Deanimator said:
They certainly might be if I use FMJs as my carry ammunition. It's why I don't. Shoot the wrong person, and it doesn't matter if you use FMJs, JHPs or HEP-T.
That still doesn't change the fact that even the best HPs only expand approximately 70% of the time under the best of condition.
Even with HPs you cannot count on them not getting through and through penetration.
Thinking you won't hit bystanders just because you're using HPs is a false sense of security.
If you're going to let somebody murder you because there are bystanders behind him who might be harmed because of your insistence on using ammunition likely to cause through and throughs, that's your choice. It's certainly not mine.
I don't live in the Gobi desert, Greenland or the Bonneville salt flats. EVERYWHERE I'm likely to be will probably have lots of people. If you're going to let yourself (and your family) be murdered because of that, you might as well just not carry at all. Instead, I carry ammunition with a reasonable likelihood of the bullet remaining in the target.
Once again I ask what does it matter if you're using HPs or FMJ since HPs can't be counted on to expand 100% of the time???
If you have to take a risky shot then do what you gotta do but don't fool yourself into thinking that those bystanders will be safe and sound just because you're using an HP.
If it fails to expand they will be just as dead.
HPs certainly have their advantages but ensuring the safety of innocent bystanders isn't one of them.
Since you're so sure that FMJ wreaks havoc on bystanders perhaps you can share with us some verifiable examples of bystanders killed or maimed by through and through shots.
I realize it's not easy to just pull up links but since you feel so strongly about this there must be some incident you can recall to justify your opinion. Perhaps one of Mr. Ayoob's reports to back up your claims?
And yeah, don't miss. Unlike the cops, I'm not indemnfied except for a GOOD shoot. In Ohio, if you try to rob me and I shoot you dead where you stand, or cripple you for life and it's ruled justified, the state says that the shootee and his mutant family can pound sand. If I foolishly carry FMJs and get a through and through that could easily have been avoided, I'm toast, justified shooting or not.
Oh you don't?
And just how many actual shootings have you been involved in so we can verify this claim of perfect marksmanship?
It's easy to sit their behind a keyboard and condemn the cops and their lousy shooting, but if you were actually in a life or death situation you might find things don't work out nearly as perfectly as they do in Billy Badass fantasies and daydreams.
And once again what proof do you have of anyone anywhere involved in a "justified" shooting who has been prosecuted and convicted for using FMJ???
Which specific case is it that made you realize you'd be "toast"?