Can someone tell me the difference between JHP, Xtp, Ballistic tip and FTX bullets please?

[xxToranachxx]

Hey guys, I thought I'd ask the question here because everyone has been so good to me on this site. It's the best! Anyway, I've always seen Hornady Xtp bullets and cartridges and Winchester Silvertips(which some say are basically a ballistic tip) in the stores. Here lately I've been seeing(as bullets and cartridges) the FTX rounds and of course the JHP seems to be the benchmark for all the hollow points. So just a basic difference between these rounds would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance everyone.

 

[kcofohio]

XTP and FTX are Hornady's bullets. XTP are JHPs and FTX are JHPs with a polymer type tip bonded in the HP.
Other JHPs vary with their ogaves and HPs. Most all require different seating depths for feed purposes mainly. So charges will vary according to the seating depth.

 

[jmr40]

JHP is a generic term for a "Jacketed Hollow Point" used by most all manufacturers.

XTP is a JHP specific to Hornady. It stands for "Extreme Terminal Performance" it is offered in handgun ammo for personal protection.

Ballistic Tip is a rifle bullet made by Nosler. They use a hard plastic tip to improve down range ballistics. Most other manufacturers make something similar, but use different names. The Hornady SST is a comparable bullet.

FTX is a Hornady specific bullet. Lever action rifles with tubular magazines can't use traditional pointed bullets. In the magazine the point of a bullet rests against the primer of the next bullet. It is theoretically possible for the recoil of a round being fired to cause a cartridge to detonate in the magazine. Traditionally only flat point or round nose bullets are used in these guns. Hornady came up with soft rubber tip that can be used on these bullets. With FTX bullets you can safely use pointed bullets in these guns.

The Winchester Silvertips were an attempt years go to get a sharp point on a hunting bullet. The tips were made of aluminum, not silver. Remington made bronze points back in the day to accomplish the same thing. They have been replaced with hard plastic and are no longer made.

At one time Winchester offered handgun ammo called Silver tips. It was simply their version of a JHP. The use of the aluminum on the end of the bullet was more gimmick than effective

 

[higgite]

....... and Winchester Silvertips(which some say are basically a ballistic tip) in the stores.

Winchester makes “Silvertip” in pistol ammo with a silver colored JHP. They also make “Ballistic Silvertip” rifle ammo with a black oxide coated JHP with a silver colored polymer tip.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

XTP bullet is copper plated.

JHP (and JSP) is a jacketed bullet.

 

[murf]

XTP bullet is copper plated.

https://www.hornady.com/bullets/xtp#!/

just to clarify,

murf

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

https://www.hornady.com/bullets/xtp#!/

just to clarify,

murf

I stand corrected. I was wrong.

Disregard.

 

[murf]

@Hooda Thunkit i am extremely biased when it comes to xtp bullets. i have been loading and shooting them in all my handguns since the early nineties. i have not switched as this bullet is the most accurate jhp on the market even today. they also perform as advertised.

end of shameless devotion,

murf

 

[xxToranachxx]

Thank you all so much for the super fast answers. I was just curious. I have a few 10mm Silvertips and firing them into milk jugs I got the bullet out of the 4th jug and I swear it had expanded to the size of a quarter. No mushroom though it was almost totally flat. Good ammo imo. Box says 175gr at 1250fps. Didn't have a chronograph at the time though so I couldn't verify that. But that penetration and expansion was great! I chrono'd 2 loads today with the 10mm one was 8.5gr power pistol @ avg 1250fps with a lead flat nose 180gr bullet. The other was 10.5gr blue dot @1145fps avg with the same 180gr lead flat nose. Trying to get a good target practice ammo. Need to test for accuracy but I'm leaning toward the power pistol. My firearm is a Gen 3 glock 20(not the sf) with a lone wolf barrel(older one with the large wolf head on the top) and a lone wolf 22lb(i think, it's the purple coded one on their website). This was what my gun did and don't condone anyone starting with these loads. Please work up safely from minimum loads. Again thank you all so much for the info.

 

[buck460XVR]

XTP bullet is copper plated.

JHP (and JSP) is a jacketed bullet.

As you stand corrected, the XTP is a true jacketed. You might be thinking of Speer's Gold Dot and Deep Curl handgun bullets. They call 'em "Bonded" but that's just a fancy word for "Plated".

XTP is a JHP specific to Hornady. It stands for "Extreme Terminal Performance" it is offered in handgun ammo for personal protection.

It is also what they call their handgun hunting bullets.

For the most part, some abbreviations are generic and some are manufacturer specific. Some JSP expand more readily than some JHPs and while some plated bullets may only be good for plinking, some are preferred for hunting and SD/HD. Kinda confusing. here's a good starter link......

http://www.ballistics101.com/abbr.php

 

[CapnMac]

In handguns, many of them were/are designed to function with FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) ammo, which, in these modern times is ogive pointed (as opposed to RNL--round nose lead).

A JHP, jacketed Hollow point, truncates that bullet profile, which can cause feeding issues. So, some manufacturers put a lightweight cap in the hole to keep the profile matching FMJ.

That's fallen out of favor of late--and most handguns will feed HP ammo without a hiccup.

Winchester's original marketing for their handgun ammo was that they were shaped as much like FMJ as possible for best feeding. They just tinned/treated the gilding metal jacket to make it unique in appearance. Win still makes loaded STHP handgun ammo.

The Silvertip rifle ammo was just a version of JSP, Jacketed Soft Point, where the marketing claim was that the tip improved expansion while keeping aerodynamics, and would feed like an FMJ.

Ballistic tip ammo is usually rifle ammo aimed at the varmint shooting crowd. The polymer tip replicates FMJ for feeding and aerodynamics, and (might) aid expansion. (How much expansion you really need on a prairie dog is a different argument for a different forum.)

This gets a tad deeper, too, as the range of handloading components is different than the range of loaded ammo.

 

[Varminterror]

Seems a lot of folks here are not familiar with Winchester Silvertip Pistol ammo. It’s nothing but a Nickel plated JHP:



Winchester also used to offer a Silvertip rifle bullet, basically a PSP, pointed soft point, but with the lead core coated in a thin Cu/Ni/Zn shell, hence the silver finish of what would have otherwise been a dull gray lead point.



Referenced also above, Winchester also makes a BALLISTIC Silvertip rifle bullet, which is a polymer tipped, jacketed lead core spitzer:

 

[Nature Boy]

Winchester also used to offer a Silvertip rifle bullet, basically a PSP, pointed soft point, but with the lead core coated in a thin Cu/Ni/Zn shell, hence the silver finish of what would have otherwise been a dull gray lead point.

I killed rather sizable pile of deer with those over the years. It seems like everyone I ever recovered had shed it’s jacket but being ignorant to the concept of “bullet failure” I just figured it was a feature not a flaw. Killed deer deader than Elvis though so no reason for me to change or complain

 

[Varminterror]

@Nature Boy - I used them for a long time as well, with similar results. I was surprised to hear they had been discontinued, but I suppose they weren’t selling as well as the Ballistic Silvertips, and likely cost more to produce than their other PSP spitzer. Between Silvertips and Power Points, I slayed a lot of venison before I learned about cooler bullets.

 

[Stumper]

I believe that the the original Win Silvertip rifle ammo was capped with aluminium. Likewise at least some of the silvertip pistol ammo was aluminium jacketed. The constant with all of the Winchester silvertips has been they are expanding bullets.

 

[mokin]

I don't have anything to add. Just wanted to say thanks for the information. I've been a fan of both Silvertips and XTPs for quite some time.

 

[Varminterror]

I believe that the the original Win Silvertip rifle ammo was capped with aluminium.

It was a copper, nickel, and zinc alloy.

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