I have a soft spot for whenever old methods meet new technology, as it has a way of promoting growth while keeping us rooted in our heritage. Years before the copper jacket was invented, if you wanted a tougher bullet the only means available was to blend a harder alloy. By adding tin and antimony to the pot, hunters and wilderness frontiersmen were able to mold projectiles that were better capable of penetrating dangerous game, or even thinner-skinned game at distances beyond the norm. These pills worked fine with the black powder of the day. However, the idea didn’t age well when faster-burning smokeless powder took center stage. The issue lay in velocity, as once lead passes the 1000 fps mark it starts to smear down the barrel and clog the rifling. This phenomenon is known as leading, and left unchecked it has the potential to create an overpressure event, not to mention accuracy loss. Wrapping the bullet in copper became the most popular solution, but with that came a significant weight reduction, as copper is substantially less dense. Sometime around the early 1980s, high-temp polymers started gaining legitimacy as a firearm component and eventually began to see use in bullets. While handloaders started it, Federal Ammunition popularized the practice through its Syntech products. Introduced in target loads, it expanded into a family intended for two-legged self-defense. Realizing it was leaving wilderness survival hanging, Federal has again advanced the Syntech line to include Solid Core—a catalog of handgun cartridges built to handle what could be your worst day in the woods.
The premise behind these loads is straightforward, literally. For a bullet to be effective on big game, it needs to crash through thick skin, layers of fat and possibly even bone to reach the vitals—this takes weight. Aside from lightening things up during production, copper jackets can sometimes separate from the core, leaving the terminal projectile as much as 25 percent lighter than when it left the muzzle. As handgun rounds are inherently slower than rifle rounds, that’s a substantial amount of momentum lost if this happens. The Syntech jacket replaces the copper and, in doing so, eliminates this potential failure point. Furthermore, as it is just a few shades thicker than paper, it allows the manufacturer more space to pack lead. For this component, Federal casts a special extra-hard alloy, maximizing weight for caliber, but ensuring that the resulting bullets are still compact enough to stabilize with conventional rifling twists.
The application process is similar to powder coating, which is not only incredibly even but extraordinarily cost-effective. This advantage is amplified when you consider that it’s replacing the most expensive metal used in bullet production. Additionally, it’s easier to cover the entire bullet than to leave the base exposed, so it leads to overall cleaner ammunition that is safer to use indoors. Our more seasoned readers might remember copper gas checks, which were another way of accomplishing this. However, nobody enjoyed crimping those on, or their propensity to ricochet off hard targets. Syntech takes care of all that. It also creates less friction, which means less barrel wear should you find yourself shooting the new Solid Core or any of the target-grade loads in high volume.
As a bullet cannot walk itself onto target, Federal also puts great attention on the rest of the components used in these loads. The case is drawn from its best brass before receiving a nickel-plated finish. This process staves off corrosion and smooths over any of the metal’s pores. This makes it naturally slicker, thus flowing through magazines and actions more easily. Smooth also means shiny, so ensuring you have one in the chamber is much easier during dusk or dawn as the nickel-plated case deeply contrasts with blackened gunmetal that surrounds an inspection window. It is capped with one of Federal’s ultra-reliable primers, which are characteristically soft, ensuring effortless ignition in even striker-fired pistols. Federal is also one of the only companies that seals this component in place, for an extra layer of assurance. Finally, each round is charged with a clean-burning, low-flash propellant that was selected for its ability to push the bullet to maximum speed, even when there is only a short amount of barrel to work with.
I conducted testing at 25 yards using a variety of full-sized pistols for the 9mm Luger, 10mm Auto and .45 ACP. A compact Taurus TH40C was used to test the .40 S&W because, frankly, it’s the only .40 S&W I had on hand. Although this cartridge is dying, it’s good to see that Federal remembers there are still plenty of guns out there to fire it; many are in the holsters of conservation officers.
I fired for accuracy off a sandbag rest and for function in a two-handed isosceles stance; all four pistols performed admirably in both positions. Overall accuracy was more than acceptable across the board, and every cartridge fed, fired and ejected as intended. I attribute this to their carefully designed flat points, which are widened to enhance energy transfer, but not to a degree where they collide with feed ramps. Recoil was what you’d expect for ammunition featuring heavy-for-caliber bullets loaded to maximum pressure. However, it’s far less painful to empty a mag of spicy ammo than to deal with the aftermath of a charging black bear. To that end, I omitted the ballistic test for this review, as the gel report on a bullet designed to crash through anything in its path makes for a boring read. However, factory testing determined that even the 9mm is capable of 30 inches of penetration, even when intermediate barriers are involved.
Federal’s Solid Core ammunition proved to be an excellent choice to defend yourself in uncharted territory, among other things. If something is good for dispatching game in an emergency, it’s naturally going to be just as useful for a planned event, particularly if you want to enjoy a hunt for hogs, deer or even black bear with a typical semi-auto carry gun. I’d also like to cite this as one of the best choices for archery hunters who are permitted to carry a sidearm, should something else decide it wants a piece of your recently downed game. Generations have relied on hard-cast bullets for this situation; Solid Core just makes them better.
Federal Solid Core
- federalpremium.com
- Calibers and Bullet Weights Available: 9mm Luger +P, 147-gr.; .40 S&W, 200-gr.; 10mm Auto, 200-gr.; .45 ACP +P, 240-gr.
- Bullet Type(s)/Style(s): hard-cast; flat point; Syntech jacket
- Muzzle Velocity (fps): 1120 (9mm Luger +P, 147-gr.); 1000 (.40 S&W, 200-gr.); 1200 (10mm Auto, 200-gr.); 1000 (.45 ACP +P, 240-gr.)
- Muzzle Energy (ft.-lbs.): 409 (9mm Luger +P, 147-gr.); 444 (.40 S&W, 200-gr.); 639 (10mm Auto, 200-gr.); 532 (.45 ACP +P, 240-gr.)
- Uses: medium-big game
- MSRP Per Box: $40.99-$46.99/20-rnd.
