Thread: HOLLOW POINT OR FMJ?

In a close range hostage situation would you want a hollow point or full metal jacket?
say you had to go for a head shot at close range with the perp holding a hostage at knife point would you fear the hostage might catch some frag from a hollow point?
an office recently brought up a good point to me also that if you have a hollow point and hit a phone in the perps pocket or pack of cigs that your hollow point may expand too soon and leave you with an irate perp where a fmj would stop them right through the phone.what say you?

Nope.... not a concern. I'll assume we're talking about pistol bullets as well... just because you don't really say. Either way, I sure wouldn't have any concern about fragments coming back out of someone. You certainly could hit something in a pocket and that could make the bullet expand quick. Realistically, are you going to expect a one shot stop to an area of the body that has pockets covering it???? In one word, NOPE! Only way to guarantee a one stop shot is to disconnect the brain from the rest of the body.

FMJ has it's place but I don't think it's particularly well suited to a self defense round. There's better stuff out there. In particular, anything bonded core such as Speer Gold Dot would be a first choice for me.

80% of the time I carry Ranger Talons and the rest of the time it's Speer gold or whatever JHP I feel like carrying. I personally carry JHP because I don't want to have over penetration. I don't even wanna think about a hostage situation.

Originally Posted by biggie24420

80% of the time I carry Ranger Talons and the rest of the time it's Speer gold or whatever JHP I feel like carrying. I personally carry JHP because I don't want to have over penetration. I don't even wanna think about a hostage situation.

understandable on the hostage situation,i wouldn't want to be there either but if you walked in the house to find your wife or child with a knife at their throat and you had to make a decision you would be glad you took a few minutes to think about it.
i dont worry about over penetration because i only shoot .45acp(yes i was talking handgun dapsrt,sorry i forgot to mention)and its not likely to over penetrate whereas a 9mm would make a difference on my decision of round type.
my fear is a hollow point fraging on impact with another person so close to the perp.

I carry 40S&W 165gr JHP Gold Dot. I only use the FMJ for paper...
If I'm shooting some one ill be sending at least 2 birds down range (per military training) so even if one of my JHP expands too early due to objects in pockets, chances are the other round wont be hitting the same spot.

How about frangible?

Frangibles and FMJs have a place. That place is on a range shooting steel or paper targets.

There are exceptions to that rule. If I was in bear country and armed with only a pistol, I'd think about carrying lead hardcast in a revolver.

But I'd probably drag around a shotgun loaded with slugs.

Use JHPs in carry weapons.

H

It is my experiance that except for a few dedicated varmit bullets like the old Hornady SPSX hollow points do not explode on impact but start to open up as they enter the target. In rifle rounds it might take 2" of meat to get a HP to open up. With the slower Pistol rounds I would assume similar results.

I carry lighter weight HP's in all my self defense weapons except the shotgun which I keep #4 buck shot in. 27) .24 cal round balls is like emptying an AR mag at once.

Originally Posted by doubletap007

understandable on the hostage situation,i wouldn't want to be there either but if you walked in the house to find your wife or child with a knife at their throat and you had to make a decision you would be glad you took a few minutes to think about it.
i dont worry about over penetration because i only shoot .45acp(yes i was talking handgun dapsrt,sorry i forgot to mention)and its not likely to over penetrate whereas a 9mm would make a difference on my decision of round type.
my fear is a hollow point fraging on impact with another person so close to the perp.

I have never heard of fragments coming out the same way they went in.Maybe if you hit some metal object the perp has,but not out of flesh.
And as duran21 said,you will be sending more rounds,so if it hits a phone,he will have moved away from the hostage enough to place your shots better with the follow up

The reason I recommend bonded bullets such as Gold Dot or Federal Tactical Bonded is that I've seen the Winchester Rangers fall apart through common barriers. Now don't get me wrong, Rangers are a wonderful bullet, but I prefer to keep as much weight in a single projectile as possible (avoiding any stray bullet parts going places I don't want them). Through auto glass, car doors, and the like, I've seen jackets fully separate from the core. Haven't done so much research with rifle bullets but I'm looking at Gold Dot and Federal Tactical Bonded for new carry rounds.

I dug these out of an embankment yesterday after doing some drills. The one on the left is a 200gr .45 FMJ, the three to the right are 165gr .40 FMJ slugs. The mushroomed slugs in front are all .40 Ranier Ballistics 135gr JHP's. Since the Raniers are plated rather than bonded I thought I would see a lot less expansion and a lot more shredding of the jacket from the core. I must say I was a little surprised at what I found in both the Ranier JHP's and the near pristine condition of the FMJ's. To answer the OP's question I would go with a quality JHP for three reasons: 1) if they expand like they are advertised then you get more tissue damage, 2) the JHP will dump more energy into the target, 3) less chance of over penetration.