Watch: Federal Premium’s Edge TLR “All-Range” Hunting Bullet
Russ Chastain 08.16.17
I’ve been hunting big game for more than 35 years now, and I’ve taken a bunch of critters with a wide array of cartridges. I’ve seen bullets that failed to expand in game, and I’ve seen some that pretty much disintegrated. And over the past few years, I’ve become a fan of Winchester’s Deer Season XP ammo, which performed well on four good-size whitetails at distances from 72 to 260 yards, in addition to some smaller varmints. The Deer Season XP bullet was designed with a larger-than-typical polymer tip to aid expansion.
Now, Federal Premium is one-upping them with the introduction of the Edge TLR “all-range” hunting bullet. They say they’ve done all kinds of high-tech design work on this bullet — and that’s easy to believe, because their parent company has deep pockets — even down to the groove or cannelure. The result is a bonded bullet that’s capable of excellent accuracy, which they say will also deliver reliable terminal performance on big game.
Federal Premium Ammunition is pleased to announce Edge TLR. The full line of rifle ammunition combines the features of top match bullet designs with the industry’s best bonding technology. The result is match accuracy and reliable expansion at extreme long range, with high weight retention, deep penetration and lethal terminal performance at shorter distances. There’s never been a hunting bullet that compares. Shipments of Edge TLR ammunition are being delivered to dealers.
Unlike so-called long-range projectiles that can fail to perform on impact at lower velocities downrange, the Edge TLR bullet uses the exclusive Slipstream tip to instantly initiate deadly expansion. The tip is also crafted from the industry’s most heat-resistant polymer for the most consistent ballistics possible.
At close range, the bullet’s copper shank and bonded lead core retain weight for deep, reliable penetration. Its long, sleek profile offers an extremely high ballistic coefficient, and AccuChannel groove technology improves accuracy and reduces drag across the range spectrum.
This video is all about the groove:
They also tout the plastic Slipstream bullet tip, which is made using a polymer which they say is the most heat-resistant of any polymer bullet tip.
This video features company spokesman J.J. Reich filling us in on the Edge TLR:
They say this bullet will reliably expand at distances up to 900 yards, which is fairly nuts to this old-timer (but obviously do-able).
So far I’ve only seen one independent review that tested this ammo, and Edge TLR did the job at long range (880 yards); I would also like to see results of testing at close range.
Here’s that review:
Weight retention and expansion were certainly impressive, but I want to see what it will do at close range as well. [EDIT – see update below] The PR statement quoted above says nothing about expansion at close range; instead it refers to deep penetration… and I’ve seen times when through-and-through penetration of a whitetail deer did not reliably lay it down, due to a lack of bullet expansion.
That said, the technical folks at Federal Premium know their stuff and I’m sure they’ve done plenty of testing with these groceries. I do like that the bullets run heavy for caliber, with 175-grain bullets for 308 Win & 30-06 Springfield and 200-grain slugs for 300 Win Mag & 300 WSM.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to put my hands on some of this ammo and put it to work on some whitetails this fall.
As you can imagine, the price of Edge TLR ammo is higher than your typical hunting ammo. Here’s some info from the press release:
- Part No. / Description / MSRP
- P308ETLR175 / 308 Win. 175-grain Edge TLR / $47.95
- P3006ETLR175 / 30-06 Spring. 175-grain Edge TLR / $47.95
- P300WETLR200 / 300 Win. Mag. 200-grain Edge TLR / $59.95
- P300WSMETLR200 / 300 Win. Short Mag. 200-grain Edge TLR / $59.95
UPDATE: I just got some updated info from Federal about these bullets; here’s what they have to say about close-range terminal performance:
Edge TLR[‘s] robust bonding and copper shank consistently provide 90 percent weight retention upon high-velocity, close-range impact for deep wound channels. With the Slipstream polymer tip, the design still expands reliably at the longest distances. There’s no other bullet on the market that has this wide of a velocity spectrum, period.
Again, there’s not much about expansion… but they promise good performance — and there’s this, which shows good expansion at 80 yards on a wildebeest:
