.360 Buckhammer 220gr HammerDown Soft Point Rifle Ammo

Description

Federal designed this .360 Buckhammer load from the ground up for lever-action shooters. It's built into the DNA of this ammunition. The nickel-plated brass cases feed without fail through tubular magazines and side-gate loading systems that traditionally gave other ammo grief. What makes this different isn't just the geometry of the cartridge or the bullet, but the velocity tuning. Federal specifically optimized the powder charge and velocity for the shorter barrel lengths common in lever rifles, so you get flat trajectories and hard-hitting energy at typical hunting distances instead of numbers that look good on paper but don't translate in the field.

HammerDown's Molecularly Bonded Soft Point Performance

The 220-grain bullets use bonded core-and-jacket construction, which means the lead stays locked to the copper jacket through impact. This delivers controlled expansion and deep penetration without the bullet coming apart or shedding weight. You're getting consistent, predictable terminal performance on big game. The soft point profile promotes reliable mushrooming while the heavy weight helps maintain momentum through brush and heavy hide. For a lever-action cartridge built around deer and medium-sized game, 220 grains carries real stopping power.

Feeding and Magazine Performance

The biggest frustration with some ammunition in tubular magazines is nose-to-primer contact during feeding, which can cause reliability issues or even unsafe pressure spikes. Federal engineered the case geometry and bullet profile of this HammerDown round to eliminate that problem. The rounds stack smoothly and cycle without hesitation. Whether you're loading through the side gate or feeding from the magazine tube, these feed like they belong in a lever gun because they were designed in a lever gun.

Built for Lever-Action Hunting

If you spend time behind a lever action, you know the ballistics are different from modern centerfire rifles. That's exactly why Federal built this cartridge with velocities specifically tuned for lever-gun barrels and ranges. This isn't a rifle cartridge repackaged for lever guns. It's purpose-built ammunition that respects what a lever-action does well and gives you ballistics that work within that platform's real-world performance envelope.