I found a box of this ammo for sale in a bargain bin at a gun shop.

Federal Nyclad 124 grain hollow point bullet.

"Nyclad ammunition represents a breakthrough in design which provides the best performance characteristics of both jacketed and plain lead bullets. The patented nylon jacket virtually eliminates bore fouling problems and drastically reduces airborne lead contamination."

My buddy seems to think it is the predessor to the "Black Talon" ammo that he says is illegal for civilians to posess.

I'm concerned if it is illegal to posess. Anyone have any ideas?

Your buddy is full of shit, as buddies often are.

Only NJ & a few other communist states even regulate ammo at all. Most of those deal in HP ammo.

Nyclad is still made, AFAIK, albeit in very limited quantities. I'm not certain on the exact history but I believe it came out in the late 1960s, from Federal.

I wouldn't shoot it as it may be a bit of memorabilia. There's a dealer who has ads for Nyclad in Shotgun News all the time, mostly handgun calibers.

Quoted:
My buddy seems to think it is the predessor to the "Black Talon" ammo that he says is illegal for civilians to posess.


Same deal on the black talons.  Since they are not produced anymore (basically due to political pressure) its really a mute point.  They are not illegal to posess, you can own it just like those rare cases of SXT Black Talon or Ranger, you just can't purchase them at the present time.

I'm pretty sure that Federal has discontinued the Nyclad line entirely.  I think it's a shame, but they were priced pretty high and only sold in 50rd boxes so I'm sure that didn't help.  I used to use the 124gr Nyclads in my 9mm guns for defensive purposes, but have gotten away from it due to limited availability and expense.  IIRC, the last box of 50 that I bought was around $30.

The 158gr LSWC Nyclad is also a favorite of mine in full-sized .30spl revolvers.  For the 3" and under barrel length, I liked the 125gr Nyclad.

The box of 50 I have had the original price tag of $29.95 still on it. I did not pay near that much.

Nyclad ammo was originally produced by Smith and Wesson in the 1970's.  The Nyclad line was sold to Federal when S&W discontinued ammo production.  
The 9mm Nyclad was a good choice for use in the older 9mm designs, pre the "wonder-nine" evalution/revealution.  It and the old, small HP Remington could be used in Hi-Powers and early 39s/59s, etc.  This was back before ammo evolved as it has and some of the firearms mentioned were designed around ball ammo.
The state of the art, stuff during this period was Super-Vel ammo.
By no means illegal to own unless you live in a juristiction that prohibits ownership of any HP ammo, it's a part of ammunition history.
I personally always liked the standard velocity .38 Spec 125 grain Nyclad HP for short barrled revlovers, due to fairly mild recoil, with a soft lead projectile.  I keep my wife's 4" Diamondback, along with a half dozen or so speedloaders and speed strips loaded with it, because she shoots it well and does not complain about the recoil or muzzle blast.

Quoted: I personally always liked the standard velocity .38 Spec 125 grain Nyclad HP for short barrled revlovers, due to fairly mild recoil, with a soft lead projectile.

Ditto, I load all my .38s with this

Nyclad has been discontinued because bullet designs have advanced light years since Nyclad was state of the art. There are many better choices. Gold Dot and Winchester Ranger T series being two of the best.