I happened to be on Federal's website this evening and took some time to look through their new offerings for 2017. Two of these new loadings will be produced for the .223/5.56 chambered weapons.

One is the 50gr Varmint & Predator. There's already been a little of talk over this round. It's even made its way to the shelves at places like Walmart and Cabela's. Early reports I've seen indicate it's nothing earth-shattering. But it seems pretty reasonable (around 50¢/round) if selected as a varmint/plinking load.

The second offering is what's more interesting; the Federal Gold Medal Berger. Berger projectiles are fairly popular with the precision crowd. The same goes for FGMM. So, it has the potential to be another solid option for match-grade factory ammo. At 73gr, depending on the OAL, it might even be good up to a 1:9 twist.

Has anyone heard much about the Berger loading, or manage to test it out yet?

On a related note, for pistols and other rifle calibers, there are a handful of additional new releases entering their lineup. For the hunters out there, it might be worth checking out the Edge TLR and Non-typical loadings.