continue.

   However, I can get (for instance) Speer Gold Dot for around $0.50/rnd, and Winchester Ranger-T for $0.70 (both in .45ACP).

   Granted their $.67/rnd MSRP will likely be lower online, but if I really want to use the same round for range and defense, then I’d be inclined to something with a proven track record.

4. Does this ammo ONLY kill non-typical whitetails??? Will it only stun a 6X6 typical??? Maybe that aint what they mean, but one thing’s for sure, there’s a new gimmick every day. Ammo companies all must think we’re idiots.

5. Yow! Those prices are wacky! Great ammo though.. I’d go with the HSTs as one commenter above has said.

   • 147gr American Eagle flat-nose (like a semi wadcutter without the shoulder) has the same advertised velocity as 147gr HST, and seems to feed equally well in my Sig.
     As far as I can tell, there’s no real difference other than cost between the two at the range.

6. Whoever did the art and marketing for the Non Typical Whitetail needs a raise and a 6 pack of their choice, cause that is some awesome work.

   • Snaggle point zombie buck FTW 🙂

7. Team HST.

8. I too would like to get clarification as to why the new 9mm is worth my money while the “old” HSTs are not. The same company produces a proven round for self defense that reliably feeds in most modern handguns by all accounts for the same price (if not a bit less). It may not be marketed as a “training” round, but if it is reliable and cheaper why not train with it? What is it that separates these two rounds produced by the same company I’m going to need more to go off of than different packaging.

   • I think those 50-round boxes of HST at low prices are a legacy thing and will dry up. It has only been sold in 20-round boxes for quite a while, I do believe, and in 9mm is over a dollar per round. I think at retail this new VHP stuff will be like 50 cents a round. The press release certainly gives the impression that the goal is a round that’s affordable enough to practice with yet also a truly effective hollow point. Most of the inexpensive HP ammo on the market isn’t really self-defense ammo.

     • Glad I peruse the comments. I had no idea that 147 HST +P was so inexpensive now, just picked up a case for $.38/per round at SGAmmo

     • Goddammitsomuch Jeremy, if you start a run on HST with that talk…

       • No shit…

       • LOL sorry. It’s true though! The 50-round HST boxes haven’t been on Federal’s site for a couple of years and I don’t believe they make it in that packaging anymore. It was replaced with the plastic, 20-round boxes. The supply that’s out there is either “leftover” from back when they sold it like that or it’s surplus that’s being sold off from police departments, which definitely does happen but isn’t reliable in terms of supply.

   • Why not just train with your defense round? That way you get identical ballistics, noise, point of aim, recoil…no surprises when you actually have to use it.

     • Most of its would like to but cannot afford to be shooting dollar bills to paper. Every tone the gun cycles it goes ca-ching.

       • Yeah really, I just bought some XTP’s to try to hand load a practice round to match my defensive ammo. Not sure how much that is going to matter if the SHTF. I think it is far more important to practice with some type of ammo even if it doesn’t match ballistically that not practice at all.

9. Like there’s still room on the shelf for another mediocre line of ammo.

10. Wow, copy Winchester much, eh Federal??

    • Name aside, the concept is different. The other brands doing a ‘train + defend’ kind of a scenario are selling an FMJ round for training and a different HP round for self-defense use, with the idea that they feed, function, and feel as close as possible to each other and have very similar POI. In the case of this Federal product, it’s literally one round. It’s a hollow point that’s apparently affordable enough to train with but is also of an effective design for self-defense.

      BTW Winchester didn’t come up with the concept anyway. IIRC it was likely Speer, as the Lawman TMJ is designed as affordable practice ammo that mimics the Gold Dot defensive ammo. And Speer Lawman has been around for a long, long time.

    • Whoopty-shit.

11. Didn’t I read about 2-3 months ago that Federal was coming out with a new 9mm load specifically designed for short-barreled autos?
    Anyone heard about that and when (or if) it’s coming out?

    • There are probably other loads made for this purpose, too, but the 150 gr 9mm HST is specifically geared towards sub-compact and “micro” pistols: https://www.federalpremium.com/ammunition/handgun/caliber/9mm-luger/personal-defense-hst/p9hst5s (I carry it in my Beretta Nano)

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