Hornady adding tons of new products in many new calibers for 2013 (VIDEO)

It’s November 7, which means Hornady is ready to introduce their new products for 2013, which include something for just about everyone. The additions to their catalog are diverse and in more than a few cases singular, including some must-have additions for self-defense and hunting. 

And it’s not just new ammunition in current and new calibers, Hornady is also introducing new components for reloading, a new reloading manual, other reloading supplies and equipment, a large sonic cleaner and a handful of shooting and hunting accessories including a handsome Hornady buck knife. 

Starting with something people have been asking about for a long time, a .45 ACP Critical Duty load. Hornady’s Critical Duty line was introduced last year today, and it featured three new cartridges in 9mm, 9mm +P and .40 S&W. The gap in the line-up was immediately obvious. As it turns out, making a .45 caliber Critical Duty cartridge that didn’t expand immediately, dumping all its energy into the target inside the first few inches was a bit more challenging.

The wait has been worth it, with the new cartridge meeting all the FBI penetration requirements of 12-18 inches in ballistics gellatin, while still expanding even after passing through barriers including windshield glass, steel, plywood, drywall and thick clothing. It does it with a new 220-grain FlexLock polymer-tipped hollowpoint bullet.

Another guaranteed-to-be-popular addition is a true self-defense-worthy .30 Carbine cartridge. Designed specifically for the M1 Carbine, this Critical Defense cartridge in .30 Carbine is going to be an instant success. Like the standard military cartridge, Hornady’s load uses a 110-grain bullet, but of course it’s a completely modern expanding hollowpoint, not full-metal-jacketed.

It is slightly downloaded from military ball standards, but still makes 2,000 feet per second at the muzzle and about 1,000 foot-pounds of force from a standard M1 Carbine. There is no chance that this bullet will have problems penetrating or expanding. The M1 Carbine has always been just about perfect from a home defense perspective, but ammo worth using with it for that purpose is uncommon to say the least. 

They’ve added new Critical Defense loads in .32 H&R Magnum (which can be used with revolvers chambered in .327 Federal Magnum as a lighter-recoiling option) as well as .32 NAA, both of which are gaining or re-taking ground with the concealed-carry movement. They’re also come up with a new line altogether, called Triple Defense.

The Triple Defense line is currently home to just one product intended for just one type of gun. It’s a .410 shot shell designed for .410 revolvers, meaning the Judge and its variants and followers.  While picking on the Judge is something of the handgun elite’s hobbies, with a load like this, it’s going to get a lot harder to not take the Judge seriously. 

As the name implies, the Triple Defense .410 shot shell has three projectiles, one .410 unjacketed FTX slug and two .35 caliber hard lead shot balls. The slug, or maybe it’s a bullet in this context—let’s just keep calling it a projectile—will engage with the barrel’s rifling and fly accurately to its target, hollow point first. The two 8.9mm balls, slightly larger than 00 buck, by virtue of being shot through a rifled barrel, will spread around the point of impact. Estimating by the video, the spread is about 3 inches at 7 yards from a medium-barreled Judge. 

Some details are scarce, like what muzzle velocities are we talking about, and how many grains of projectile are involved, and those can come forward in the future. We would really like to know if the shell is 2.5 or 3 inches long, though. 

The new reloading stuff is interesting too, and include a traditional balance beam scale, a new tumbling media, some LED lighting strips for your press and a sonic cleaner that’s large enough to accommodate a 16-inch AR-15 upper receiver. 

They’re also adding new bullets for reloaders in 6.5mm, .30 caliber, 8mm, 9.3mm and .375 caliber flavors. If you have 20 minutes and want to see videos for all the new products, here you go. Otherwise, you can check out their new for 2013 product page. There’s a lot there. If you’re a big ol’ cartridge dork like any of us, the whole thing will leave you grinning. 

So whether you’re interested in some new Superformance slugs, plan on doing some muzzle-loader hunting or want some low-recoiling .38 SPL for your featherweight snubbie (and don’t mind a little shrinking and pinking) head over to Hornady and see what’s new.

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