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Black oxide finish helps ammo maker stand out from the crowd.

Cleveland, OH – When it comes to a discussion about small caliber ammunition, nothing seems to arouse controversy like the name, "Black Talon®." Even non gun owners seem to recall this 1990's Olin-Winchester brand, primarily because of its undeserved reputation as a "cop killer" bullet.

The Black Talon was a handsome (some thought sinister looking) black jacketed hollow point round encased in a nickel plated cartridge. It was popular with police as a defensive round just as it was with criminals and law abiding gun owners.

It was not an armor piercing round as some claimed; and it did not penetrate body armor. But for a variety of reasons, including some law suits and much negative publicity, Winchester discontinued the brand in 2000.

Many thought the Black Talon was Teflon® coated when, in fact, it was black oxided. Cleveland Black Oxide was a primary supplier of Black Talons and still supplies a variety black oxide coated rifle bullets to Olin-Winchester as well as to a relative newcomer to the ammunitions industry, Crossfire Ammunition.

Somewhere between the large commercial manufacturers like Winchester and small reloaders, resides the niche ammo manufacturer. Crossfire Ammunition in Akron, OH sells primarily to gun shops, ranges, firearms instructors and through its website, crossfireammunition.com.

Owner, Milo Abercrombie, was searching for a way to differentiate Crossfire ammo from the competition, when he noticed a Cleveland Black Oxide truck zooming down the interstate.  Grabbing his cell phone Milo called the number on the truck and reached Richard Tatham, VP Sales, who when asked if his company had any experience with ammunition, said, "a little … just a few million rounds for Winchester."

With credentials firmly established, Abercrombie and the folks at Cleveland Black Oxide began work on perfecting the process of black oxiding bullets and cartridge cases for the various calibers that Crossfire manufactures.

Through the efforts of Ken Schulz, Vice President of R&D, Cleveland Black Oxide, with its unique in-house ability to modify its chemical bath ratios, was able to adjust the bath make up and the related dwell times to achieve the end result Crossfire was seeking.  
 
Cleveland Black Oxide has built its reputation on pursuing unique applications and by its willingness to think outside the traditional "black oxide box."  Schulz explains: "The benefits of black oxide are unique in the plating industry and provide new opportunities for us as the market place learns more about the black oxide process."

Black oxide is not a coating. It is a surface conversion process that applies a uniform consistent black color to metallic parts without altering their dimensions. Carbon, alloy and stainless steels, brass, bronze, copper cast zinc and cast iron can all be black oxided. 

For Crossfire, black oxide gives their ammunition more than just a unique appearance, it has other useful properties for the shooter:

• It does not increase diameter of bullet
• It does not harm the gun barrel
• It reduces barrel fouling
• It does not tarnish; rounds can be left in the gun indefinitely
• Reloaders can easily spot and pick-up their empty cases at the range

As a niche player, Crossfire can offer shooters better consistency and accuracy than the big manufacturers, as well as the ability to tailor loads for specific ballistic performance.

Abercrombie has developed what he believes is a first in factory loaded ammo: Ballistics Matched Ammunition. Usually, practice rounds shot at the range do not perform the same balllistically as personal defense ammo. Bullet profile, powder and seating depth are different, and rounds usually do not group the same way, especially at longer distances.

The idea with Crossfire Ballistics Matched Ammo is that the shooter does not have to change the point of aim to achieve the same point of impact. The black oxide finish does not alter ballistics performance at all. Ballistics Matched Ammunition will group the same whether hollow point or full metal jacket. In fact a package of 20 may be sold with 8-hollow points and 12-full metal jacketed rounds in the same box.
Apart from ammunition, Cleveland Black Oxide sees a lot of unusual products come through the shop including the famous "Slinky" toy, "Robogrip" pliers, large decorative panels for architectural use, chain maille for Hollywood movie costumes as well as the run-of-the-mill fasteners, auto parts, and industrial products.

The company boasts that it has the largest part handling tanks in the industry — 17-ft. tanks for steel parts, and 8-ft. for stainless steel. The in-shop part handling equipment can accommodate anything from one-off specials to huge automotive volumes. Cleveland Black Oxide processes over 8-million pounds of carbon, alloy, stainless steels, brass, bronze, copper cast zinc and cast iron each year.

For more information on black oxide finishes, visit
www.clevelandblackoxide.com.

For more information about Crossfire Ammunition, visit
www.crossfireammunition.com.

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