Flat nose FMJ is no more effective than round nose. It doesn't cut, it isn't sharp, and even the wadcutters many revolver shooters advocate for a nice sharp projectile, are not cast out of hard enough alloy, so the sharp edges round off when they hit tissue and they don't end up cutting a caliber-diameter hole all the way through the wound channel.
*Lastly, your attacker is safer because he is far less likely to die from one or two hollowpoint bullets than the five or six round-nose slugs you would have had to fire to put him down. Most gunshot deaths occur from shock and loss of blood, and ball rounds tend to make entry and exit wounds, whereas hollowpoints go in and stay put. An attacker shot twice with ball ammo will probably have four holes in him rather than two, and is thus in far greater danger of death from blood loss. If you can avoid killing your attacker you should, for both moral and legal reasons....
have no doubt a .45 fmj is a manstopper. I think the benefits of jhp in .45 are diminished returns as opposed to 9mm jhp for example.
Most quality JHP will not penetrate 14" on average. Some will, but those are few. Winchester bonded JHP tend to penetrate more than non-bonded.
As to why choose JHP?
Bleeding is mostly internal. It leaks directly into the abdominal or thoracic cavities. Two holes on the outside of the body (entrance and exit) don’t translate into a greater danger of death from blood loss.
Not that I don't believe ya but I am curious now. If ya can, I'd like to see your proof.9mm FMJ creates bigger wounds than .45 ACP FMJ. Yes I can back that up if you want to see it.
I'm pretty sure that non-intended holes on the outside of your body do put you at greater risk for blood "loss". When I bang my finger with a hammer I have internal bleeding. When I poke my finger with a nail, I suffer blood loss.
I think you are trying to argue that "internal bleeding" is a more likely cause of death in a gunshot wound, not "blood loss".
However, I don't think that's supported in gunshot medical data.
Blood loss is blood lost from the circulatory system - it doesn't matter if bleeding is internal or external - its all blood loss.
Smashing your finger with a hammer causes a bruise because the blunt force trauma ruptures capillaries. Blood is lost to surrounding tissues. This is not comparable to a bullet that crushes and removes the wall of a major vessel, creating profuse internal bleeding (blood loss from the circulatory system that leaks into the thoracic and abdominal cavities of the torso). Blood loss is blood lost from the circulatory system - it doesn't matter if bleeding is internal or external - its all blood loss.
I don't think he was implying that he doesn't trust it to expand or penetrate less. I think he was just saying that the ability to expand is a nice bonus. (Though for me, that's THE reason I use JHP's in my .45ACP - the expansion)NG VI said:eb, if you don't trust your JHP to expand, why would you trust it to penetrate less?
I agree, it's all circulatory system blood loss, but I thought we were talking about a cause of death? Internal bleeding can cause death from more then simply the loss of blood from the circulatory system (the blood can compress organs and cause their dysfunction)
As ignorant as this may potentially sound
mljdeckard said:Here's why it makes a difference. Soldiers can use volume of fire and teamwork and offensive tactics to stop their targets. The rest of us can't. We need bullets that will have the highest likelihood of stopping the bad guy under the most dire of circumstances. We are much more dependent on stopping people in the absolute shortest time possible than soldiers are. A soldier can stitch a 200lb man with his rifle. If I shoot a 200lb deer, I will probably get one shot only. I need it to count. I have had plenty of first hand experience seeing the difference between large animals wounded with FMJ and JHP. there is a HUGE difference.
JHP ammo is not as magical as some people think it is. But to say that it has no significant advantage over FMJ is gibberish. If it were so ineffective, police agencies wouldn't bother to pay for it, they would just use regular target ammo. The reason we spend so much time and energy trying to make better pistol bullets better is because their low velocity (to allow controllability and compactness) makes them lousy bullets. They ALL suck. When you are fighting for your life, you need to milk every last bit of effectiveness you can get out of that bullet, because this is when it counts. You are using a pistol to defend yourself, because you are in the absolute worst kind of trouble, and it's the only tool you have. It's a bad idea to tell yourself that the 'lesser' bullets are 'good enough', because NONE of them are.