Federal Terminal Ascent Bullet: A Fantastic Game Getter

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Today’s hunters are caught in a bit of a conundrum. The obsession with all things long-range has driven the market toward sleek bullets with high ballistic coefficients. These bullets are often match-style projectiles that shoot tiny groups but can perform poorly on game, especially at shorter distances. Two seasons ago I put a half-dozen such rounds into a quartering-away bull elk before he finally gave up. Each bullet broke up before it could reach the vitals. Never again.

The solution, of course, is premium controlled-expansion bullets. Federal Premium has always been a leader in this area, loading factory ammunition with bullets such as the Nosler Partition and Trophy Bonded Bear Claw for many decades.

Due to its performance, Federal eventually bought the rights to the Bear Claw and brought its manufacture in-house. The company’s engineers took their time and made incremental improvements to the proven bullet design, ultimately resulting in the excellent Terminal Ascent.

The Terminal Ascent begins with a gilding metal jacket that is bonded—effectively welded—with a lead core. The bullets are then formed into a sleek boattail design, and AccuChannel grooves are turned into the shank. Nickel plating comes next. Finally, the Slipstream polymer tip is added. These bullets are difficult and expensive to manufacture, but the results are worth the effort. There is a how-it’s-made video on FederalPremium.com that is worth watching.

Terminal Performance

The Terminal Ascent combines excellent ballistic coefficients with outstanding terminal performance. The company recently introduced an all-new 170-grain Terminal Ascent bullet specifically to optimize performance in the 7mm PRC cartridge.

“The 6.5 PRC has been hugely successful,” Federal rifle product manager Eric Miller told me. “The 7mm PRC is going to be equally or more so. With the Terminal Ascent bullet, we needed something bigger than the 155-grain. We developed the 170-grain, and in 7mm PRC it just shoots phenomenally.”

This bullet has a G1 ballistic coefficient of .646 and a G7 BC of .325, so it is capable of true long-range performance. Unlike many long-range bullets, though, it is tough enough to penetrate on live game at a wide range of distances. Federal has tested this bullet from 10 to 1,600 yards and achieved reliable expansion and penetration at that broad span of impact ranges.

I tested the new Terminal Ascent load in a 7mm PRC rifle that I built myself, achieving an average of 2,900 fps muzzle velocity out of a 22-inch Proof Research barrel. I was tickled to find that the readout on my chronograph matched the velocity on the box precisely. Three-shot groups measured 0.70-inch at 100 yards. I range-tested the load in my rifle out to 400 yards and was satisfied in both its accuracy and consistent velocity. It was time to take it hunting.

Field Tested and Approved

I found myself on the Texas side of the Chihuahuan Desert in the Big Bend area hunting with High West Outfitters. The sprawling low-fence ranches were tough country with steep bluffs, wide open vistas, little water and lots of sharp edges. We were after desert mule deer.

I was hunting with Josh Coffey, a native Texan who’d guided more than 90 hunts on a variety of animals during the previous year. That volume of hunting creates many lifetimes of experience and some definite opinions as to what works and what doesn’t. When I asked him what his favorite bullet was, he didn’t mince words: the Terminal Ascent.

On the last morning of the hunt, I found myself overlooking a mature buck bedded in the brush. Soon he was at a dead run, quartering away hard. He stopped for a just moment, giving me the chance to put a round into him at 347 yards. There was no time for dialing dope, checking the wind or fiddling with ballistic apps. It was time to shoot.
The bullet broke a rib, tore through both lungs, smashed the offside shoulder and came to rest under the hide. He dropped instantly. The bullet weighed 139 grains, retaining 82 percent of its unfired weight. My four hunting companions enjoyed similar performance but with the added benefit of exit wounds.

With the Terminal Ascent, Federal may just have developed the perfect big game bullet. It boasts a ballistic coefficient that’s better than comparable low-drag match bullets but displays terminal performance that those bullets could only dream about.

Federal currently catalogs 13 different loads using the Terminal Ascent bullet, ranging from the 6.5 Creedmoor to the .300 Win. Mag. Component bullets are also offered so that handloaders can enjoy the same excellent performance.

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