Vista Outdoor has announced a huge amount of new products for 2020. The most significant ones we’ll cover separately and tomorrow we’ll also publish an article telling about the rest of the new products by Federal Premium Ammunition, CCI, Speer and Alliant Powder. In this article, we’ll take a look at the new Federal defensive handgun ammunition line called Punch.

Here is how Federal describes the Punch line of ammunition in their press release:

Protection now delivers a knockout blow. New Punch™ draws from Federal^® Ammunition’s decades of experience designing the world’s finest defensive handgun loads. The bullet’s skived jacket and soft lead core produce the best expansion and penetration for the price, while its nickel-plated brass and sealed primer deliver the reliable feeding and ignition you need to protect yourself.

The Punch ammunition will be available in the following caliber and load options. This ammo is packaged in boxes of 20 cartridges which MSRPs are also shown below.

• .380 Auto 85-grain Punch JHP, (1,000 fps) – $15.95
• .38 Special +P, 120 grain Punch JHP, (1,070 fps) – $19.95
• 9mm Luger, 124 grain Punch JHP, (1,150 fps) – $15.95
• .40 S&W, 165 grain Punch JHP, (1,130 fps) – $19.95
• .45 Auto, 230 grain Punch JHP, (890 fps) – $20.95

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I am sure you know that Federal makes one of the best, if not THE best defensive handgun ammunition lines in the world – the HST. These wonder bullets have proven to perform flawlessly always showing good penetration and perfect expansion. That being said, I am curious to see how the new Punch line compares to the iconic HST. Well, one thing is clear – it doesn’t produce beautiful “flowers” as HST does. On a serious note, one obvious difference from the HST is the price – the Punch is way cheaper than the HST. For example, the MSRP of a box of 20 9mm 124gr HST cartridges is $27.95 whereas the Punch 124gr 9mm ammo has an MSRP of $15.95 for the same size box.

Images by Vista Outdoor