I went shooting with the retired fireman on Monday. He ran out of ammo for his .45 and I had plenty since I forgot to pack my 1911. He replaced the box today (the kind of gesture common to desirable friends) with Federal 230 gr ball, brass case like I always preach about. I haven't bought ammo in a dozen years as I laid in a large stash with a 4 figure $ bonus check late in my pharma career. Looking at the packaging there is a warning on the side "Do not use in firearms with ported barrels or ported recoil compensators." This is equal to standard ball ammo including the ballistics info. The only difference I can see is smaller primers. So what is the problem? Is the powder toxic now? Have "they" succeeded in adding "taggants" to identify what manufacturer made the powder, ostensibly to solve crimes? Does it now have a blinding flash? I know I should not be so curious about things that really don't affect my life. I should know better than ask questions, but at 65 I'm more curious about stuff than I was 40 years ago. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

I've never seen that. I have a ported 325, so I'll stay tuned to see if somebody knows what that's about.

I'm sure the company lawyer had his say when the ammo box was printed. They didn't want to have any liability laws suits over people being struck by anything coming from the ports on the gun barrel. Putting a warning about wearing shooting glasses would made more sense but I guess they just wanted to be "super-safe."

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Bill

To the best of my recollection, the warning not to use ammunition through a gun with a ported barrel originated with using lead bullets in Glocks with ported barrels so as not to clog the slots. Why such a warning is on a box of ball ammunition is beyond me. If you can't use lead bullets or hard ball in a ported pistol, what are you supposed to use?

That Federal ammunition is probably loaded with Speer Uni-Core (plated) bullets. Warnings against using plated types of bullets, and lead too for that matter, in ported or compensated barrels are common.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

Like Alk said, it sounds like Federal Champion and not Federal American Eagle. Federal Champion is usually the same as CCI Blazer Brass and has a plated bullet instead of jacketed. Does the headstamp have just F C or are there two dots on it like . F C . ?
The headstamp with the dots was made with a bunter at the CCI plant. Federal, CCI, and Speer are all owned by the same parent company, Vista Outdoors.

When in doubt ...ask Federal. They manufactured the ammo and would best know why the warning is on the box.
The plated projectile sounds reasonable , but is a guess at best.
Gary

Federal Champion. Headstamp= .FEDERAL. 45 AUTO. Box end reads: "45AUTO 230 gr FMJ RN." Small script also: "WM5233" Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

A lot of recent ammo that I bought says this. I believe it's because a ported or compensated gun requires more than standard pressure in order to run them.

And when you ask Federal about this also ask them if it applies to revolvers.
I kind of understand the cast bullet admonition but plated not so sure.
The only by-product of shooting cast in my 4" ported 44 magnum is a light
deposit of lead above the ports on sides of the front sight ramp.
Never noticed anything unusual about shooting plated bullets (at modest velocity).

Attached Images

PortedLeadDeposit.jpg (67.5 KB, 54 views)

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NEMO
"Everything 44"

If you research this on the internet, you will find the reason is more of a liability issue. The ammo marked " Do Not Use In Ported or compensated Barrels" is a Plated Bullet and can sheer off a portion of the plating when it passes the ports. These can be thrown back into the shooters face!
Most ammo makers are going to FMC, as opposed to FMJ as it is considerably lower in cost to produce.

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It's The Carbonaro Effect!