[Review] Federal Syntech Action Pistol
For years, there have only been a few options for target and action shooters from the 3-Gun, USPSA, IDPA, and Steel Challenge worlds: run factory ammo and deal with the recoil, purchase expensive ammunition from a boutique retailer, or load your own ammunition. As a busy father and business owner, reloading seemed too time-consuming and factory loads were out of the question, which led me to buy expensive boutique ammunition—much to my pocketbook’s chagrin. Enter Federal Syntech Action Pistol.
According to Federal, “shooters who compete at the highest levels need ammunition built for the demands of their discipline. Syntech® Action Pistol is specifically designed for the action shooting sports and loaded to power factor requirements with heavy, flatter-nosed bullets for more reliable knock-downs on steel targets in competition... The exclusive Total Synthetic Jacket (TSJ™)...prevents metal-on-metal contact between the bullet and barrel, eliminating copper and lead fouling as well as reducing damaging heat and friction. Combined with clean-burning powders and the Catalyst™ lead-free primer, Syntech Action Pistol provides the softest-shooting and most reliable performance possible for high-volume competitive shooters.” Given all that, it was worth a shot (pun intended), so I purchased 250 rounds of 9mm 150gr gamer loads from Arnzen for $12.95 a box—which is just a $1.00 more than my go-to Blazer 124gr—and headed to the largest 3-gun match in Minnesota, the Nordic / Vortex Tri-gun.
My first impression was excellent. The loads ran smoothly and only impacted a touch lower than the ORM Tech Ammunition 147gr ($21.95 per box) that I favor for major matches. I had zero malfunctions in my Atlas Gunworks Titan 2011 and was incredibly pleased with the consistency of the load across all five boxes. So far, so good.
After the match, I took my gun down and was really surprised at how clean it was. Coated bullets are “known” for being dirtier than their jacketed brothers and I expected a filthy mess. I would place the Syntech squarely between range ammo from Blazer and my ORM Tech Powerpuff loads for dirtiness. When I shoot ORM, my 2011s will go 500 rounds and still look like I just cleaned them, but at nearly twice the cost, I think I can handle a little extra spit-and-polish time.
All in all, I am extremely happy with the performance and the cleanliness of the Syntech Action Pistol 150gr 9mm loads. I’ve already adopted them as my go-to burner 9mm for local and weekend matches. It remains to be seen whether I stop buying boutique ammo, but I would gladly recommend these loads to anyone coming through the shop looking for a soft-shooting, clean-burning target load for competition or target practice.
