If you look up “Federal Gold Medal Match” ammo, one of the associated questions about match ammo is “Can you hunt with open-tip match ammo?”
Federal’s Gold Medal Match ammo is loaded with Sierra Match bullets and occasionally listed as “hollow-point” instead of open-tip, which may lead some to believe that these bullets, since they are optimized for long-distance accuracy, are suitable for hunting.
But that really isn’t the case. Here’s what you need to know.
About Federal Gold Medal Match Ammo
Federal’s Gold Medal Match ammo is widely regarded as one of the highest-quality match-grade ammo in the industry.
This match-grade ammo is produced in several different rifle calibers, including .223 Remington, .224 Valkyrie, 6mm Creedmoor, 6.5 Creedmoor, .260 Remington, .308 Winchester, 7.62x51mm NATO, .30-06 Springfield, .300 Winchester Magnum, and .338 Lapua Magnum.
These cartridges are loaded into high-quality, virgin brass casings that can be reloaded up to 7 times and feature non-corrosive Boxer primers.
Federal Gold Medal Match ammo is loaded with Sierra Match, boat-tailed, open-tip bullets, which are produced according to the tightest manufacturing tolerances for exceptional stability in flight, even at great ranges.
Of special interest is the boat-tailed design, which, true to its name, looks like the stern of a small vessel in cross-section. This increases ballistic efficiency and improves spin stability, making these bullets more accurate at greater ranges, and more efficient at resisting wind deflection.
Also of special interest is the fact that these are open-tip match-grade bullets, sometimes (and technically) mislabelled as hollow-point.
Here’s the difference and why it matters.
Hollow Point vs. Open-Tip Match Ammo
At first, it might sound as though “hollow-point” and “open-tip” ammo are designed for similar applications, but they’re not.
Hollow-point ammunition, like Federal HST ammo, is designed, specifically, to offer maximum expansion upon impact with a soft target.
Hollow-point ammunition is made with an indentation in the nose, and high-quality HP ammo (like Federal HST) is also made with skived jackets.
These “skives” which are scores or striations along the jacket of the bullet, serve as “weak” points where the jacket tears away and mushrooms on impact with a target.
The purpose of hollow point ammo is to deliver complete, efficient energy transfer. They’re also designed to minimize overpenetration, which makes them more practical for use in crowded areas or in tactical or defensive applications.
Consequently, hollow point ammunition, both for rifles and handguns, is designed for defensive applications and for hunting, as, in the latter case, it can offer consistent, ethical kills with proper shot placement.
On the flipside, “open-tip” match-grade ammo is designed for extreme bullet consistency rather than for expansion and energy transfer.
The reason the tip of a match-grade bullet is often left open has to do with how the bullet core is encased in the jacket.
Bullet jackets, which are most typically made from copper alloys, are produced in a process called drawing, they start out in a general cup shape, with an open end, and then are elongated and formed to the basic dimensions (length and height) of the bullet core for which they’re designed.
In a full metal jacket configuration, the open part of the jacket is exposed around the base of the bullet. You can see this if you ever remove an FMJ bullet from the brass.
The complete jacket covering over the nose of the bullet (in an FMJ configuration) is both economical and practical and offers excellent penetration. This makes FMJ the “default” choice for high-volume, low-cost shooting.
In open-tip match bullets, the cupped (open) end of the bullet is at the nose of the bullet instead of the base.
This allows the lead core to be inserted from the top before the jacket is drawn up and closed around the nose of the core.
This process enables the bullets to be manufactured with more precise radial symmetry than FMJ bullets with a solid nose, resulting in less bullet-to-bullet variance and improved ballistic stability at greater ranges.
In other words, open-tip match bullets, such as those featured in Federal Gold Medal Match ammo, despite the fact that they may bear some superficial resemblance to hollow-point bullets, should be used for long-range accuracy and competition, and not for hunting or defensive applications.
The Verdict: Good for Competition and Long-Range Shooting, Not the Best for Hunting
Open-tip match (OTM) bullets, such as those with which Federal Premium’s Gold Medal Match ammo are loaded, should not be used for hunting or defensive applications.
Their bullet jackets lack the internal striations or skives that facilitate expansion, and these bullets are designed for stability and accuracy, not energy transfer.
Save the OTM bullets for the range or competition, and use hollow-point, soft-point, or ballistic-tip ammo for hunting.
Get Federal Gold Medal Match Ammo Here
Looking for a high-quality, exceptionally consistent and accurate rifle round? Or is your local shop out of Federal Gold Medal Match ammo?
Get it here. We carry this and a wide range of other brands, some of which are ideal for competition. Bookmark our page, too, because we often run sales.