Nyclad

[Venom6]

Rock Creek was a manufacturer and distributor of law enforcement equipment, such as handcuffs and tear gas launchers and gas munitions. S&W bought them in the early 70's.
The rumor about Nyclad's discontinuance was that after firing, the nylon "jacket" would fill back into the grooves, making it impossible to match the bullet to the gun that fired it. Don't know if that's actually true.

 

[DARE]

colt saa,
My dad died in 1992. Not sure when he quit working for AFI. Here is a letter to my dad from Roy Jinks in 1978.
What years did you work for them?

 

[usedkid]

Rock Creek was a manufacturer and distributor of law enforcement equipment, such as handcuffs and tear gas launchers and gas munitions. S&W bought them in the early 70's.
The rumor about Nyclad's discontinuance was that after firing, the nylon "jacket" would fill back into the grooves, making it impossible to match the bullet to the gun that fired it. Don't know if that's actually true.

That was true for the very very early production and was quickly reformulated to hold the lands and groove markings like conventional bullets…

 

[rwsmith]

This might be just the thing....

...for people that want to run backwards wadcutters in their guns. But, if they perfected the Nyclads as a defensive round, people would still want to use backwards wadcutter in their guns.

 

[schutz5]

I bought several cases of Nyclad 158g .38 sp including some +P back around 1983.
The boxes look like OP's..
I still have a case to go through.
Semi wad cutters,I believe.
It's good stuff!

 

[chief38]

While the SWC Nyclad round is probably a step up from the 158 grain RNL, it is really not a spectacular SD round compared to modern ammo. I suppose back in the day it was sought after as an improvement, but today there are much better choices IMHO.

If purchasing for nostalgia (they are neat looking), I understand but IMHO it is now nothing special as a SD cartridge.

 

[Glynn863]

Another urban legend I heard about the Nyclad discontinuance was that they could defeat standard bulletproof vests.

 

[kscharlie]

Not sure when I purchased the Federal Nyclad, but it was likely 10 or so years ago. The 642 was purchased in 2010, so I know it was some time after that. I still have 2 1/2 boxes of it. Federal re-introduced the Nyclad 125gr. HP in .38 Spl. at the 2009 Shot Show.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Another urban legend I heard about the Nyclad discontinuance was that they could defeat standard bulletproof vests.

This piece of male bovine feces was handcrafted by newspaper people who confused the nylon coating of S&W's ammo with the Teflon coating of KTW. The Teflon coating of KTW was purely to protect the bore. KTW WAS a vest-killer, AFAIK primarily because of the velocity, and the use of a very hard bullet which would not deform at that velocity.

At that time, use of soft body armor by police was not well known. After these "journalists" publicized it, the incidence of head shots against police went up considerably. Cop-killer journalists? Yes. Cop-killer bullets by S&W and Federal? No.

 

[Walter Rego]

I still have a partial box of the Federal Nyclad .38+P 158 grain LSWCHP "FBI Loads".
They are very accurate in my Colt Detective Special and quite controllable. In my S&W Model 640 they are a bit more stout feeling and less easy to shoot well. I know that better self defense rounds have become available since the 1980's but I would have no problem carrying these.

 

[Tex1001]

This piece of male bovine feces was handcrafted by newspaper people who confused the nylon coating of S&W's ammo with the Teflon coating of KTW.

Early Nyclad projectiles were black, like the KTWs. This is how
the urban legend got started.
Later production was blue. Neither would penetrate.
I still have a couple of boxes of each.

 

[rwsmith]

I point to this...

This piece of male bovine feces was handcrafted by newspaper people who confused the nylon coating of S&W's ammo with the Teflon coating of KTW. The Teflon coating of KTW was purely to protect the bore. KTW WAS a vest-killer, AFAIK primarily because of the velocity, and the use of a very hard bullet which would not deform at that velocity.

At that time, use of soft body armor by police was not well known. After these "journalists" publicized it, the incidence of head shots against police went up considerably. Cop-killer journalists? Yes. Cop-killer bullets by S&W and Federal? No.

Off topic, but I point to this to question people who used to lube their bullets with moly who said that the lubricant actually made their loads run SLOWER. Their 'reasoning' was that "It gets out of the barrel quicker so pressure doesn't build up as much". If it gets out of the barrel quicker it IS going FASTER. At least to my reasoning.

PS I got back into shooting in the middle of the 'moly' craze. I almost jumped on the bandwagon, until I read and thought about it. I'm glad I never touched the stuff.

 

[DARE]

Found a box of the Federal Nyclad. Also found a couple of rounds of the S&W Hollow Points. Pic of the Federal and the S&W rounds. The S&W has the classic SWC profile.

 

[STORMINORMAN]

Mine (all that is left) is all Federal 9mm in nickel cases.. Still shoots great!

Cheers!

 

[AJ]

Another urban legend I heard about the Nyclad discontinuance was that they could defeat standard bulletproof vests.

I had thought about that at my first look at this post. It sort of reminds me of the old KTW ammo, but not spire pointed as the KTW was. Still have a round or two of the KTW somewhere in this mess.

 

[Green Frog]

I still have most of a box of the Federal made 38 Spl +P with the blue Nyclad HP bullet and nickel cases. They are my reserve ammo for social work in the Model 60-4. I’d sure love to find a couple more boxes, S&W or Federal, either would be fine!
Froggie

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Early Nyclad projectiles were black, like the KTWs. . . .

Interesting. The KTWs that I have seen were greenish. Have you seen any of those?

 

[AJ]

Early Nyclad projectiles were black, like the KTWs. This is how
the urban legend got started.
Later production was blue. Neither would penetrate.
I still have a couple of boxes of each.

Interesting. The KTWs that I have seen were greenish. Have you seen any of those?

The ones that I had were green teflon coated. I believe the projectile was tungsten cored.

 

[colt_saa]

colt saa,
My dad died in 1992. Not sure when he quit working for AFI. Here is a letter to my dad from Roy Jinks in 1978.
What years did you work for them?

It is close. I think that first SHOT Show I attended was in 1990. Now I have to find my old Show notes. With the max of a 2 year overlap I may not have interacted with your Dad much if at all

I only remember the year because Hogue had the very first wood grip for the third gens on display. Brazillion Rosewood on a 4506, beautiful piece of wood. Guy Hogue gave me that set of grips as we were tearing down the booth.

I got the 1006 from S&W that same Show and that was how I did the 10MM review, wearing those grips

I first Met Roy at that 1990 show, I am pretty sure he was Captain of the Factory's Shooting Team back then. His passion was always contagious. I have enjoyed every interaction we have had over the decades

Sorry to you other guys in the thread, probably should have taken the drift Private

 

[Glenn R. McMannly]

The Nyclad (nylon clad) was a good bullet.