Older Winchester Ranger RA9BA

[Tarowah]

I was looking for something for my wife and ran across half a box of bonded 9mm 124gr +P Winchester Ranger LE only ammo that I had apparently stashed away at least 9-10 years ago, I have zero memory of this ammo and noticed that the hollow point cavity is filled with what appears to be a dark gray/black epoxy, it’s not rock hard (hehehehe) and has a bit of “give” to it when I pressed on it with a micro screwdriver, I honestly don’t remember stashing it away, let alone buying it, but thought it was kind of cool.

I did a little searching on Google but couldn’t find any specific information on this style of bullet so it must not have been around very long so I figured I’d see if anyone here knows anything about it.

Here is a pic of a round of the bonded 124 +P on the box, then a pic of a 127gr +P+ & box with the typical “Ranger” bullet design and then a shot of the 124gr bonded bullet next to a “normal” Ranger bullet.

 

[ronn47]

Ranger was the replacement for the evil Black Talon ammo as I recall.

 

[Burt Gummer]

Ranger was the replacement for the evil Black Talon ammo as I recall.

Same exact bullet, just without the black coating. If you take a black talon and one of these that’s been shot in water or ballistic gel, they look exactly the same opened up.

 

[Tarowah]

Yeah I knew these are basically the same as the Black Talon bullets, when they re designed the Black Talon projectile the only real change was that Winchester removed the sharp “talons” on the expanded bullet, you can still see the “fingers” on the expanded Ranger, T-Series, PDX & the newest Ranger/PDX bullets with the polymer insert thing, but the sharp “talons” or barbs are gone.

I just don’t ever recall a bullet with the epoxy looking stuff embedded in the hollow point cavity.

 

[Amp Mangum]

You sure it isn't lead? A bad batch was released years ago without the hollow point cavity fully formed and that looks like what you have.

 

[Average Joe]

It is Winchester’s early bonded bullet. The later design appears a little different. The 147 gr bullets have a little deeper center.

Edited to add: the T series and bonded series have very different cores and the process in how they are made is also very different.

 

[Tarowah]

You sure it isn't lead? A bad batch was released years ago without the hollow point cavity fully formed and that looks like what you have.

Yeah I’m sure it isn’t lead, it has a rubbery consistency.

 

[BatteryOaksBilly]

Those are the ones that take out your lungs.....

 

[Jeppo]

Those are the ones that take out your lungs.....

So will Werewolves of London. 😉