Federal .38 Special

[SodiumBenzoate]

Is the Federal .38 Special JHP with a black/very dark purple coating on the bullet different in any way, or is all Federal .38 Special JHP coated/painted like this?

Very vague I know, but I was looking at one of my dad's .38 Special rounds and I was wondering.

 

[NJ3]

Do they look like these? If so they're Federal Nyclad, discontinued but can still be found. The lead bullet was jacketed with Nylon instead of copper.

 

[SodiumBenzoate]

Yeah, they look like that except darker.

 

[NJ3]

The actual bullets are darker, my photo of them makes them appear to be a lighter color.

 

[drone23]

Is there any advantage to the nyclad?

-D

 

[NJ3]

The Nyclad's expand easily, even when fired out of a snub nose .38 special. Plus I've had good accuracy from my M38 without too much muzzle flash.

 

[drone23]

Why did they stop making them?

-D

 

[9mmepiphany]

the nyclad rounds were originally introduced by smith and wesson, really, as a safe indoor range training round ...the nylon coating surrounds the lead and limits it's dispersion into the air.

one of their specialty rounds was named the "chief's special" it was specifically designed for the airweight J-frames. it was a non plus-P .38 special HP which regularly expanded to .50+ calibre

federal bought the line when smith got out of the ammo business

 

[Lone Star]

Yeah, but why did FEDERAL discontinue Nyclad? Seems to me they had a good thing, especially in that Chief's Special version.

Lone Star

 

[sgtmaj13]

For the same reason they stopped selling the 158gr LSWCHP to us peasents. They can make more money limiting us to a hyped JHP in 20 rd boxes, at an inflated price, than a proven round in 50 rd boxes.

 

[deuce20]

Not good for ballistic traces/matches?

Have read somewhere here or on TFL that perhaps the Nyclad coating doesn't retain well the distinctive rifling/markings of the barrel from which it is fired. The new Federal ballistic labs couldn't be happy with that, if true.