From what I read there really isn't an advantage in hollow point.
Bullet becoming wider has the drawback of lower penetration.
For example if the attacker has his arms in front of his torso, an hollow point might not be able to go through his arm and still hit the torso with enough force left.
As a former armed hospital security officer, they addressed this type of thing in class. Any modifications to the round will be found during investigation. If you fired a modified round at a bad guy that results in injury or death, you will be held criminally and civilly liable for damages. Use factory ammo or ammo authorized by your site/client only, your lawyer will thank you.
Which is insane reasoning. If you're justified in killing the attacker, you're still justified if you modified your bullets to make his death more likely. The laws need to change.
From what I read there really isn't an advantage in hollow point.
That's horribly incorrect.
Bullet becoming wider has the drawback of lower penetration.
That's perhaps the #1 reason to carry hollow points for self defense reasons, reducing the risk of overpenetration. Do you even physics, bro?
The alternative is firing a solid ball at an attacker, and that ball passing right through the target and into other people, or in a home defense situation, that solid ball passing right through the target and punching through several walls and potentially into other dwellings.
I think you might have been thinking of semi-wadcutters rather than hollow points. Wadcutters are specially designed for shooting paper targets, as the blunt shape of them cuts out perfect circles in the target. Semi-wadcutters are a kind of hybrid between the wadcutter and a hollow point round, an attempt to make an all-purpose round, but there have been incidents of semi-wadcutters getting lodged in the arm, and even losing most of its stopping power when going through heavy clothing.
Of course, this also depends heavily on the bullet design... there are some semi-wadcutters that are quite effective, but some have all the effectiveness of a rubber bullet.
From what I read there really isn't an advantage in hollow point. Bullet becoming wider has the drawback of lower penetration.
For example if the attacker has his arms in front of his torso, an hollow point might not be able to go through his arm and still hit the torso with enough force left.
EDIT: thank you for correcting me, I was wrong.
I've heard of people carving crosses on hpbbullets so it will break off into 4 fragments after initial penetration
As a former armed hospital security officer, they addressed this type of thing in class. Any modifications to the round will be found during investigation. If you fired a modified round at a bad guy that results in injury or death, you will be held criminally and civilly liable for damages. Use factory ammo or ammo authorized by your site/client only, your lawyer will thank you.
Don't forget hand loads. Don't use bullets you've reloaded yourself as well. Like you said just use store bought unmodified in any way bullets.
Which is insane reasoning. If you're justified in killing the attacker, you're still justified if you modified your bullets to make his death more likely. The laws need to change.
I saw this demonstrated using a knife and hammer.
That's horribly incorrect.
That's perhaps the #1 reason to carry hollow points for self defense reasons, reducing the risk of overpenetration. Do you even physics, bro?
The alternative is firing a solid ball at an attacker, and that ball passing right through the target and into other people, or in a home defense situation, that solid ball passing right through the target and punching through several walls and potentially into other dwellings.
Ok fine. I just did some research and I was wrong. HP penetrate deep enough and FMJ have great risk of overpenetration.
Load some of each. Not a problem.
Of course, we're talking academically here.
It's proven that the only thing that really matters is shot placement.
We were talking about self defense, where every caliber is able to penetrate human skin.
What calibers did you see not able to penetrate an elk hide?
Stop shooting elk with your 25 auto!
I think you might have been thinking of semi-wadcutters rather than hollow points. Wadcutters are specially designed for shooting paper targets, as the blunt shape of them cuts out perfect circles in the target. Semi-wadcutters are a kind of hybrid between the wadcutter and a hollow point round, an attempt to make an all-purpose round, but there have been incidents of semi-wadcutters getting lodged in the arm, and even losing most of its stopping power when going through heavy clothing.
Of course, this also depends heavily on the bullet design... there are some semi-wadcutters that are quite effective, but some have all the effectiveness of a rubber bullet.