Custom Rifle Ammo
Make precision personal with our wide selection of custom rifle loads.
30 Super Carry
Hits like a 9mm Luger. Carries like a 380 Auto. Designed exclusively for defense.
High Over All
More reloads and better patterns for the most elite trap, skeet and sporting clays shooters.
Varmint & Predator
Get the most of rimfire with loads that offer both accuracy and violent expansion on impact.
FireStick
There’s never been a muzzleloading system like this. See all the benefits that set FireStick apart to provide the most convenient, safe and consistent performance ever.
Hydra-Shok® Component Bullets
The bullet that’s defined self-defense for a generation is now available as a component.
Federal X Stone Glacier
Two great brands have finally come together. Don't miss your chance to own exclusive Federal-branded Stone Glacier apparel.
Model 2020 Waypoint Special Edition
We worked with engineers from Springfield Armory to create Custom Shop loads specifically designed for the utmost performance from the new Model 2020 Waypoint rifle.
The American Eagle brand has been part of Federal in one way or another since the very beginning. Harry and Louis Sherman, the original builders of the plant, worked in the ammunition industry before their association with Federal and continued to after they left the company.
Around 1920, they were involved in a company called Standard Shell & Cartridge Co. in Kansas City. It appears they never actually manufactured ammunition, having it made for them first by Dominion, then Western Cartridge Co., and finally Federal.
The ammunition company they then formed in 1922 was variously called American Ammunition, a name that appears in some advertising in the early 1920s, and also American Cartridge Co. It appears the latter name was the only one used on ammo headstamps and packaging.
As the decades passed, American Eagle products were always a part of Federal’s product line. Eventually, the packaging would acknowledge that American Eagle was a division of Federal.
The firm advertised several different shotshell types, including a low-brass field shell in green paper and the more powerful A-Grade with high brass and a red tube. Their advertising claimed great benefits from using cork wads, hardly an unknown component in those days.
Whatever the good or bad points of the product, American Cartridge Co. soon ran into financial trouble and went bust, owing Federal a large sum for supplied ammo. Federal’s savvy president Charles Horn took over all company assets, which by that point were probably little more than the name and the American Eagle trademark.
Horn began offering American Eagle ammo almost immediately, adding rimfire cartridges to what had been strictly a shotshell line. The packaging style and the Kansas City address persisted as late as 1961, even though all the shotshells and most of the rimfire cartridges were made in Anoka by Federal. Oddities like 22 WRF were brought in from Western.
In 1991, American Eagle shotshells were packaged in economical 20-round boxes, and rimfire cartridges were sold in 40-round boxes. These innovative package sizes helped get Federal ammo into new retailers.
A 1933 price list offers Superior Fast Flight rimfires under the American Eagle brand in 22 Short, Long, Long Rifle and 22 WRF, all with cadmium-plated bullets. Hollow-points could be had in Long Rifle and WRF. Copper-plated bullets could be ordered in BB Cap, Short, Long, Long Rifle and WRF. Keep in mind the 22 Short was the most popular rimfire in the 1930s.
Packaging for American Eagle ammo was little changed until the 1960s, when a more modern style with bold red and yellow colors was adopted. This was used for rimfire, shotshells and centerfire ammo, which duplicated the Federal centerfire line introduced in 1963.
As packaging drastically changed throughout the years, so did American Eagle’s product lineup. By early 2022, the product line consisted of a long list of rifle, handgun, and rimfire ammo with nothing offered in shotshell ammunition anymore.
The American Eagle brand was used for inexpensive “white box” ammo like full metal jacketed 9mm Luger and 223 Rem. during the 1970s and ’80s, providing an inexpensive alternative for fun afternoons of fast firing at the range. In 1989, Federal decided to upgrade the American Eagle brand and make it a full-time part of the Federal line. This came with new red packaging with distinctive graphics.
Throughout the 2000s, the American Eagle line was upgraded well beyond generic cartridges in common calibers. The 357 Sig cartridge was added in 2002, while the 10mm Auto joined the family the next year. The fast growth in suppressor use in those years led to ammo custom-designed for reliable use in silenced arms in 2013. These subsonic cartridges, including 300 Blackout and 22 LR, let you shoot quietly and effectively whether you’re shooting a “can” or not.
Over almost a century Horn’s decisive action in securing the American Eagle trademark has paid off handsomely for both Federal and for American hunters and shooters.
American Eagle rifle ammunition offers consistent, accurate performance at a price that's perfect for high-volume shooting. The loads feature quality bullets, reloadable brass cases and dependable primers.