10/25/2022
Nuff Said
JHP 101:
A crash course on everything you need to know on hollow points.
First, what is a JHP?
JHP stands for Jacketed Hollow Point.
Jacketed meaning that the lead core has a jacket of copper around it. It's the same reason that FMJ stands for Full Metal Jacket (roll credits!).
These are projectiles for fi****ms that have a hollow cavity in the front of the projectile. When the projectile strikes flesh when travelling at speed, the force of the flesh entering the hollow point cavity (or arguably of that flesh compressing the air or liquid in the cavity) pushes outwards against the interior walls of the cavity. This deforms the metal and causes the walls of the hollow point cavity to spread outward, usually peeling backward like a banana.
The net result is that when fired into soft mediums like flesh, water, or gel, hollow point projectiles will expand, often presenting a mushroom-like or flower-like appearance afterwards, with the petals extending outwards from the base of the projectile.
Hollow points are used for two primary reasons:
1) Increased effectiveness at stopping bad guys. The increased expanded size presents a larger area, and thus causes a more substantial wound in the bad guy. The sharp petals also help more effectively damage flesh, which is better damaged by sharp metal than by blunt/smooth metal. These factors will mean that your shots on a bad guy will stop the bad guy sooner and more reliably than if you used non-expanding ammo like FMJ's.
2) Safety. Reputable hollow points are designed and engineered to expand at a specific rate, in order to ensure that they slow down sooner and stop in flesh at a specific depth or range of depths. This helps reduce over pe*******on and reduce risk to innocent people who may be beyond or behind the bad guy. By stopping at a specific depth, a hollow point can help ensure that the projectile stops inside the bad guy.
For these reasons, it is considered negligent to not carry hollow points in your carry gun.
FMJ's and non-expanding projectiles have no place in duty caliber handguns. While mouse calibers might benefit from non-expanding projectiles due to their lack of ballistic capabilities, duty calibers have no such limitations, and thus FMJ's are inexcusable.
If you carry a handgun, you should carry hollow points. To carry FMJ's is negligent, irresponsible, less effective, less safe, and will only get you ridicule and ostracism from the gun community.
So with some basic information laid as a foundation, let's discuss everything you'd want to know about hollow points.
Before we get to what you all want to know (and yes, I can hear people screaming "just tell us what make and model of ammo to carry!"), it's important to first understand WHY I recommend certain loads over others. It's important that we all have a base understanding of what makes a load effective, what you should look for in a load, and all the considerations therein.
So let's discuss some considerations.
First, you need to understand expansion rates and the relationship between expansion and pe*******on, because they share an inverse relationship.
You see, projectiles only have so much umph to push them forward through flesh.
A larger diameter projectile will take more energy to get through a given amount of flesh. A smaller diameter projectile will take less energy to go through that same amount of flesh.
With respect to expanding hollow points, this means that if the hollow point expands too quickly, you can get pe*******on that is too shallow to be acceptable, possibly not reaching vital organs. If the hollow point expands too slowly or fails to expand entirely, then you can get pe*******on that is too deep, resulting in overpe*******on, reduced wounding, and potential risk to innocent people beyond the threat.
So there is a balance to be had.
The size a projectile expands too isn't THAT important. It's nice to have yes, but far more important is how deep you get. If your load expands to a whopping two inches but it doesn't reach vitals, then that expanded size has only hurt your effectiveness.
Conversely, if your projectile fails to expand at all, then it isn't any better than an FMJ.
And this is why we place such a focus on ballistics gelatin testing and so strongly recommend that people stick to the proven reputable hollow point brands and lines on the market.
So now let's talk about ballistics gelatin.
We used standardized and calibrated 10% ballistics gelatin testing for a reason.
In order to be reliably effective against a human threat given conservative safety factors, you want your hollow point of choice to reliably and consistently come to a rest somewhere between 12" and 18" in 10% calibrated ballistic gelatin.
Getting under 12" is considered underpe*******on, which means that in a human threat, you have a substantial chance of not reaching through and stopping the heart.
Getting over 18" in gel is considered overpe*******on, which means that against a human threat, you have an unacceptable chance for the bullet to exit the threat's body with enough umph left to still injure an innocent person.
Now it is important to understand that 12"-18" in gel isn't equal to 12"-18" in a human. So be careful not to fall into the mistake of thinking "5 inches in gel is perfect because it would only take about 5 inches to get from the skin on my chest to my heart!"
Gel is a testing medium that consistently imitates how flesh behaves and impacts handgun projectiles. It is not a 1:1 ratio of pe*******on with respect to gel versus flesh.
Rather, it is closer to a 3:2 ratio. And before that, there's human skin, which is surprisingly bullet resistant. The ballistic resistance of human skin is roughly equivalent to the first three inches of pe*******on in gel.
So 12" in gel is closer to 9" in gel after skin, thus it's only 6" in flesh after skin. 18" in gel would be 10" in flesh after skin.
And that's not taking bones into account.
And here's where we come into an important consideration:
The 12"-18" figure already is a conservative number with healthy safety factors included to account for bones, obesity, and other variables.
So that 12" minimum, thus only 6" in flesh, sounds pretty deep, because maybe it's only 4" to get through your heart if you're skinny. But you can't rely on your threat being skinny AND not having a ribcage AND presenting an ideal squared-up shot to his chest. In reality, your bullet might have to go through a hoodie, a wife-beater, skin, sub-cutaneous tissue, an inch of fat, an inch of pectoral muscle, ribs, and then finally not just reach the heart but fully punch through the heart.
So you have to accept that the 12" line is the minimum it is, not a maximum to shoot for.
Do not settle for handgun rounds that go less than 12" in gel. More important than expanded size or cool novelty performance with exaggerated claims is pe*******on depth. If the load doesn't reliably reach vitals, which means getting 12"-18" in gel, then you shouldn't be choosing that load.
Another important consideration is velocity.
Because the pe*******on depths are affected by the rate at which the hollow point expands, you also need to understand that the rate at which the hollow point expands is impacted by the velocity. I will explain why that happens after I explain the factors that impact your velocity.
There are three major factors that affect your velocity:
1) Barrel length
2) The distance to the target
3) The load you choose
Yes, barrel length is a consideration here.
Longer barrels give more room and more time for projectiles to accelerate, resulting in higher velocities. Shorter barrels don't give the projectile as much time and space in which to accelerate, and thus you get lower velocities.
And you may think that a mere 0.5" to 1.5" difference in barrel length couldn't possibly make a notable difference, but it can and does make a difference. A 3" barrel can easily get 100fps lower than a 4" barrel, and that can have a real impact on how a hollow point performs. Conversely, a 6" barrel might actually hamper your effectiveness, because the hollow point is going faster than it was designed to go.
Second, the distance between you and your target can affect your impact velocity. But you can't do much to change or control this. If the bad guy is 40 yards away, you can't do much about that, so you'll just have to understand that your bullets might pe*****te deeper because of the lower impact velocity. And yes, I typed that correctly.
Finally, load choice can affect your velocity.
And this is where I explain that faster hollow points get less pe*******on and slower hollow points can get deeper pe*******on , within the same caliber and projectile design, of course.
And yes, I know this sounds counterintuitive, but it's true.
You see, hollow points are quite sensitive to velocity changes. When going just 100-150fps too slow, a hollow point can fail to expand at all, leading to it acting like an FMJ. Or it can still expand but it does so too slowly, leading to deeper pe*******on.
When going just 100-150fps too fast, a hollow point can expand too quickly, causing it to slow down too fast and underpe*****te.
As a hollow point expands, it presents a larger frontal surface area, which makes it harder for the projectile to pe*****te flesh. So the larger it expands, the more quickly it slows down, and thus it gets shallower pe*******on.
This can quickly lead to a bullet that advertises that it is more powerful and faster actually being less effective against a bad guy, because it expanded too fast.
And this is also one of the only notable benefits of choosing larger handgun calibers, larger than 9mm. For self defense against human threats, in which you want to get 12"-18", all of the reputable hollow points for the worthwhile calibers get into that 12"-18" range. They all perform roughly the same in this regard. The only notable improvement they make is in having enough umph/energy behind them to allow the projectile to expand sooner and expand larger while still getting into that 12"-18" window.
For a full breakdown on why that still isn't as much of a benefit as you might think, head over to the 9mm vs .45acp post, linked here:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0ha3i7vrAaCbbzEf7KQKUMhv3z9xUpXm4LmdMK5hYd2ZuPKy8WcyYq3Hh4uWhG9ztl&id=100072087662260&fbclid=IwAR3sBU7U9zjfZzRIBMwzznk8GOy_W34kSUY8u8Q44f89dT1-CQFNZ1Ot82s
Anyway, back to talking about load choice with respect to velocity.
You see, choosing a hotter load with more power only helps you when you're either intentionally aiming for shallower pe*******on or when you're getting a projectile that was designed and engineered to take advantage of that higher velocity, and expand at the right rate, accordingly.
And this is where A LOT of people misstep. They see that there is a good hollow point load and then a +P version of that load, and they just instinctively opt for the +P version, without really understanding what that means or what the effects of that are. They just assume that it's more powerful and more effective, but that isn't always the case.
So what do +P and +P+ mean?
+P designates that the load is higher pressure than normal. But this +P designation is regulated by SAAMI and means it has to be within a certain range of being higher pressure and hotter than normal, but not too hot.
+P+ is unregulated and designates that a load is GROSSLY higher pressure than the caliber is allowed to be. In most circumstances, this means voiding the warranty on your handgun, getting significantly more recoil, and possibly having a chance to blow up your gun or lead to premature failure.
So what do these mean in practical terms? In most cases, they mean that they get a higher velocity out of the same projectile mass, simply by stuffing more gunpowder into the case.
This usually results in shallower pe*******on, usually with no meaningful gain in effectiveness other than the hollow point opening sooner.
So when would choosing the +P version of a load make sense?
Choosing the +P version of 124gr HST, for example, makes sense when you have a shorter barrel, short enough to cause undesirably deep pe*******on when shooting the normal pressure 124gr HST, because the lower velocity yielded by the shorter barrel leads to increased pe*******on. So you can switch to the +P version of the same load to get back some of your lost velocity, in order to keep the hollow point at the velocity at which it was designed to operate.
A second reason to choose a +P load is to intentionally get more recoil so as to more violently actuate the slide, which helps ensure that the slide cycles reliably even when you're limp wristing the gun or have a compromised grip on the gun.
But I see no convincing reason to opt for any of the +P+ offerings. Maybe for a 2.5" or shorter barrel, but that's about it.
The problem is that the +P+ offerings seldom have a hollow point that has been properly redesigned to expand at the right rate and pe*****te to the right depth when going at that velocity. In return for shallower pe*******on, they give you significantly sharper recoil, a high cost per round, ammo that you already know you won't train with or even put through the gun for more than a single box of ammo, and an unnecessarily sharp report.
So higher velocity ammo doesn't really help you, so you are perfectly fine sticking with standard pressure ammo.
But surely there are other things one might want to know before we start discussing loads, so here are some quick tips for those who are new to defensive ammunition:
1) Ammo doesn't last forever. It is meant to be replaced, especially if you carry the ammo. Temperature and humidity fluctuations when being carried will slowly affect the ammo, perhaps making it so it doesn't reliably go bang.
2) Don't regularly unchamber and rechamber a round, such as when you get home and then when you leave the house. Don't do that. This topic deserves its own post, but put simply, this can cause your primer to not go bang, for reasons that will be explained in a future post.
3) Only one state in the US, New Jersey, bans the use of hollow points. They are legal and often even strongly encouraged in the other 49 states. There have even been some pushes to mandate the usage of hollow points for concealed carry use in some states.
4) Some guns, most famously 1911's, and more specifically Kimbers, are known for not reliably feeding hollow points. The solution there is not to settle for inferior FMJ's in an inferior gun, but rather to get a better gun that can use better ammo.
5) Increasing your velocity doesn't create so-called hydrostatic shock. Going from 1000fps to 2000fps does nothing to get you even close to causing hydrostatic shock. Stick with normal hollow points because you're not getting hydrostatic shock from your common duty caliber handgun.
So now the time has come that you've all been looking for: let's do some TGC-style rapid-fire reviews of ammo:
Now for all of these, we'll set aside .380acp and smaller calibers because they get iffy and you have to be far pickier about load choice because things start acting weird when you don't have enough umph for both expansion AND pe*******on. This list is good for 9mm, .40S&W, .45acp, and other duty worthy handgun calibers.
Federal HST: Absolutely phenomenal in all grain weights, pressures, and duty calibers. It isn't very velocity sensitive, so it still works phenomenally well from a variety of barrel lengths.
Reliable.
Not picky.
Great terminal performance.
It just excels at everything.
For 9mm, stick with 124gr standard pressure. If your gun is subcompact, go with 124 +P. Many people swear by 147gr, because of the deeper pe*******on, but in return you get more recoil and ammo that is harder to find, both for 147gr HST's and for 147gr FMJ's to practice with.
Speer Gold Dot: This was the gold standard, pun intended, for a long time. It's still great, but I would choose HST over it. Again, Gold Dots are great in almost all their grain weights, pressures, and duty calibers.
Whether you choose HST's or Gold Dots, you can't go wrong.
Hornady Critical Duty: Also great IFF you have a full size handgun with a 4"-5" barrel. Ideal pe*******on and Duty fares well against intermediate barriers like glass. But for barrels shorter than 4", Duty will expand too slowly or even fail to expand at all, resulting in overpe*******on and subpar effectiveness, with the issue getting worse the shorter you get than 4". If your barrel is shorter than 4", skip Critical Duty.
Hornady Critical Defense: Avoid Critical Defense in all the calibers, weights, and pressures, except .380acp. When fired from a barrel longer than 3", Critical Defense underpe*****tes, by quite a bit. Like 9"-10" in gel. Critical Defense is only for barrels that are 2.5"-3.0" long, no longer. If your barrel is longer than this, skip Critical Defense.
Hornady XTP: Reliable deep pe*******on. Like 15"-18". Good load, but with reduced expansion.
Wi******er Defender: Not bad but not great. They aren't good at keeping all their different grain weights within good pe*******on depths. The 124gr load gets ~15" in gel, which is good, but they sometimes lose petals or pieces, and the lack of mass retention is undesirable. The 147gr gets notable overpe*******on, 20"-21", which is not acceptable. This would not be my recommended load.
Wi******er PDX-1: Not great. This varies wildly from caliber to caliber. Some PDX-1 loads are a half-decent traditional hollow point load while other PDX-1 loads are absolutely novelty-tier. While the 9mm PDX-1 JHP isn't bad, it wouldn't be my choice due to Wi******er's QC. And that's a topic that deserves its own post, but Wi******er just isn't good at making reliable primers. I find none of their ammo convincing enough to make up for this problem.
Wi******er Ranger T: This is a reasonably good traditional hollow point. It works. The only complaint I have is the cringe of the people who worship the Black Talon, which was the same thing as the Ranger T is now, except with a PTFE coating.
Wi******er Black Talon: Avoid this load. Do not use this for self defense. Yes I understand the appeal of spiting the anti-gunners by choosing the ammo that they wanted to ban, but there is no logical reason to actually use Black Talons for self defense. It's just cringe, like a step away from choosing G2 RIP.
"But Sling Guy, you just said that Ranger T was fine, why should we avoid Black Talons if they are the same as Ranger T but with a teflon coating?"
Because Ranger T is newly manufactured. You can get a fresh batch, reliable and untainted by decades of temperature and humidity changes. Black Talons got discontinued in 2000. The newest batch you could get would still be 22 years old. 22 years of sitting in a warehouse or somebody's basement. Or even worse, 22 years of sitting in a magazine inside a carry gun. That can do bad things to ammunition, things that might make the ammo no longer reliable at going bang. I would say the same about 22 year old HST's.
In today's day, carrying Black Talons is done because of the cool-sounding name and the edgy advertising, the same as G2 RIP.
G2 Research RIP: Avoid. RIP is ill-advised, undesirable, and less effective in all handgun calibers and all weights. Poor weight retention, the trocars don't help much, and the base is too small. And RIP is known for some very heinous feeding issues in a large number of otherwise reliable and respected guns. Here's a post on G2 RIP: bit.ly/TSGg2RIP
Liberty Civil Defense: Avoid like the plague. Civil Defense is a downgrade from G2 RIP. Like RIP, Liberty Civil Defense breaks apart, sheds mass, and sends little pieces to a shallow depth while the base goes farther. Unlike G2 RIP, the Civil Defense base doesn't even get to 12" in gel. And no, you're not getting any so-called hydrostatic shock. That 2000fps means nothing. Hard pass. Here's a post all about Liberty Civil Defense: bit.ly/TSGLibCvlDef
Barnes TAC-XPD: This is the lead-free copper hollow point that the Liberty Civil Defense is based on. But this is the 115gr full size legitimate hollow point, while Liberty Civil Defense cuts it down to 50gr, resulting in problems. TAC-XPD is a great load if you want a lead-free hollow point that actually works. It gets 14" in gel, has near-zero flash, and offers notably reduced recoil. It doesn't like shorter barrels, though, so if your barrel is shorter than 3.3", maybe skip the TAC-XPD and upgrade to Corbon DPX. Because of the notably reduced recoil, it also is more sensitive to limp wristing.
Corbon DPX: Stick to the 115gr weight. Originally based on the Barnes TAC-XPD projectile but loaded a bit hotter, DPX is a phenomenal load, and one of the only lead-free hollow points that still functions properly from a 3" barrel. DPX deserves its own post, because the generational changes are interesting. I think this is the gold standard for lead-free duty-worthy hollow points.
Underwood, Buffalo Bore, Corbon, etc +P+ jacketed hollow points:
This includes when they use otherwise reputable projectiles like Gold Dots. When you take a projectile that was designed to expand at a specific velocity, and then you give it more powder to make it go >200fps faster than it should be going, what you get is reduced pe*******on and no increased effectiveness to show for it. I recommend against these loads, because they offer no real gain in effectiveness but will in return void your handgun's warranty, give you much more recoil, will put far more wear on your gun, and will cost quite a bit more. The only exception would be for very specific 10mm loads that were made for that much energy.
Re*****on Golden Saber: Soft non-recommend. Non-bonded projectile and inconsistent performance from shot to shot, combined with very inconsistent performance from caliber to caliber, leads to a soft non-recommend. But when they work properly, they do indeed get into the 12"-18" window as desired.
Federal Hydra-Shok: You don't need to throw them away, but I certainly wouldn't buy them. These are outdated. Just stick to HST's instead.
Sig V-crown: Subpar and unreliable expansion from anything under a 4" barrel, leading to deep pe*******on, sometimes over the 18" line. Also, V-crown has a weak crimp, leading to bullet setback far more easily than is considered acceptable. Mild avoid.
Any of the cheapo nameless bulk JHP's: Soft avoid. These aren't nearly as good as the reputable hollow points, but they're still better than the novelty stuff like RIP or Liberty Civil Defense. This is the PMC, Prvi Partizan, S&B, Fiocchi, IMI, WWB, etc ammo.
So with that knowledge, you now have a crash course on hollow points, which ones are good, and why the good ones are considered good.
Ope, there's the bell, so I guess we're out of time. Thank you for coming to JHP 101 and I hope you come to class next week.
For some out-of-class reading in preparation for next week, here's some supplemental materials, courtesy of Lucky Gunner:
Here is Lucky Gunner's ballistic gelatin testing:
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/
And here is the root page, for all of their testing:
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/
