Federal's Syntech .45 acp ammunition is now here in the wilds of Northeastern Illinois (but it has not yet been subjected to a Colt Defender shooting-range-shakedown session).

Lessee what we have in the (above) photo ... 200-rounds of Syntech red-ball range fodder plus the 100-rounds of Syntech blue-nose personal defense stuff plus 6-rounds of regular FMJ ball equals a bit over some / many / all of the federal, state, and local ammunition limits being proposed.  Golly ... gosh ... gee whiz ... I guess that I had better get busy and shoot more often and much faster than I have been ... thus far this year I have only burned through 442-rounds of what I already had in inventory; in many gun circles that amount of shooting would get me tagged me as a lightweight Fudd.  I'm serious; the amount of ammo that I burn in a full year is what many serious gunslingers toss downrange a couple or more times every week.

Silly ammo-limit laws solve nothing ... unless the hidden intent of is to fastrack criminalization of innocent gun owners.

How many rounds of ammunition do I have cached?  Meh, maybe only a few more than shown in the photo below ... modesty keeps me from posting a full count.   Am I a notorious liar?  Well, yeah, kinda, but no more so than any given major party politician.  Truth be told, I don't own any guns ... I just make this shit up as blog fodder.

Guns are evil.  Guns are bad.  Ban guns.  Ban boolits.  Ooorah!  Happy?  Good, now go home and let the adults continue.

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Typical (dare I say "traditional?") copper full metal jacket 230-grain ball is on the left, Syntech 230-grain ball is on the right, and Syntech 205-grain segmented hollowpoint is in the middle.  "How good doz dey choot?"  Dunno yet ... I hope to get it to the range soon.  Is Federal's synthetic jacket softer than copper?  Well, I am going to assume that it is.  I am also assuming that it MAY be easier on aluminum feed ramps.

NOTE: Nothing that I can do here would meet any measure of being "SCIENCE."  It would require serious effort and resources for anyone to conclusively say that (compared to copper jacketed bullets) use of Syntech ammo in pistols with aluminum alloy feed ramps A) Makes no difference   B) Causes less wear and tear  C) Causes more wear and tear.  This isn't as easy as climate science.

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Above is a photo (and an enlargement) showing a bit of the feed ramp of my 1998 vintage Colt Defender shortly after I purchased it a few years ago.  It was a used gun so I dunno if that shiny ramp came from the factory in that condition or if some well intentioned previous owner or gun store clerk wannabe gunsmith thought that polishing it would improve feed reliability.  Folks, I may be in the minority but it is my opinion that only factory employed smiths (or an exceptionally experienced independent smith) should be messing with a feed ramp, be it anodized aluminum, titanium, steel, integral to the frame of the pistol or on ramped barrels.  Angles and hardness are kinda critical.  IMHO (again), feed problems usually can be traced to A) magazines B) extractors C) problematic ammo design.

In short, it is possible that, at sometime between this pistol's 1998 DOB and the date when I purchased it, some or all of the anodized hardening was polished from the feed ramp.  If it was, the pistol is now down to the question of how hard (or soft) copper jackets are versus how soft (or hard) the aluminum alloy pistol frame is.

I stripped, cleaned, inspected and lubed the pistol when I first purchased it.  I set aside the pair of factory magazines and replaced them with a different brand.

6-rounds of hollowpoint ammunition were fired on this outing (click HERE)

57-rounds of ball ammunition were fired during this outing (click HERE).

I again stripped, cleaned, inspected and lubed the pistol.

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The feed cycle of semi-automatic pistols is more chaotic than most would imagine.  Computer animations depict it as a smooth chain of events.  The reality is that ammo hits feed ramps high and low, sometimes a bit left or right.  Feed ramps soak up lots of abuse.

My method for cleaning a feed ramp is via CLP on a soft cloth patch; that's it.  This photo pretty much has me convinced (it is ever possible for me to be mistaken) that somewhere along the line somebody polished the anodizing from the feed ramp, which is why I am hoping that synthetic jacketed bullets will minimize wear and tear.  I plan to shoot the living hell outta this pistol regardless; it is a gun that is still full of fun.