Post by Admin on May 10, 2019 6:08:15 GMT
Hollow Point Bullets Are Actually Safer Than Standard Full Metal Jacket Ammunition
Whenever a reporter, gun controller, screenwriter, or general ignoramus wants to make ammunition sound super dangerous and sketchy, they’ll talk about “hollow point bullets.” What these people don’t understand is that hollow points are actually far safer than standard full metal jacket (FMJ), or ball, ammunition. Why? Because they’re less likely to overpenetrate.
Because of their shape and the speed at which they’re traveling, standard bullets have a tendency to go through things like walls, cars, people, etc. The result is that while you might hit your intended target, that bullet could continue to travel through the target and into someone or something you didn’t intend to hit. This is why rule #4 of the basic safety gun rules exists.
So what does this have to do with hollow points? Because of how they’re designed — the hollow point opens upon impact, similar to how a flower blooms, thereby increasing drag and greatly reducing projectile speed — they greatly reduce the chance of overpenetration (for the same reason, hollow points are also not even close to being “armor-piercing”). How does that make them safer? The reduced bullet penetration reduces the likelihood of the bullet you fired on target hitting someone or something it wasn’t supposed to hit. Now, hollow points are definitely not safer for the person who’s hit by them. The opening of the bullet upon impact increases the effective diameter of the bullet, which leads to greater damage to the target.
That also makes it safer for all innocent bystanders, though. Why? Because you likely will not need to put as many shots on target in order to neutralize the threat. Fewer shots needed on target means fewer shots that need to be fired, which means a lower likelihood of an innocent person being hit. If you keep a gun in your home or on your body for personal protection, you absolutely should be using some type of hollow point ammunition, not FMJ ammunition, because FMJ ammunition is more likely to penetrate through walls and endanger whoever happens to be on the other side of them. FMJ ammunition should be reserved almost exclusively for the gun range.
Whenever a reporter, gun controller, screenwriter, or general ignoramus wants to make ammunition sound super dangerous and sketchy, they’ll talk about “hollow point bullets.” What these people don’t understand is that hollow points are actually far safer than standard full metal jacket (FMJ), or ball, ammunition. Why? Because they’re less likely to overpenetrate.
Because of their shape and the speed at which they’re traveling, standard bullets have a tendency to go through things like walls, cars, people, etc. The result is that while you might hit your intended target, that bullet could continue to travel through the target and into someone or something you didn’t intend to hit. This is why rule #4 of the basic safety gun rules exists.
So what does this have to do with hollow points? Because of how they’re designed — the hollow point opens upon impact, similar to how a flower blooms, thereby increasing drag and greatly reducing projectile speed — they greatly reduce the chance of overpenetration (for the same reason, hollow points are also not even close to being “armor-piercing”). How does that make them safer? The reduced bullet penetration reduces the likelihood of the bullet you fired on target hitting someone or something it wasn’t supposed to hit. Now, hollow points are definitely not safer for the person who’s hit by them. The opening of the bullet upon impact increases the effective diameter of the bullet, which leads to greater damage to the target.
That also makes it safer for all innocent bystanders, though. Why? Because you likely will not need to put as many shots on target in order to neutralize the threat. Fewer shots needed on target means fewer shots that need to be fired, which means a lower likelihood of an innocent person being hit. If you keep a gun in your home or on your body for personal protection, you absolutely should be using some type of hollow point ammunition, not FMJ ammunition, because FMJ ammunition is more likely to penetrate through walls and endanger whoever happens to be on the other side of them. FMJ ammunition should be reserved almost exclusively for the gun range.