A Look Inside The Federal Ammunition Factory - American Shooter S1, E4

[Music] shooting fans stay tuned for an American shooter exclusive as with a first to take our cameras inside the federal ammunition plan to show you how they make rimfire center fire and shot show Plus the Scandinavian rifle design that armed the Rough Riders the Craig Jordan city great guys and Byron Ferguson is both throwing and shooting for the shot of the week it's all today here on American shooter [Music] [Music] [Applause] American shooter is brought to you by Colt and the new Colt XS series if it isn't a colt it's just a copy and by outers gun cleaning kits chemicals traps and shooting accessories [Music] welcome to this edition of American shooter I'm Jim Skelton and most of the time on this show we're talking about guns it could be a story involving the Springfield m1a the current version of the m14 and if we're doing that I typically tell you it's chambered in 308 but I wouldn't tell you where the ammo came from well today we're making up for that tracking this federal 308 back to the source in Anoka Minnesota there will be a smile and a welcome at the first of two security checkpoints but only if you have business here there are no tours of the federal plant northwest of Minneapolis and a new face would be noticed in a workforce that's remarkably stable we've been on site here for 77 years and our employees average about 15 years of service that's an immense asset to a manufacturing organization inside under 800,000 square feet of roof a thousand employees can DeForest of three machines specialized presses since ammo making is mostly metal forming first the brass these are going to be 308 cases after five operations two trips through the draw press stretching the brass cup to cartridge length then heading stamping the primer pocket and head stamp in one quick stroke next it's a quick lathe cut to form the extractor rim between operations the cases are heated it's called annealing to relieve the stress in the brass and another conveyor ride to the next operation the last in this case the turret press that necks each cartridge then trims it and plugs it to size the opening now a final wash in the tubs that look like cement mixers and we've got shiny new brass [Music] but we need bullets and most start here with ingots of lead going into the furnace to come out as a three inch cylinder solid but still hot and with 200 tons of pressure from the hydraulic ram the lead cylinder literally sprays out as lead wire extruding six strands for this order of nine millimeter bullet chorus wound in two coils to supply the cutting machines that is the next step in the process feeding wire into the machines that cut and form the core then it's a quicker than the ice series of steps as the jacket receives a core is seated flipped over formed sized and rolled to press the kennel or or knurl around the center and we've got bullets ready for loading but we don't have primers federal needs millions of these each year so they're made a thousand at a time in trays with the cuffs loaded by vibration and the anvils the inner structure also filling their own place the cups right outside the main building into a block house where Shawn Fitzsimmons is doing the charging standing in water on an anti-static mat he rubs the ball of primer material into a plate of holes that precisely measures the material before flipping it over to be pressed into the cups while it stays wet the primer compound is relatively inert but not entirely so static electricity is a danger here back inside the plate of cups mates up with a plate of anvils before being unloaded and inspected and sent to build a cartridge priming is done separately here and rapidly as the cases are punched for the flash hole before the primer is pressed in then it's a tiny feed of clear sealer visible under ultraviolet light and then the sharp eyes of Joel Vogel who can see imperfections our camera can that's a neck full right up here right on top of the wall little small with joel checking only the good ones get through to supply the high speed loader this is a fully automatic operation with bins feeding primered cases through seven turrets ten heart feel is running this line stopping only to load powder into the grasshopper and drop to turret one flares and Truths the mouth of each case the powder drops through glass funnels in the ride around turret to next is the powder checked then bullet insertion at turret four before seating in the ride around five then the crimp in six and a final profile check before lining up to move pass can for final inspection I think out clause like this or wouldn't make it fit the gun right for picked out but the rest move past into the automatic Packer that lines up 10 at a time to fill the familiar red plastic carriers stacked together they move into a box untouched by human hands but the testing isn't over before the shift ends crystal van how it will fire test rounds for pressure and velocity to be sure there are no variations in powder Galen Brown will test for accuracy printing under an inch and a half on his scope at 200 yards and Jerry Schwab will run a function test in this case in a Remington 700 he'll do the same for pistol cartridges as he has millions of times in his 35 years here looking for trouble before it ships to you and me no surprise there Jerry with the quality control checks that monitor every round produced by some of the most experienced employees in the business and we've got more from federal coming up how they make shot shells and millions of 22 [Music] there is one part of this plant we cannot show you behind these doors federal manufacturers the most accurate 22 mo in the world $80 a brick eight dollars a box but this is the mo that captures gold how they make it is a secret but we do know the dimpled head is part of the a cure icing process that helped Lonnie Miley win Olympic gold after federal decided American shooters should be using american-made ammo so this may sound like quite a bit of patriotism and flag waving and if that's what it is and we plead guilty we can show you regular 22 mo production which is much like centerfire first with the case stamping in the draw press five steps in one pass of the brass coil then there's heading to shape the rim priming is done like Center fire in phrase but directly in the cases next powder measured on a grid and released to the tray all at once and then the plated bullets all line up for seeding as a group then there's crimping lubing and packing 500 - a box millions a year for America's most popular round or should we make some shot shells in that case polyethylene pellets are mixed with color beads then heated and extruded in what first looks like thick walled garden hose until it's stretched this called a heat exchanger temperature of the glycol rounds a tool plus being stretched about 271 degrees Fahrenheit this allows us to stretch it busting it practically and after the cutter the holes move out by conveyor to to get the base wide that's wound and inserted in one quick stroke before moving to the header machine this is a multi operation turret press with halls indexing through to get a brass cup and a primer and then being crimped and formed in another stroke then it's the loader that looks much like the center fire operation but has turrets to load more elements with the triple Plus wad column going in over the powder and then the shot come marching in to be inserted on top of that then come shot dropping in precisely measured quantities than the crimp and rolling past the inker to pick up a label and they're ready for packing with married lens on final inspection as the shells move by heading for the boxes that each get weighed to kick out any that might have missing shot it's fully automated manufacturing with machines doing the work while Federal's experienced employees check the process all along that process we're checking for the right powder weight the right shot weight their dusters are doing checks ballistics are doing and then of course you have our visual inspection at our factory area and after all that you've got no excuses if you missed the target it's not because you're federal ammo didn't perform the short history of America's first magazine-fed service rifle and then it's a new shotgun with an old history in gun tech colt ar-15 so common now we hardly think about the advantages of a magazine-fed rifle but back at the turn of the century switching our army to a magazine-fed battle rifle was a major change one that caused no little difficulty in choosing the design that could handle smokeless powder in a repeating action great guns brought to you by Ruger Arms makers for Responsible sportsmen in the late 1880s the United States was still using 15 year old technology with a single-shot 4570 trapdoor but some European countries had progressed to shooting a flatter trajectory higher velocity cartridge at longer ranges smokeless powder and magazine-fed rifles put the Europeans ahead of America in firepower the u.s. had to play catch-up so the army began testing for a new rifle and the competition was open worldwide there was a lot of furor over accepting a foreign design in this country over 50 models were tested from the Belgian Mauser to the Australian Mannlicher to America's only savage and Springfield but the 3040 Krag met what everybody was looking for it's a Norwegian design that was had gotten a lot of success in Denmark we picked it up from the Danes Colonel Olli Craig of Norway first designed the bolt-action repeater in 1868 and perfected its design 20 years later with the help of fellow countrymen and gunsmith Eric Jorgensen the Craig Jorgenson was adopted as the US magazine rifle model 1892 and production started two years later as with previous military rifles it was produced in carbine form as well the 3040 Krag was our first bolt-action and also the one first standardized a smokeless cartridge both of which were advantages the bolt set a benchmark for smoothness but it came at the expense of strength due to the single locking lug the 30 40 designation referred to the old method of naming a cartridge 30 caliber bullet with 40 grains of powder 5 of these rounds are dropped into the side loading box magazine but the Krag could be used as a single shot with the five rounds held in reserve the generals back in Washington felt the clipped fed Mauser was too wasteful and didn't promote accurate fire the men on the front lines didn't agree if you have two or three rounds you could move back to five and the stripper clip with five rounds and it was not considered an advantage at the time we learned it was by 1901 the generals conceded they needed a rifle that could handle a more powerful cartridge and that led to the magazine fed oh three Springfield the short history of the Krag Jorgensen came to an end so basically we're talking 11 years this actually was the shortest length of time any of our standard arms were used but the Kreg was effective enough to prompt a few lines in a song that was popular with the volunteers fighting in the Philippines at the time underneath the starry flag civilize them with a Craig American shooter presents gun tag the latest in guns and shooting gear as a new shotgun in town that comes from a long tradition of Italian gun making this is from fab arm a company that's been making high-quality shotguns since 1900 longer than some of the better known Italian names this is the Gold Lion auto loader in blued steel and beautifully finished wood this is the camo lion in advantage camo the fab arm gas system is self-adjustment with a recoil reduction system built in and fewer moving parts than other Auto loaders and the price is attractive at about nine hundred sixty dollars suggested retail alright now that we got a dirty time for a wipe with the Tico tool a new quick clean gadget from outers between rounds of clays or right after shooting run the Tico tool down the bore and you'll clean out most of the dirt and grime that could start rust or affect your accuracy Tico tool is 15 bucks that's cheap insurance now here's something you should know about hanging on these special edition Ruger Vaqueros this tag here that says this gun is covered by Davidson's lifetime replacement guarantee now Davidsons is one of the biggest distributors of guns and everyone they sell the gun shops is covered forever so if this Ruger breaks you take it back to the gun shop and they will give you a new one but only if the gun shop bought the Ruger from Davidson's you got the idea this is a nice piece of insurance if you see one of these tags Davidson's is also big enough to package special editions like the Vaqueros here this one with a spare cylinder this done in simulated ivory grips and scroll engraving nice that's gun too and coming up Byron's doing all the work himself both throwing and shooting at aerial targets you [Music] Americans shooter is brought to you by Smith & Wesson the world's largest manufacturer of handguns for sporting law enforcement and military use since 1852 and by federal ammunition federal knocked down power [Music] over the years we've had Byron Ferguson with us he shot a lot of things out of the air you've seen that but those were targets somebody else threw for him today Byron's all by himself doing both jobs [Music] you know hitting your target is not always the hardest part sometimes it's just finding somebody to throw for you not a problem just learn how to throw for yourself if someone else is throwing for you all you have to be concerned with is the boat but now you've got to throw the target get the target in the air get the fingers on the bowstring get the bow drawn take aim release little too easy [Music] those would this are roughly the size of herds of pop like quail pheasants at the outside so obviously any time the target is small it's a problem then the target is moving it's a problem when the target is not only moving but it's accelerating as it moves is a big problem I know you can't get anybody for you on this next one [Music] what that's pretty good to know what you think all right we'll do it for real one time they come cheating don't you not this time [Music] now I can hear the sound I know where the target is and I have to just mentally visualize how much lead I got to have [Music] all right well you just seemed probably launched the hardest aren't you shot in the world to make I want to advise you to try that one in your backyard it's specially where the neighbors watching Byron if my neighbor were watching me try that shot there wouldn't be anything to see now here's the lineup for next week it's cowboy time again in Norco California as some 17,000 people show up to enjoy the Old West experience at end of trail plus the story of the lever-action Winchester's from the hen rage of the model 94 in quake guns and Bob Munden taking aim at nail heads and aspirin for American shooter I'm Jim Scout and I'll see you then in the meantime shoot safely and keep them in the ten ring you [Music]

Channel: Gunpowder & Gasoline

Views: 1,150,737

Rating: 4.8503857 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 5_O9gSKFguU

Length: 19min 37sec (1177 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 10 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Sir_Encerwal]

This is some quality content comparable to How It's Made or Modern Marvels but man that is some cheesy as all hell backing music.

[u/justbeulah]

I just watched this video yesterday. It’s really interesting. I wouldn’t mind have some of the jobs shown in the segment.

[u/BigXris]

It appears I’ve been reloading with all the wrong equipment... does anyone have a couple million I could have? Lmao.

[u/Golden-Fox]

What everyone thinks their set up looks like.

[u/JohnnieStalker]

Thats awesome.

[u/[deleted]]

I’d love to work there.

[u/titsassbeer]

Now i have to see what the gold medal process is

[u/Glockalupe]

I wonder what the employee price on ammo is

[u/froggieb8]

That’s America!!!!!