Not too long ago Federal Cartridge released a strange looking new ammunition line under their American Eagle brand name.
They called it SYNTECH and it looked like lipstick.
While the word polymer is not used, it is a nice synthetic coating over the lead core
The initial caliber offerings are 9MM Parabellum, 40 Smith and Wesson and 45 ACP.
These three calibers were offered in their standard weights and bullet profile. Federal sent me a supply of each of these initial offerings however today we are going to address the 230 grain 45 ACP
As expected some of the claims are no leading, easier cleanup and better velocity due to less friction. The less friction claim also adds that this will keep the firearm cooler.
The manufacturer claims a muzzle velocity of 830 FPS. This is about the standard for a round that is loaded to SAAMI pressure limits.
Well we test fired the ammunition in a variety of firearms. A LabRadar unit. These new Dopler Radar chronographs are faster to set up and easier to record data from.
All firearms were shot in 5 round strings. We went once around the group of firearms and then did a second string from each firearm. The data from the two strings was averaged.
We started with the shortest barrel on hand, an older 2 3/8″ Smith and Wesson Model 25 Behlert conversion.
The snubby revolver turned in an average MV of 711 FPS. I was not shocked by this combining the short barrel with the barrel/cylinder gap of a revolver.
OK moving on to semi autos. I had a couple of short autos with me, a Smith and Wesson 4516 along with an HK USP CT. These two pistols turned in 772 FPS and 758 FPS respectively. Since the HK was set up for a can, I decided to see what kind of numbers it would turn in. With a Osprey 45 suppressor in place, the USP 45 CT firing Syntech ammunition hit 806 FPS, a velocity gain of 6% . . . Interesting
We happened to have a full size HK USP Tactical on hand so it was also thrown into the mix.
The larger pistol turned in 746 FPS and 816 FPS without and with the suppressor. Slightly slower numbers proving once again that barrel length is not the only thing that affects muzzle velocity
The final pistol that we had on hand that afternoon was a Kimber Pro Carry.This is just a run of the mill 4″ 1911, not one of Kimber’s Custom Shop guns. The Kimber turned in 779 FPS.
If we had run the Synthec through a 5″ auto loader I am sure it would have reached the advertised velocity. However, these days most folks carry the shorter firearms
Every firearm provided good groups that were to point of aim. As the advertising told us, clean up was much faster than if we had been shooting traditional lead projectiles.
I think that they have a winner here as long as they can keep the pricing down and continue adding new offerings to the line up