How will Hornady’s remain relevant with Federal Premium’s evolutionary market breakthrough?

bdpayne2000 said:

I honestly don't know how anyone can view this as a bad thing. Innovation has given us so much over time and this is a step level improvement in delivering velocity safely. The lawyers make sure of that. And the facts are for anyone who wants to shoot long at targets or animals velocity reduces horizontal dispersion and delivers more energy on the target. How is that bad.

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As a farm kid I shot a lot of bricks of .22 Shorts because that's what my dad handed me. I'm sure they were less expensive.
Then he made the mistake of bringing home Long Rifle, and things changed.
Brass 6.5 Creedmoor and Peak Alloy Creedmoor. Same story all over again.

Capt.Gene said:

Business is always forward looking. The table is being set for next years feasting.

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Well of course, but where I'm going is that I think it's a little early to ask questions like how Hornady will remain relevant. The truth is, no one knows how this will do. Hornady, I'm sure, has scenarios rather than "a" forecast…a high, medium, and low, and will be watching to see where this is trending.

Maybe it is the best thing to come along in 50 years or maybe it isn't. But Hornady has a track record of success, particularly over the last 10 years, compared to Federal.

MT-JONAS said:

Some of you won't bother with this I'm sure. However, take it or leave it, I found this interesting.

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I like them. Maybe Federal has revolutionized ammo forever.... but when have those guys downplayed anything or been particularly critical of the latest thing?

I just hope the price of brass goes down….

The Oregonian said:

Well of course, but where I'm going is that I think it's a little early to ask questions like how Hornady will remain relevant. The truth is, no one knows how this will do. Hornady, I'm sure, has scenarios rather than "a" forecast…a high, medium, and low, and will be watching to see where this is trending.

Maybe it is the best thing to come along in 50 years or maybe it isn't. But Hornady has a track record of success, particularly over the last 10 years, compared to Federal.

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I've been a manager for 40 years. Good companies can support advancement on multiple fronts at the same time. Lightning can always strike but seldom are companies successful when the put all of their eggs in one basket... even if it is a revolutionary, turbo basket.

FireFlyFishing said:

I just hope the price of brass goes down….

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Me too. Fuel touches the cost of everything. Fuel impacts every stage of manufacture from raw materials through shelf space decisions. The price of oil fell $4+ yesterday and $2 more overnight. We're now below $80 again with a glut of oil moving through Hormuz now.

OTOH, prices often don't go down on consumer goods similar to these as much as they level off and wage inflation catches up. Commodity type goods should go down with fuel prices. Particularly most food. Beef likely won't. For several different reasons/policies the national herd shrank under Biden. Now forces are in play to prevent/slow rebuilding it.

I remember, as a farm kid shooting lots of .22 Shorts at everything that ran or flew past me, what an upgrade 22 Long Rifle was.

sjt18 said:

Me too. Fuel touches the cost of everything. Fuel impacts every stage of manufacture from raw materials through shelf space decisions. The price of oil fell $4+ yesterday and $2 more overnight. We're now below $80 again with a glut of oil moving through Hormuz now.

OTOH, prices often don't go down on consumer goods similar to these as much as they level off and wage inflation catches up. Commodity type goods should go down with fuel prices. Particularly most food. Beef likely won't. For several different reasons/policies the national herd shrank under Biden. Now forces are in play to prevent/slow rebuilding it.

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In the little Texas town I live in, gas was $3.09 per gallon yesterday. The question, obviously, if higher gas prices drive the cost of goods up, why don't lower prices reduce them? The Biden reign of terror lifted prices some 20% overall, yet the current administration is being hammered for not reducing them. When has that happened? And yes, @sjt18 , for reasons unknown, Biden also decimated the national cattle numbers. And I read, it takes several years, to replenish that herd through birthing calves!

scooter1954 said:

In the little Texas town I live in, gas was $3.09 per gallon yesterday. The question, obviously, if higher gas prices drive the cost of goods up, why don't lower prices reduce them? The Biden reign of terror lifted prices some 20% overall, yet the current administration is being hammered for not reducing them. When has that happened? And yes, @sjt18 , for reasons unknown, Biden also decimated the national cattle numbers. And I read, it takes several years, to replenish that herd through birthing calves!

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My area of Missouri has hundreds of small to medium cow-calf operators. I have friends who would like to hold back some for breeding but the price is just too good now. Eventually it will level out but meat is going to be high until then.

Biden and the global warming cult were openly hostile to cattle. They also believe beef is bad for our health and that gives them the power to decide we shouldn't eat as much. One of the biggest factors that I haven't heard anyone in popular media talk about on any side is what Biden's Ukraine blunder did to fertilizer and ultimately livestock feed. A good friend said his fertilizer costs went up 400% after the Russia-Ukraine war started. Russia has long been a major source for fertilizer.

A mentally healthy Biden wouldn't have let that happen IMO. He watched the same scenario play out repeatedly during the Cold War. They would announce "training" and mass troops on a border somewhere. We would announce a rapid deployment exercise to the same area or some kind of nuclear war games. The Russians would soon pull back and so would we. Putin literally massed troops in Belarus to invade Ukraine for 3 or 4 weeks. All we needed to do is deploy a brigade of the 18th AB corps to Poland... hundreds of thousands of lives saved not to mention the economic costs.

I would rather reload my cases 10 times compared to 4 times for a much more expensive case

My point here is that I can see Federal releasing peak alloy steel cartridges in every product that benefits from higher velocity and more energy on target. How will other manufacturers counter within their own product lines? Pay royalties to Federal or invest more in their own R and D departments?

Either way the consumer is the winner, but brass case technology is looking like really really old technology to me. And It is old I guess.

Are your numbers here plucked out of the air or has Federal published data and costs and I missed seeing it. Just curious.

I wonder if any other cartridge case manufacturers will start making steel cases? If it really is the future, I would think so. Federal is only talking about one new cartridge a year. The future will take a long time getting here at that rate. If Federal can make steel cases, why not Peterson or Lapua or Hornady?