Anyone carry FMJ's

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p4+riot

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I was at the gun shop the other day and was
talking to the guy behind the counter. I asked him
what he was carrying and he pulled out his 1911 loaded
with FMJ's.

I have always thought that it was a bad idea to
use those for self defense as they can overpenetrate.

It got me thinking though, maybe it's a good idea to
have atleast one full mag of FMJ's on standby in case
I need something that will penetrate. Perhaps the bad
guy is hiding behind a car or something.

Anyone else keeping some FMJ's on hand just in case?
 
If I carry anything smaller than a .45 (Which is rare) I carry +P fmj's, usually flat nosed. I think under penetration is far more likely than over penetration. Especially in a normally short barreled CCW. Not to mention cutting down on feeding issues. Even with my .45 I keep an extra mag of fmj's handy. (Glove compartment, usually)
 
If the bad guy is hiding in a car - that's my opportunity to put some serious distance between me and them. I am not a LEO and I do not have any duty to shoot at anything that isn't an immediate threat to me.

I carry bonded JHPs, that give decent penetration and expansion simultaneously.
 
I often carry FMJ, especially is smaller calibers. I want penetration, and am more worried about too little, then too much. I may have to reach out and touch someone that's behind cover, or the bullet may have to penetrate at a longer angle. The chances of hitting someone behind my intended target are highly remote, but if that is a factor I'll hold my fire.

Also some pistols feed hardball more reliably - possibly because the gun was designed around them. :scrutiny:
 
I got with Fluff on this one... FMJs are reliable all the time, especially round nose. In a def gun I have an order of item I need;
I want ultra reliability, then power, then speed/handling.

Give me 9mm fmj or 45fmj anyday. I like JHPs, but the must be proven reliable to me .... 500rds without a hiccup and I have only had that happen in one gun, one time.
 
I am the opposite of most people who posted so far. I would only consider carrying FMJ's in a 45 because i would not be worried about over penetration. But when I carry my 9mm, I will always carry HP's because the 9mm will over penetrate with FMJ's.

I carry HP's in both, but does my thinking make sense? I have been wrong before so let me know and please explain.
 
The chances of hitting someone behind my intended target are highly remote, but if that is a factor I'll hold my fire.
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Those "chances" weren't all that "remote" for the NYPD which had a SERIOUS problem with overpenetration and woundings and deaths of bystanders. It's what finally pushed them over the edge to authorizing JHPs.

There was recently a well publicized self-defense shooting at an Akron pizza shop. The store owner shot the hold up man with a 9x19mm pistol loaded with FMJs. A number of his shots were through and throughs which left deep dents in a steel door in front of which the robber was standing. If that door hadn't been there, there's no telling where those bullets would have gone.

I'll cheerfully justify shooting a guy with a sawed off shotgun, trying to rob me. I CAN'T justify shooting through that robber and killing a toddler, out of sight, twenty feet away. There's no such thing as a "justifiable accidental shooting". It's almost certain I wouldn't go to jail. It's almost equally certain that I'd be sued and lose.

A choice between endangering bystanders or being passively shot by an assailant is, for me anyway, an unacceptable one.
 
I alternate FMJ and JHP in every mag for every handgun I own.

The first round out is a FMJ and the second is a JHP and so on.

This way I don't have to worry about penetration vs expansion. It's the best of both worlds as they say.

;)
 
I often carry FMJ, especially is smaller calibers.
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Fuff brings up a good point that I glossed over in my reply. I normally carry 9x19 or 40S&W or 45ACP, and in those chamberings I do not carry ball ammo. But I only carry FMJ in my mouseguns, since those chamberings aren't powerful enough to guarantee 12" of penetration using a HP bullet design.
 
This way I don't have to worry about penetration vs expansion. It's the best of both worlds as they say.
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Hitting grandma standing behind my assailant three times instead of six doesn't have any benefits that I can think of.

If I find myself in Afghanistan, shooting two people with one shot will probably be an advantage. In Rocky River, Ohio, not so much.
 
This is getting good. You have given me a lot to
think about. I'm also wondering about the legalities.
If I did shoot off a few rounds in a self defense situation
and one hit an innocent, would having full metals make
me more liable in court or would it matter?
 
You are responsible for every shot you take...use HP ammo.

IF your first shot doesn't penetrate enough to stop the threat, you CAN shoot again.

IF your first shot overpenetrates and hits an innocent person beyond your threat, you CANNOT take that shot back.

Using 230gr hardball in a .45 is lunacy. Use a modern generation HP bullet like the Speer Gold Dot or Federal HST. Modern ammo exists for short barreled handguns that designs the HP bullet for less velocity due to the short barrel.
 
Using 230gr hardball in a .45 is lunacy.
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I wouldn't call it "lunacy", but I'd certainly call it a pointless gamble.

I consider being in a gunfight AT ALL a gamble where anything can happen. Adding an entirely tangential and uncontrollable variable really seems like adding unneeded dangers.

Hitting my target without myself getting shot seems like enough to worry about. Why would I want to add whether I'm going to hurt a bystander even if I do EVERYTHING right?

And as an added note on reliability, my first handgun and former self-defense gun was a Series 70 Colt, purchased in 1979. Out of the box, it would feed Speer "Flying Ashtrays" 100%. It would NOT reliably feed 230gr. ball until it had broken in after a couple of hundred rounds.
 
What Clint Smith carries is no defense if you kill or shoot someone with a through and through gunshot wound.

Think.

Delta Force uses FMJ, does that mean its the best thing to use?
 
Of all the self defense calibers, I'd feel more comfortable carrying .45 in FMJ. That big ol' slow bullet.

Time to get out the gelatin blocks and see how deeply a 230 gr FMJ penetrates, vs a JHP? Or how deeply compared to the +P JHP many carry?
 
Clint Smith carries FMJ's, but what does he know
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I'm sure that he knows a fair bit :) but I'm also sure that he will not be at my gunfight nor do I likely share his choice of chambering or carry firearm.

All that renders his opinion useful for him, and my opinion useful for me.

I am not so dogmatic that I cannot separate the two.
 
FWIW, this is what I use....

.380-fmj 100gr
9mm-jhp 125gr
.38 Special-lswc or lswchp 158gr
.357(town)-jhp 158gr
.357(woods)-jsp 158gr
 
"I carry FMJ to and from and while at classes rest of the time its JHP"

___ why the alteration?
Click to expand...

One less thing to screw with.

I take all my classes with my carry gear; I put a mag of FMJ before leaving for class and trade the mag out for JHPs once I get home. I don't have to mess with changing mags when I get to class, when I go to lunch, when I get back form lunch, when I go to the hotel, I just run FMJs the whole time.

If I happen to get in a gun fight while at a class I'll just have to make due with FMJ.
 
In the interest of muddying the waters...

Another real world factor to consider is that unless you are cc'ing in a nudist colony and are likely to be shooting at nekkid folks, most JHP's will often plug with fabric and overpenetrate when shot through heavy clothing. Even down here in the tropics, most perpetrator types tend to favour thick, heavy layered garments, leading me to wonder if we just aviod the idiots and wait long enough, maybe they will all just succumb to heat stroke?:confused:
 
What Clint Smith carries is no defense if you kill or shoot someone with a through and through gunshot wound.
Click to expand...

If you really think hollow points protect you from over penetration, you are sadly mistaken. I have seen hundreds of gunshot wound victims over the last 20 years and have not detected a difference in hollowpoints versus FMJ's in terms of over penetration. I would also say that hollowpoints fail to expand at least half the time.

I would also think that what experts carry is in fact part of your defense if you are sued after a shooting.
 
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