For some reason folks seem to think that .45 hardball is an effective fight stopper but it is not. It just pokes a little hole all the way through with very little tissue disruption. You'd be far better off with a semi-wadcutter
Indeed.
The "hole doesn't get smaller" argument is ridiculous, the type of wound is entirely different from HP to FMJ or at
least something that doesn't have a nice rounded non-deforming nose.
I use HP or EFMJ/filled HP in everything I carry that isn't a mousegun. On the rare occasions I carry a mousegun, it is a KT P32 loaded up with hot ball ammo or a NAA mini with the most reliable .22mag I can find, which happens to be CCI maximags, they don't generally expand but they do penetrate. But I carry a mousegun perhaps one day in a hundred, it isn't that hard to effectively conceal a compact gun in a duty caliber (9x19mm or .45acp in my case)
I recently picked up a CZ82 on a lark and I'll be evaluating HP for it to decide which side of the line it is on, if I'd have to sacrifice penetration for expansion, I'll go ball and keep an eye out for a semiwadcutter or similar.
Placement.
Depth.
Width.
In. That. Order.
Perhaps trauma or wound track style should replace width in that statement, but the concept holds true.
Most duty ammo is designed to give ~12" penetration in gel, mousegun HPs generally can't do that. Pretending that the cheap ball ammo you get from the plinking supply counter at Wal Mart is as good as a modern HP is just being stubborn or willfully ignorant of physics and the freely-available testing out there.