Black Talon
Encyclopedia
Black Talon is a type of ammunition
that was introduced by Winchester Ammunition in 1991 primarily for law enforcement and self-defense. This hollow-point ammunition became known for its bullet's unique construction and sharp petal shape after expansion following impact with tissue or other wet media. Black Talon ammunition was produced in the following calibers: 9mm Luger, 10mm Auto, .40 S&W
, .45 ACP
, .357 Magnum
, .44 Magnum
, .300 Winchester Magnum
, .308 Winchester
, .338 Winchester Magnum
, and .30-06 Springfield
.
is a jacketed hollow-point bullet with perforations designed to expose sharp edges upon expansion. The bullet included a Lubalox coating, a proprietary oxide process. Though widely misreported to be Teflon, molybdenum disulfide
, or wax, the ammo has an unusual black appearance compared to other copper-jacketed or lead bullets. The black appearance was due to the oxidized copper jacket. This Lubalox coating was to protect the barrel rifling
, and did not give the bullet armor-piercing capabilities. This coating is still widely used on many of Winchester's rifle bullets today.
The bullet was designed in 1991 under the supervision of Alan Corzine, who at that time was VP of research and development for Winchester. The round quickly developed a reputation as a very effective expanding bullet. The alleged armor-piercing notion is urban legend, and was a result of media hyperbole—rather than test or field data from actual shootings considering the short time it was on the market. Col Leonard J. Supenski of the Baltimore County police department said "It has the stopping power
that police officers need and it is less likely to ricochet or go through the bad guy," something that could be said of any reliably expanding hollow-point. Despite its unique design, the Black Talon was found to be comparable in performance to conventional hollow-points. Black Talon pistol loads are not loaded to higher working pressures or higher velocities "+P" loadings for like and different calibers.
The first shooting which brought critical media attention to Black Talon was by Gian Luigi Ferri, who used Black Talon and other ammunition to shoot 15 people at a San Francisco law office in 1993; nine of whom died. Dr. Boyd Stevens, the San Francisco Medical Examiner who performed the autopsies, later reported at the 1994 International Wound Ballistics Association's conference in Sacramento that the wound trauma caused by Black Talons was unremarkable and that all victims died due to penetration of a vital structure.
The rifle version did not share the handgun bullet's barbed petal design and was basically a solid copper hollow-point with a hollowed out rear shank containing a lead core in a steel liner to prevent jacket rupture thus maintaining necessary penetration in tough game. This ammunition line was renamed Fail Safe.
The ammunition was used by the gunman of the 1993 Long Island Railroad mass murder. In 1996 a lawsuit was subsequently filed by one of the victim's family members (McCarthy v. Sturm, Ruger and Co., Inc., 916 F.Supp. 366 (S.D.N.Y., 1996)) claiming that Olin Corp. should be liable for the shooting spree based on the design, manufacture, marketing, and sale of Black Talon ammunition. The claims against Olin were dismissed because it was held that the bullets were not defectively designed.
In 1993 Winchester removed the ammunition from public sale, and eventually law enforcement began using the re-branded Ranger SXT line of the same basic design, but at no time was Black Talon ammunition illegal to possess.
were altered to enhance reliability of expansion, though the basic "reverse taper" design unique to the Black Talon was retained. This "reverse taper" refers to the bullet's jacket being thicker at the tip than toward the base, enhancing rigidity which allows the sharp petals to remain largely perpendicular to the wound path, unlike traditional designs where the expanding jacket petals would peel back almost completely behind the expanded lead mushroom. This difference is obvious after firing into ballistic gelatin
.
In 2007 Winchester updated their Ranger SXT line and renamed it Ranger T-Series. Besides further dimensional changes to the hollow point for reliable expansion, the trademark perpendicular petals were made longer yet more rounded at the tips to retain stiffness.
PDX1 cartridge is the primary service ammunition of the FBI
. The PDX1 series is also available for purchase by civilian shooters. Further, there is no law that prohibits civilians from buying ammunition marked "Law Enforcement", which some of the Ranger line has printed on the box (as do other lines of ammunition).
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
that was introduced by Winchester Ammunition in 1991 primarily for law enforcement and self-defense. This hollow-point ammunition became known for its bullet's unique construction and sharp petal shape after expansion following impact with tissue or other wet media. Black Talon ammunition was produced in the following calibers: 9mm Luger, 10mm Auto, .40 S&W
.40 S&W
The .40 S&W is a rimless pistol cartridge developed jointly by major American firearms manufacturers Winchester and Smith & Wesson. The .40 S&W was developed from the ground up as a law enforcement cartridge designed to duplicate performance of the FBI's reduced velocity 10mm cartridge which could...
, .45 ACP
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP , also known as the .45 Auto by C.I.P., is a cartridge designed by John Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic .45 pistol and eventually the M1911 pistol adopted by the United States Army in 1911.-Design and history:The U.S...
, .357 Magnum
.357 Magnum
The .357 S&W Magnum , or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
, .44 Magnum
.44 Magnum
The .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
, .300 Winchester Magnum
.300 Winchester Magnum
The .300 Winchester Magnum is a popular, belted, bottlenecked magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963 as a member of the family of Winchester Magnum cartridges. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a magnum cartridge designed to fit in a standard length...
, .308 Winchester
.308 Winchester
The .308 Winchester is a rifle cartridge and is the commercial cartridge upon which the military 7.62x51mm NATO centerfire cartridge is based. The .308 Winchester was introduced in 1952, two years prior to the NATO adoption of the 7.62x51mm NATO T65...
, .338 Winchester Magnum
.338 Winchester Magnum
The .338 Winchester Magnum is a .33 caliber belted rimless bottlenecked cartridge introduced in 1958 by Winchester Repeating Arms Company|Winchester. It is based on the blown out, shortened .375 H&H Magnum. The .33 is the caliber at which medium bore cartridges are considered to begin...
, and .30-06 Springfield
.30-06 Springfield
The .30-06 Springfield cartridge or 7.62×63mm in metric notation, was introduced to the United States Army in 1906 and standardized, and was in use until the 1960s and early 1970s. It replaced the .30-03, 6 mm Lee Navy, and .30 US Army...
.
Overview
The Black Talon handgun bulletBullet
A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...
is a jacketed hollow-point bullet with perforations designed to expose sharp edges upon expansion. The bullet included a Lubalox coating, a proprietary oxide process. Though widely misreported to be Teflon, molybdenum disulfide
Molybdenum disulfide
Molybdenum disulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula MoS2. This black crystalline sulfide of molybdenum occurs as the mineral molybdenite. It is the principal ore from which molybdenum metal is extracted. The natural amorphous form is known as the rarer mineral jordisite. MoS2 is less...
, or wax, the ammo has an unusual black appearance compared to other copper-jacketed or lead bullets. The black appearance was due to the oxidized copper jacket. This Lubalox coating was to protect the barrel rifling
Rifling
Rifling is the process of making helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis...
, and did not give the bullet armor-piercing capabilities. This coating is still widely used on many of Winchester's rifle bullets today.
The bullet was designed in 1991 under the supervision of Alan Corzine, who at that time was VP of research and development for Winchester. The round quickly developed a reputation as a very effective expanding bullet. The alleged armor-piercing notion is urban legend, and was a result of media hyperbole—rather than test or field data from actual shootings considering the short time it was on the market. Col Leonard J. Supenski of the Baltimore County police department said "It has the stopping power
Stopping power
Stopping power is a colloquial term used to describe the ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause a penetrating ballistic injury to a target, human or animal, sufficient to incapacitate the target where it stands....
that police officers need and it is less likely to ricochet or go through the bad guy," something that could be said of any reliably expanding hollow-point. Despite its unique design, the Black Talon was found to be comparable in performance to conventional hollow-points. Black Talon pistol loads are not loaded to higher working pressures or higher velocities "+P" loadings for like and different calibers.
The first shooting which brought critical media attention to Black Talon was by Gian Luigi Ferri, who used Black Talon and other ammunition to shoot 15 people at a San Francisco law office in 1993; nine of whom died. Dr. Boyd Stevens, the San Francisco Medical Examiner who performed the autopsies, later reported at the 1994 International Wound Ballistics Association's conference in Sacramento that the wound trauma caused by Black Talons was unremarkable and that all victims died due to penetration of a vital structure.
The rifle version did not share the handgun bullet's barbed petal design and was basically a solid copper hollow-point with a hollowed out rear shank containing a lead core in a steel liner to prevent jacket rupture thus maintaining necessary penetration in tough game. This ammunition line was renamed Fail Safe.
Response
The ammunition was targeted by those opposed to civilian ownership of handguns. Some medical personnel were concerned that the sharp barb like tips could potentially cause tears in the surgical gloves and hands of the medical workers, exposing them to greater risk of infection, however there are no documented reports of this actually happening. Most jacketed bullet designs that expand expose sharp edges or corners, yet this had not been raised as an issue by any medical group previously.The ammunition was used by the gunman of the 1993 Long Island Railroad mass murder. In 1996 a lawsuit was subsequently filed by one of the victim's family members (McCarthy v. Sturm, Ruger and Co., Inc., 916 F.Supp. 366 (S.D.N.Y., 1996)) claiming that Olin Corp. should be liable for the shooting spree based on the design, manufacture, marketing, and sale of Black Talon ammunition. The claims against Olin were dismissed because it was held that the bullets were not defectively designed.
In 1993 Winchester removed the ammunition from public sale, and eventually law enforcement began using the re-branded Ranger SXT line of the same basic design, but at no time was Black Talon ammunition illegal to possess.
Current status
Winchester discontinued the Black Talon line completely in 2000. The “Ranger SXT” ammunition sold later by Winchester is very similar to the Black Talon though without the black Lubalox coating on the bullet. Among shooters, a running joke is that SXT stands for “Same eXact Thing", though the official branding is “Supreme eXpansion Technology”. However, there are differences in the anatomy of the bullets which become apparent when carefully examined side by side. The hollow point cavity dimensions and angles of the meplatMeplat
Meplat, from a French term for a flat surface, is the technical term for the tip or nose of a bullet. The shape of the meplat is important when determining how the bullet will move through the air. If uneven, the bullet will not have an ideal flight characteristic and will most likely not be of the...
were altered to enhance reliability of expansion, though the basic "reverse taper" design unique to the Black Talon was retained. This "reverse taper" refers to the bullet's jacket being thicker at the tip than toward the base, enhancing rigidity which allows the sharp petals to remain largely perpendicular to the wound path, unlike traditional designs where the expanding jacket petals would peel back almost completely behind the expanded lead mushroom. This difference is obvious after firing into ballistic gelatin
Ballistic gelatin
Ballistic Gelatin is a testing medium scientifically correlated to swine muscle tissue , in which the effects of bullet wounds can be simulated. It was developed and improved by Martin Fackler and others in the field of wound ballistics. Ballistic gelatin is a solution of gelatin powder in water...
.
In 2007 Winchester updated their Ranger SXT line and renamed it Ranger T-Series. Besides further dimensional changes to the hollow point for reliable expansion, the trademark perpendicular petals were made longer yet more rounded at the tips to retain stiffness.
PDX1
In 2009 Winchester-Olin released a new hollow point bullet in its Supreme Elite line of handgun ammunition called the Bonded PDX1. It is similar to the Ranger SXT series and, therefore, the older Black Talon line in its structure, and is available in several calibers and loadings. The most obvious difference from the SXT is that the bonded design, meant to maintain structural integrity through difficult intermediate barriers like auto-glass, largely prevents the sharp petals from peeling away from the lead core and fully protruding into the wound track. The .40 S&W.40 S&W
The .40 S&W is a rimless pistol cartridge developed jointly by major American firearms manufacturers Winchester and Smith & Wesson. The .40 S&W was developed from the ground up as a law enforcement cartridge designed to duplicate performance of the FBI's reduced velocity 10mm cartridge which could...
PDX1 cartridge is the primary service ammunition of the FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
. The PDX1 series is also available for purchase by civilian shooters. Further, there is no law that prohibits civilians from buying ammunition marked "Law Enforcement", which some of the Ranger line has printed on the box (as do other lines of ammunition).
See also
- Full metal jacket bulletFull metal jacket bulletA full metal jacket is a bullet consisting of a soft core encased in a shell of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel or less commonly a steel alloy. This shell can extend around all of the bullet, or often just the front and sides with the rear left as exposed lead...
- Soft point bulletSoft point bulletA soft-point bullet , also known as a soft-nosed bullet, is a lead expanding bullet with a copper or brass jacket that is left open at the tip, exposing some of the lead inside and is thus an example of a semi-jacketed round...
- Terminal ballisticsTerminal ballisticsTerminal ballistics, a sub-field of ballistics, is the study of the behavior of a projectile when it hits its target. It is often referred to as stopping power when dealing with human or other living targets. Terminal ballistics is relevant both for small caliber projectiles as well as for large...
- Jacketed hollow point