Reader Jason Bayne writes:
I don’t know about you, but my least favorite aspect of shooting is cleaning my guns. Anything little thing that can make cleaning them easier is always welcomed. Ammo being the main culprit, I’m always interested to hear about advances in clean-burning ammo.
Federal’s new Syntech ammunition not only uses cleaner-burning powders to reduce fouling, but the entire bullet is encased in polymer. The polymer coating reduces or eliminates copper and lead and lead deposits in your barrel.
Federal is offering two varieties of Syntech ammo in 9mm; Range and Training Match grades. Both are available in 115gr, 124gr, and 147gr loads.
When searching online, I was VERY pleased to see that it isn’t terribly expensive. I found the RANGE Syntech as low as $10.99 per box of 50 and the Training Match Syntech for $11.99 a box of 50.
The Syntech Training Match rounds are loaded to the same specs and consistency as Federal’s HST Line of personal defense ammo. So if your carry round is HST 124gr, the Training Match (purple) 124gr is the ideal training round.
The most important question is, how does it shoot? Answer: extremely well.
I took a box of 124gr Syntech Training MATCH and 115gr Syntech RANGE to the range along with what has proven to be one of my most accurate 9mm 1911 pistols; my Dan Wesson Specialist Commander.
I could have taken other Dan Wesson 9mm 1911s that I own, or even one of my Wilson Combat nines. I took the Specialist because it’s the pistol that I consistently shoot the most accurately. This is the pistol I use when I want to test new 9mm ammo.
Typical results with the Syntech 9mm 115gr RANGE ammo in my Dan Wesson Specialist Commander:
Typical results with the Syntech 9mm 124gr Training Match ammo with my Dan Wesson Specialist Commander
I’m sure some of you are wondering how the Syntech performs at distances greater than 10 yards. While I don’t consider myself to be a particularly good shot past 10 yards, I do have my moments. But that range trip wasn’t one of those moments.
My first shot was dead center at 19 yards. The next two were damn close. At that point, I started to think about what I was doing, and it fell apart. But if you have the skills, the Syntech can deliver at distance.
Now that we know Federal’s new Syntech ammo is accurate, the only remaining question is, does it run as cleanly as billed?
I had cleaned my Specialist before running the Syntech ammo through it. After 100 rounds of the Syntech, I was surprised at how little fouling there was in the slide, on the feed ramp of the barrel, and inside the barrel. So yes, the Syntech does run noticeably cleaner than any other ammo I have run in my 9mm pistols before.
The only thing worse than cleaning my firearms is cleaning my suppressors. So I bought a case of the Federal Syntech 147gr RANGE ammo to see how clean it runs suppressed. More to come.
I’m looking forward to lots of experimenting with Federal’s latest offering. If you like clean running accurate ammo (who doesn’t?), I suggest you give Syntech ammo a shot.