In iine with the posters who did Testing

[Skeet 028]

I have often wondered if anyone did significant real life testing on Winchster Black Talon Ammo. Serious testing...not the Oh it's the most dangerous ammo for cops things. Especially in 9mm. I know they made it in others. I have a fellow that buys all I can find for premium prices. Kind of uh in my opinion. Was it what they considered +P?

 

[CALREB]

Well I am sure they probably loaded that bullet design in a +p round. My dept carried that round for years in a 147 gr subsonic as WW's SXT round, first in a brass case with the black lubalox? coating and when that became politically unacceptable, as Ranger SXT with no coating in a nickel case. I think they changed the HP/ meplat a bit right as I retired in 86, and perhaps fewer petals. We always did our own testing, gel, other materials, clothing barriers etc. WW RA9T as it's called now always passed all the penetration, weight retention, expansion requirements we had. Pretty much the same as the Feds testing. I will also say it is very dependable and extremely accurate ammo in the 147 weight we carried.

Several times we received calls in the armory for the booking section for people in possession of the "LAW Enforcement Ammunition" as it said on the box. Good marketing by WW. The old Nyclad or any teflon coated bullet was illegal in LA due to its vest penetrating qualities. Don't know how long that law held up. As with all handgun rounds it's always a tradeoff. I liked having more ammo, that was very accurate and tended to bite into bones etc. instead of bouncing off.

 

[nyeti]

We had good performance from Black Talon and its SXT replacement in particular. The revolver versions were also very good as they were hunting rounds and heavy for caliber. There is better stuff out currently but I had zero issues with SXT in both 147 gr. 9mm and 230gr .45. I did a lot of first hand Officer involved shootings with it as well as the subsequent autopsies on the fatal ones.

 

[Doug M.]

Hah! Just went to the linked website and saw the "Bad Santa" patch made me laugh. One of our now retired detectives called me "Angry Santa" when I grew a beard. On a more serious note, looks like a decent resource for the revolver fan, which one might expect considering the source.

 

[chief38]

Back when it was introduced and pretty popular, I tried testing it but had so many reliability issues with it jamming and hanging up I got frustrated and stopped. I sold the remaining 10 boxes I had and that was that. I got more than double what I had paid for it. BTW, I also tried it in a friends 1911 with no better results than in my 1911. I decided right then and there I wanted no part of it. IMHO, it was more hype than anything spectacular.

The Black Talon was nothing special however its black color and case slits did make it look "sinister" and was waged war against by the gun hating media. Winchester stopped production of the "Black Talon", waited a brief period of time and came out with almost the identical loading but called it something else. If I recall correctly, they even changed the color, however it was still a disguised Black Talon. That said, once the reality that the loading was nothing revolutionary, demand waned and I guess the media felt good about torpedoing it - even though it was still available as a different name.

I had read a few test result articles years back and from what I remember, although it may have been a good "concept" for its time, it never paned out to be anything revolutionary. Today there are many modern bullets that are way better than the Black Talon.