Nyclad info wanted

[.cheese.]

Could you all please provide anything you know about the Nyclad line?

History, offerings, purpose, when it was discontinued, why it was discontinued, what police departments used it, etc. etc.

Anything you can provide would be great. I emailed Federal asking for the same thing.

I want to write a Wikipedia article about it as there doesn't seem to be much information out about it.

 

[.cheese.]

surely some of you have some info?

 

[ashtxsniper]

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=383302&highlight=nyclad

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=295412&highlight=nyclad

 

[Solo Flyer]

I found this discussion on THR.It appears it was discontinued 5 years ago.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=28809

and this discussion is interesting:

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=310849

 

[BobCat]

All I know is they were lead bullets with a black nylon coating that minimized leading, a lot of people liked them, and Federal discontinued them a few years ago.

Ammoman . com had them for a while after Federal discontinued them.

I liked them in .38 Special, since they did not lead my revolver and I "figured" that a lead hollow point would open up more reliably than a copper-jacketed bullet, at .38 Special velocities. Might have been taken in by marketing, might have been right. They did open up very well when shot into plastic gallon jugs, but so did most jacketed bullets.

Wish I could furnish more info.

 

[ashtxsniper]

All of them I ever shot had a blue coating on the bullet.

 

[ashtxsniper]

 

[aerod1]

I still have some 38 sp+P loaded up in my Smith & Wesson Airweight model 638 for my self defense loads. I still have over 1/2 box. Mine are blue.

 

[BHPshooter]

From what I understand, they're not discontinued, just no longer offered for sale to anyone other than LE. Ammoman actually had some within the last year, so it's still out there, just hard to find.

Wes

 

[.cheese.]

Does anybody have a photo that they would be willing to donate to a wikipedia article? Ashtxsniper - are you maybe willing to donate any of those photos?

A Nyclad in a photo of other types of bullets would be great. Kind of like the third one Ashtxsniper posted.

 

[230RN]

So why couldn't a handloader do something like this on his own, like with teflon spray & bake or something? Anyone done it on his own?

Just askin'. Don't really think it's "thread veer," since something like this might be "addable" to .cheese.'s article.

 

[ashtxsniper]

I borrowed those pictures from sites I googled they are not mine but you will find the sites if you google "Federal Nyclad".

 

[big_bang]

So why couldn't a handloader do something like this on his own

I assume that the lead diameter may have been reduced slightly, so that after the nylon was added, the OD of the bullet was .358"

 

[230RN]

Yeah, you start with a bullet sized to .347 with no lube in your sizer and put .005 worth of goo on it.

Anyway, never mind.

 

[tallpaul]

I got a gallon can or so of them from when a local scrap dealer bought out smith n wesson years back. I also had LRN and HBWC. I have just a few left of the HBWC and the nyclad left. I wish I would have bought thrityfive gallon drums of the stuff and I wish I would have been early enough to get the lswc stuff...

 

[spwenger]

The +P Loading...

...was intended for four-inch revolvers and was never a spectacular performer. The standard-pressure loading is known as the Chief Special load load because it was specifically designed to expand at the velocities realized from two-inch barrels, which it does - I had the opportunity to test it in a slaughterhouse.

As I recall, the standard-pressure load uses a bullet with 2% antimony while the +P load uses 4%.

Yes, the Nylon coating is blue, not black. Due to misconceptions about the role of the Teflon coating on the infamous KTW ammo-piercing bullets (lubricity relative to the bore), there has been at least one incident where a law-abiding citizen was inappropriately accused of carrying armor-piercing bullets when the Nylon coating was mistaken for Teflon by an uninformed officer.

 

[.38 Special]

"I don't know anything about the subject, but I want to write a Wikipedia article on it."

Hence the essential problem with Wikipedia.

 

[230RN]

"I don't know anything about electromagnetic energy being emitted from radiating objects in quantities that seem to be discrete, but I want to write a paper on it."

--Albert Einstein, ca 1904

 

[GRB]

The NYPD routinely used Nyclad ammunition, at least at the range. I don't know if they still do. I'll have to check the ammo locker to see if I can find a box of two that I had, and maybe still have. if so, I send you some pics.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

[Right Wing Wacko]

I have a box of .38 Special NyClads in my inventory and still carry them when I carry the revolver (which isn't very often).

They have been discontinued, not just sold only to LE.

 

[Eric F]

Seems like I recall nyclad being "lead friendly" to shooters for indoor ranges as the nylon encased the lead therefore no lead particles were present on the shooter end of the range. It was just too far ahead of its time.

Nyclad ammunition features lead bullets which have a specially applied nylon coating. The coating virtually eliminates bore leading and gun fouling associated with lead bullets and reduces significantly the amount of lead particles in the air of firing ranges.

http://users.ameritech.net/colefirearms2/cole_ammo_federal_handgun_nyclad.htm

 

[c1ogden]

Nyclad was invented by S&W. As I understand it, the reason was that lead bullets, made soft enough to reliably expand, would lead up your barrel very badly.

Copper jackets were too hard so nylon was used. It protected the barrel from the soft lead but easily allowed deformation and expansion in the target.

The original load was a 125 grain .38 Special. It was called the "Chief's Special Load" and was designed to give reliable expansion from Smith's 2" revolvers. Other loads followed and the line was eventually sold to Federal.

I have a photo of the original box but I don't know how to post it here.