One of the mad scientists at Federal Premium has probably thought once “what if to load split-shot sinkers into a shotgun shell?” and that’s probably how the Force X2 shotgun ammo was born. Joking aside, this is a really interesting buckshot design. These copper-plated double ought buckshot pellets are slotted and split in half upon impact! So what we have here is basically fragmenting buckshot.

Federal Force X2 pellets in the ballistic gel. Note how the pellets are split and are much smaller than standard 00 buckshot.

Federal Premium Ammunition’s press release describes the design and benefits of Force X2 defensive shotgun ammunition as follows:

Turn your shotgun into the ultimate defensive platform with new Force X2™ from Federal Premium^®. Its nine copper-plated 00 FX2 buckshot pellets are specially engineered to split into two equal-size pieces on impact. This doubles the number of wound channels from nine to 18, improves the transfer of energy from the payload to the target, and minimizes the potential for over-penetration, reducing the risk to bystanders. Force X2 is also loaded for more manageable recoil, allowing the shooter to stay on target for faster follow-ups and better accuracy in a self-defense situation.

What’s the advantage over just using smaller diameter buckshot, e.g. #4? Well, at least one of the benefits of Force X2 should be more energy delivered to the target due to heavier pellet weight.

Another interesting design element is that these pellets are sort of belted. Maybe that has something to do with the segmentation or maybe it’s a way to compensate for the weight lost due to the cut slot. Another question that you are probably asking is how consistent the segmentation is depending on the side the pellets hit the target with – will it be the same no matter if the slot is towards the target or not? We’ll make sure to find the answers to all these questions at SHOT Show 2020. Stay tuned!

The Federal premium Force X2 ammunition will be available in 12 gauge (2-3/4″ shells) at an MSRP of $22.95 per box of 10 shells. The muzzle velocity of Force X2 pellets is 1,145 fps.

Images by Vista Outdoor

UPDATE (02.03.2020). I talked to folks at Federal’s SHOT Show booth. Apparently, the belt around the pellet is just a byproduct of manufacturing.

Here are some pictures taken at their booth.

Split pellets recovered from a ballistic gel.

Federal also published a short video on Force X2 ammo.