[detachmentcharlie]

Why did Federal stop marketing these? They do have a 105 gr. +P EFMJ round, but the 124 gr. +P seems to have fallen off the charts for current production.
Were there problems with this load? Was it an answer to a non-existant question? Or, has EFMJ ammo gone out of fashion?
The only reason I ask is that I just bought a bunch of these for my carry Sig & BHP.
Any answers? Speculation? Or, really creepy conspiracy theories (I like these best)?

 

[nelson]

If I had to venture a guess, it would be that they werent any more effective than any of the more traditional JHPs. If you go to their website, you will notice that all of them are very light for their caliber. This 105 gr 9mm, 135 gr 40S&W, 165 gr 45ACP. This tells me that it probably requires high velocities to ensure reliable expansion.

 

[BarryinIN]

They're light for their caliber because of the expanding "stuff" in them. The front end is filled with a rubber-like substance instead of lead. This is what allows the jacket to collapse/expand so easily.
Therefore, an EFMJ bullet that is the same length as an all-lead-core bullet will be lighter.

So now if you are the ammo maker, you have a decision to make:
Do I go with that, or make the bullet longer to get more lead in it and make it heavier?

But in doing that, the longer bullet will have a longer bearing surface which will increase pressure (all else being equal). Also, with a long bullet, you may have to seat it deeper bin the case to keep the OAL within limits...again, increasing pressure.

I think they tried it both ways. In the case of the 9mm, they had a 105 grain std pressure load and a 124 grain +P.

And I think that might have hurt sales. There weren't that many people interested in the idea to begin with. Subtract the people who were turned off by the light weight bullets, and others who don't like +P, and there isn't much left.

The CorBon PowRBall is probably a better way, at least from a manufacturing and load design standpoint, because it's closer to a standard bullet. In very simple terms, you take a JHP that already has a hollow cavity and drop a plastic ball in it. It probably gives them more to work with as far as weight and velocity, since it shouldn't be that much different that loading a std JHP.