From:	Tarek Okail Tarek_Okail@**********.com
Subject:	OT: Ammo Myths and Black Talons
Date:	Tue, 2 Mar 1999 19:56:46 -0500

FYI--
Winchester's "Black Talon" rounds were badly named by the marketing
staff, but the principle behind the round is fairly simple.
Most Jacketed Hollow-Point bullets lose much of their mass on
impact to fragmentation. Parts of the jacket peel away and bounce off on
different vectors. Because of this effect, a JHP bullet loses much of its
energy and thus "stopping power".
The "Black Talon" round was made with a new technique for jacketing
the bullet. This allowed it to retain 90% to 100% of its jacket and thus
made it a much more efficient round. The materials used to improve the
bonding were black, and the "mushroomed" round had six sharply pointed
tips: thus "Black Talon".
The actual effect of the jacket tips is minimal to non-existent. In
the bullets I've seen, the tips were almost entirely curled under the
"head" of the "mushroom". The tracks these bullets made in gelatin are
longer and wider than more convention JHP bullets, but there was no sign of
"shredding" or "tearing".
Contrary to media reports, the "Black Talon" was not and is not a
flying buzzsaw. It is also still being sold to law-enforcement personnel.
Winchester has also come out with another bullet based on the same
techniques, and it has better performance than the "Black Talon", but a
different name and a different look. No pointed jacket tips, for one thing,
and no black coating, either.

As for the Glaser rounds, I, for one, will not use them. Not
because of their effects, which are ideal for self-defense, but rather
because they're so damn expensive. $25 for a pack of six bullets! I like to
be able to practice shooting with the ammo I use for self-defense, and at
those prices I might as well be shooting with silver bullets. Heck, the
silver bullets might be cheaper.

The whole controversy about teflon-coated bullets started when a
ballistics expert developed a special-purpose round for police use. The
idea was to take a steel or titanium jacketed bullet and add a teflon
coating to reduce barrel wear. The round's design meant that it would
penetrate car doors, engine blocks, etc.
I forget whether it was Senator Metzenbaum or Congressman Shumer
who stated publicly that this round would go through police vests.
Criminals aren't stupid, just ignorant, and the nation-wide publicity made
them aware that cops wear bullet-resistant vests. As a result, police
officer mortality went up something like 60% that year from the year
before, since criminals were now shooting at officer's heads.

Sorry for the long post, but a whole bunch of my buttons got
pushed.

Shadowmage