LCP: FMJ or HP for Carry?

In your .380 LCP/P3AT/TCP ccw, do you carry FMJ or Hollow Points?

  • Full Metal Jacket

    Votes: 63 36.8%
  • Hollow Points

    Votes: 80 46.8%
  • Dump your LCP and carry your 642 instead, you moron

    Votes: 28 16.4%

  • Total voters
    171
  • Poll closed .
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Use Speer Gold Dot or Hornady Critical Defence in the LCP, both have been shown to work well in tests, and they work a whole lot better than FMJ.

I would always take a reliably expanding JHP over FMJ in 380. We are afforded the luxury of using bullets that expand and cause excessive bleeding and tissue damage but get paranoid over a couple of inches of penetration and choose to use practice ammo instead. It makes no sense.
Right and when you may have to shoot through arms, shoulders or other objects to reach vitals you will wish you had the extra penetration of fmj. There are a lot of situations where 10" of penetration just won't cut it.
armobstacles.jpg
 
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That seems to be the thinking but have you seen number so know its true? Also, I would rather have a flat nosed bullet than a round nosed FMJ. You won't find any hunters that will tell you a round nosed bullet works better. Its also more prone to ricocheting off the skull or other bones. I would also prefer lead as the bullet may have some chance of deformation and causing more damage than a FMJ. If I carry a non HP bullet I would prefer something like these from Buffalo Bore.

http://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=216
 
I voted FMJ, but actually use the Buffalo Bore 100gr Hardcast Lead Flat Point. Their +P version
 
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currently i am carrying FMJ. at some point i want to try some various HP ammo, just havent gotten around to it yet.
 
ust wondering how much penetration you want? If you go with the FBI minimum 12", Federal Hydra-Shok will do that:

Also check out the velocity numbers. The FMJs tend to be really slow and the round profile does very little tissue damage. I'll take a hollowpoint at 12 inches over a FMJ at 16" any day.
 
Also check out the velocity numbers. The FMJs tend to be really slow and the round profile does very little tissue damage. I'll take a hollowpoint at 12 inches over a FMJ at 16" any day.
Velocity in 380 is irrelivent. The fact that the fmj penetrates deeper than a hollow point proves it.

Which round really does more tissue damage? The fmj damages tissue along a much longer track than the jhp. The jhp may make a slightly wider path, but it's over a shorter distance.

Ballistic gelatin tests show that the truncated cone bullet produces more tissue damage than a round nose round and still penetrates much deeper than an expanded jhp.

In 380 I'll take the deeper pentraring, truncated round and feel confident it will reach vitals.
 
kokapelli said:
The way I see it if the fmj penetrates 19+ inches, how would a little more velocity help?

jhp rounds need the velocity to expand the bullet.

19+ inchest of penetration? In a .380 auto FMJ? Yeah, I don't see how more velocity would do much, if anything at all.
 
How does less than 12" of penetration in GEL of all things instill confidence in somebody? :eek:

You folks are aware that there is a rib cage protecting most of our vitals correct? That rib cage is also really good at soaking up ft/lbs. of energy from an already anemic cartridge.

Depending on stance, anywhere from 40-80% of an attacker's vitals are going to be shielded by a single or multiple bones (Reference Post #51 for a picture), now how do you think your Gold Dot stands a chance of making it into vitals when it doesn't even penetrate 12" in plain ballistic gel? That flat-point Winchester load would be lucky to punch through a sternum and continue into the rib cage to damage vitals even after exhibiting 16+" of penetration in gel.

Sorry for the rant, but I feel as if this "over-penetration" thing is a bit "over-exaggerated" when it comes to the .380 cartridge.

-Jake
 
kokapelli's pix show something many seem to forget.

now, imagine that pix but of a stockier guy.

for a hollow point to work it must punch through skin, bone, and muscle of a large arm, maybe deflect off a bic lighter in a shirt poket, then go through more skin, muscle and bone of the chest before it reaches a "vital".

ive seen .22lr from a mini auto take people out DRT as well as .25acp......all were close range, frontal, unobstructed shots on slim people and there was no exit wound.

in sub-minor calibers id take the fastest fmj i could find.
 
My Bersa 380 is loaded with Hornady Critical Defense JHP because that ammo shoots three rounds POA into an eyeball at ten yards. I think accuracy and the ability to hit where you aim are more important factors in a small SD pistol than expansion or penetration.

M
 
M1key: I'd agree.....except for one thing. In the Miami FBI Shootout, one of the BG's would have been stopped except the 9mm Silvertip round he took didn't penetrate deep enough to hit his heart. It stopped less than 1" away. Even 9mm ball ammo would have performed better.

All the expansion in the world doesn't matter if your bullet can't reach vital organs.
 
I'd be more inclined to shoot for the head from 0-10 yards away. Any further? Well...

M
 
A low velocity FMJ is not going to be more capable of penetrating barriers or bone than a higher velocity JHP or higher velocity LFP. Penetration in bare gelatin doesn't reflect that factor it only reflects the fact that FMJs cause very little resistance and disruption so they penetrate more deeply in the homogenous medium. While on my in-laws farm in Alabama I shot a three inch wooden fence post 3 times with my LCP loaded with WWB FMJs. NONE of the bullets were able to penetrate the post. The Federal Hydrashoks at 100+ FPS faster blasted right through it. I think common sense can extrapolate from that if you were to strike bone or some other barrier with your low velocity FMJs you are going to lose a lot of your velocity and all that penetration will probably not materialize where a more powerful round could penetrate the barrier and still maintain more energy to penetrate. I think LFPs (not round FMJs) make a lot of sense in the small 380s but more velocity is definitely going to be better in more situations and a detriment in very few if any. Do any of you thing the 380 is too powerful if its going 800-900FPS? I don't see the sense in advocating less powerful ammo in a caliber that is considered marginal in the first place.
 
I just looked at Brass Fetcher's site....
http://www.brassfetcher.com/380ACP ammunition performance in ballistic gelatin.pdf

and was surprised to see that only one of the premium 380 jhp rounds was able to even attain the FBI's minimum required 12" of penetration and no more.

The Winchester truncated fmj round exceeded 21" of penetration and even with heavy winter clothing in front of the gelatin the truncated cone round reached a very respectable 16" of penetration.

Don't know why, but he did not test the jhp rounds against winter clothed gelatin. Maybe since the performance of the jhp with summer clothing was so mediocre he decided not to bother with heavy clothing.
 
In brassfetchers data I didn't see any numbers (did I miss them?) for summer or winter clothing for the first 4 JHP's: Hornaday,Speer,Corbon,Remington.

I was under the impression that clogged up JHP's performed more like FMJ's.

Does anybody have any such data?

Thanks!
 
In brassfetchers data I didn't see any numbers (did I miss them?) for summer or winter clothing for the first 4 JHP's: Hornaday,Speer,Corbon,Remington.

I was under the impression that clogged up JHP's performed more like FMJ's.

Does anybody have any such data?

Thanks!
None of the bhp on you list made it to the FBI's minimum 12" depth with summer clothing barrier so I guess there was not much point in testing them with winter clothing barrier.
 
I carry an LCR. I have two, one in .357 and one in .38 spcial.
My DSW will not carry a .380. So, she carries an LC9.
She has a couple Keltec pistols, too. Both of them are 9mm, a PF9 and a P11.
 
When I had my BG 380 I carried whatever range FMJ ammo I had shot last in it, just too many factors that would have to work right for that tiny 380 HP to work effectively for me to feel comfortable with.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2
 
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