Federal is celebrating 100 years in business in 2022, and over the last century this brand has helped advance shotgun, rimfire, and centerfire ammunition design. But to remain relevant in a competitive market Federal has to continue producing innovative products that challenge our long-held beliefs about ammunition products. That’s exactly what the new 30 Super Carry cartridge does.
“We looked at all the new gun owners that came into the marketplace and the established gun owners that were getting into defensive carry,” says Mike Holm, Federal’s product director. “We knew the critical factors when selecting a personal defense gun were concealability, performance, and capacity.”
From there, Holm took a closer look at the two most popular self-defense loads available at the time—the 9mm Luger and .380 Auto.
“We wanted to know if we could bridge the gap between the .380 Auto and the 9mm,” Holm says. What Holm and his team quickly realized is that there is a substantial difference in the performance of the .380 and the 9mm. Federal didn’t have to split the difference between the two rounds in terms of terminal performance. Instead, the manufacturer set out to create a cartridge that matched 9mm performance, but with a smaller footprint.
There was a clear performance gap between the 9mm and .380, but bridging that gap would require an innovative design. Holm decided to use a smaller bullet, so he selected the .312-inch projectile that had served as the basis for the .327 Federal Magnum. That would result in a cartridge that was smaller in diameter than the 9mm, but matching the Luger’s performance would require increased pressure.
These test results clearly show that, as Holm says, the 30 Super Carry doesn’t equally split the difference between the 9mm and the .380. Rather, the 30 Super Carry outperforms the 9mm and does so with a smaller form factor, which translates to more rounds in the magazine. But what’s the price for that increased energy and velocity? Is the 30 Super Carry too much gun for new shooters to handle?
“The first thing people want to know about is the recoil,” Holm says.
I tested Smith & Wesson’s new Shield EZ 30 Super Carry alongside the company’s M&P Shield EZ 9mm. Dimensions and weights of these guns are essentially the same since the 30 Super Carry version was based on a modified 9mm Shield EZ. Having both on hand made it very easy to closely examine the recoil energy of both guns. My takeaway? The 30 Super Carry has a faster recoil pulse, as you might expect, but I believe differences in recoil between these two rounds are so minimal that the average shooter won’t notice the difference. In similar-weight guns you can expect the 30 Super Carry to produce recoil that’s very close to that of a 9mm.
Part of the performance advantage of the 30 Super Carry boils down to bullet design. Rather than use available .312-inch bullets, Federal’s engineers tweaked the profiles, jacket thickness, and other factors of their 100- and 115-grain bullet offerings until they arrived at a bullet shape and design that offered the best terminal ballistics. Holm says the engineering team did a fantastic job tweaking the 30 Super Carry’s .312-inch bullets to get maximum performance, and that dedication and attention to detail is apparent when you compare this new round to the 9mm.
Because the 30 Super Carry has a smaller form factor, gun manufacturers can build these guns using existing 9mm models (as was the case with the Smith & Wesson) or on 30 Super Carry-specific frames that are smaller and feature a reduced grip diameter. When guns are built using existing 9mm frames, the 30 Super Carry offers increased capacity. Initial testing suggested that single-stack pistols chambered in 30 Super Carry would hold one or two more rounds than 9mm versions of the same gun. That’s the case for the Shield EZ, which holds 10 rounds in the magazine in 30 Super Carry compared to eight rounds in 9mm. Smith & Wesson’s new 30 Super Carry M&P Shield Plus actually holds 13 rounds, three more than the 9mm version. Double-stack 30 Super Carry magazines hold at least two more rounds than their 9mm counterparts.
So, what would a 30 Super Carry-specific pistol look like? A 30 Super Carry double-stack magazine would measure .639 inch wide, substantially less than the .728-inch width of a 9mm double-stack magazine. This reduces grip width by as much as an inch, so 30 Super Carry double-stack pistols with grips of .9 inch or even less are possible. Ten rounds of 30 Super Carry require a magazine box depth of 1.884 inches, while 11 rounds will fit in a magazine that’s 2.055 inches deep—less than the 2.145 inches required for a 10-round 9mm mag. This allows the 30 Super Carry to be built in lighter, smaller pistols than the 9mm without giving up magazine capacity or terminal performance.
In addition to Smith & Wesson, Nighthawk Custom in Berryville, Arkansas, was one of the first firearms manufacturers to offer 30 Super Carry pistols. Their GRP and President 1911s are both available in 30 Super Carry, and both of these pistols hold two more rounds than their 9mm counterparts. I tested a Nighthawk GRP 30 Super Carry with Nighthawk’s IOS optics mounting system with a Trijicon RMR in place. That pistol was extremely accurate, producing five-shot groups between 1.07 and 1.30 inches at 25 yards while managing to produce multiple groups under one inch at that range. That level of performance speaks to Nighthawk’s quality, of course, but also to the 30 Super Carry’s accuracy potential.
There are currently six loads available for the 30 Super Carry including three defensive loads (Federal’s 100-grain HST, Speer’s 115-grain Gold Dot, and Remington’s 100-grain HTP) as well as FMJ loads from Blazer, American Eagle, and Remington that range from 100 to 115 grains. Because Federal’s sister brands have cooperated in the effort to roll out new ammo for the 30 Super Carry, there were plenty of options for shooters, and these loads are relatively affordable (FMJ loads carry an SRP of $30.99 to $31.99 for 50; defensive loads run between $26.99 and $36.99 for 20—very close to 9mm loads). In addition to the wide range of ammo options, other Vista Outdoor companies are producing accessories. RCBS is offering dies, Hoppe’s is offering cleaning kits, and Uncle Mike’s and BLACKHAWK! are offering holsters.
Early reports are that demand for 30 Super Carry handguns and ammunition are higher than projected.
“Sales out of the gate were fantastic,” Holm says. “We had to ramp up production.”
Will the 30 Super Carry replace the 9mm? Not likely. But that was never Federal’s intention. Holm says that the goal was to “give people an option,” and it’s a very good option. More rounds, more penetration, and less mass? Who doesn’t love that in a defense pistol? (federalpremium.com)
“The major hurdle with the 30 Super Carry was developing a cartridge case that could handle the additional pressure required to match 9mm performance with a .312-inch bullet,” Holm says. To make the .30 Super Carry practical, it would have to produce recoil that was on par with the 9mm or slightly lower. There also couldn’t be any pressure concerns with the new cartridge.
Fortunately, as testing got underway and firearms manufacturers began to produce 30 Super Carry prototypes, there were no issues with the cartridge’s increased pressure. The 30 Super Carry functioned well in semi-auto handguns during initial development, and gel testing proved this to be a capable round that matched the performance of the 9mm and substantially exceeded that of the .380 Auto. In bare ballistic gel testing, Speer’s Gold Dot 115-grain JHP load at 1,150 feet per second penetrated 13.85 inches, better than Gold Dot 124-grain 9mm+P ammunition (12 inches) and Gold Dot .380 Auto (9 inches). During testing with Federal’s HST ammunition in gel with a heavy clothing barrier, the 30 Super Carry also outperformed the other two rounds. Federal’s HST 30 Super Carry 100-grain load penetrated 15.5 inches and expanded to a maximum of .530 inch. The 9mm 124-grain and 147-grain loads penetrated 14.5 and 14.6 inches in the cloth barrier/gel test, respectively; the 9mm bullets expanded to between .571 and .605 inch. The .380 Auto managed just 9.95 inches of penetration with a 99-grain HST load and a maximum expansion of .588 inch. Federal’s .380 Auto HST load carries about 223 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle while the 9mm 124-grain HST generates 381 foot-pounds and the 147-grain load produces 313 foot-pounds. The smaller 30 Super Carry 100-grain HST bullet, driven at a velocity of 1,250 fps, produces 347 foot-pounds of punch.