upright=0.2, Cross-section of a hollow-point bullet; proportions are those of a cartridge">.22 Long Rifle cartridge
rounds. Left: Jacketed_soft_point_(JSP)_round._Right:_Jacketed_hollow-point_(JHP)_round._JSP_is_a_semi-jacketed_round_as_the_jacket_does_not_extend_to_the_tip.html" ;"title="soft point bullet">Jacketed soft point (JSP) round. Right: Jacketed hollow-point (JHP) round. JSP is a semi-jacketed round as the jacket does not extend to the tip">soft point bullet">Jacketed soft point (JSP) round. Right: Jacketed hollow-point (JHP) round. JSP is a semi-jacketed round as the jacket does not extend to the tip
Various hollow points: ,_.38_Special">.45_Auto,_.38_Special,_.44_S&W_Special.html" ;"title=".38_Special.html" ;"title=".45 Auto, .38 Special">.45 Auto, .38 Special, .44 S&W Special">.38_Special.html" ;"title=".45 Auto, .38 Special">.45 Auto, .38 Special, .44 S&W Special, .44 Remington Magnum
file:22-45.jpg, .45 ACP Federal HST 230gr hollow point cartridge, with two rounds of CCI Standard Velocity .22 Long Rifle, .22 LR for comparison purposes
file:40SW.jpg, .40 S&W round, complete cartridge and expanded bullet
file:Federal 9mm hollow point.jpg, A 9×19mm Parabellum, 9mm hollow point cartridge, along with unexpanded and expanded bullets. The expanded lead bullet and copper jacket are separated
A hollow-point bullet is a type of expanding bullet which expands on impact, causing a more lethal hit without penetrating further than necessary.
Hollow-point bullets are used for controlled penetration, where
overpenetration
Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ...
could cause
collateral damage
Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity. Originally coined by military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts.
Since the development of precision guided ...
(such as aboard an
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
). In
target shooting
Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms ( firearms and airguns, in forms su ...
, they are used for greater
accuracy
Accuracy and precision are two measures of ''observational error''.
''Accuracy'' is how close a given set of measurements (observations or readings) are to their ''true value'', while ''precision'' is how close the measurements are to each other ...
due to the larger
meplat
The meplat (from the French word "''méplat''" meaning "flat surface of a cylinder") is the technical term for the flat or open tip on the nose of a bullet. The shape of the meplat is important in determining how the bullet moves through the air. ...
. They are more accurate and predictable compared to
pointed bullet
A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. Bullets are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax. Bullets are made in various shapes and co ...
s which, despite having a higher
ballistic coefficient
In ballistics, the ballistic coefficient (BC, ''C'') of a body is a measure of its ability to overcome air resistance in flight. It is inversely proportional to the negative acceleration: a high number indicates a low negative acceleration—the d ...
(BC), are more sensitive to bullet harmonic characteristics and wind deflection.
Plastic-tipped bullet
A plastic-tipped bullet is a type of hollow-point bullet tipped with a nose cone made of synthetic polymer to give it a pointed spitzer-like shape.
Design and use
The bullets consist of a fairly normal hollow-point bullet with the fronta ...
s are a type of (
rifle
A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...
) bullet meant to confer the
aerodynamic
Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...
advantage of the
Spitzer bullet
The spitzer bullet (or spire point) is a pointed projectile that is primarily used in small-arms. The pointed nose shape, which was developed for military purposes in the late 19th and early 20th century, was a major design improvement compared ...
(for example, see
very-low-drag bullet
A very-low-drag bullet (VLD) is primarily a small arms ballistics development of the 1980s–1990s, driven by the design objective of bullets with higher degrees of accuracy and kinetic efficiency, especially at extended ranges. To achieve this, ...
) and the
stopping power
Stopping power is the ability of a weapon – typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm – to cause a target (human or animal) to be incapacitated or immobilized. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ...
of hollow-point bullets.
History
Solid lead bullets, when cast from a soft alloy, will often deform and provide some expansion if they hit the target at a high velocity. This, combined with the limited velocity and penetration attainable with muzzleloading firearms, meant there was little need for extra expansion.
The first hollow-point bullets were marketed in the late 19th century as ''express bullets'', and were hollowed out to reduce the bullet's mass and provide higher velocities. In addition to providing increased velocities, the hollow also turned out to provide significant expansion, especially when the bullets were cast in a soft
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...
. Originally intended for rifles, the popular
.32-20
The .32-20 Winchester, also known as .32 WCF (Winchester center fire), was the first small-game lever-action cartridge that
Winchester produced. ,
.38-40
The .38-40 Winchester is actually a .40 caliber (10 mm) cartridge shooting .401" (10.2 mm) caliber bullets. The cartridge was introduced by Winchester in 1874 and is derived from their .44-40 Winchester. This cartridge was introduced f ...
, and
.44-40
The .44-40 Winchester, also known as .44 Winchester, .44 WCF (Winchester Center Fire), and .44 Largo (in Spanish-speaking countries) was introduced in 1873 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It was the first metallic centerfire cartridge ma ...
calibers could also be fired in
revolver
A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
s.
With the advent of
smokeless powder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...
, velocities increased, and bullets got smaller, faster, and lighter. These new bullets (especially in rifles) needed to be jacketed to handle the conditions of firing. The new
full metal jacket
''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel ''The Short-Timers'' and stars Matthew M ...
bullets tended to penetrate straight through a target causing less internal damage than a bullet that expands and stops in its target. This led to the development of the
soft point bullet
A soft-point bullet (SP), also known as a soft-nosed bullet, is a jacketed expanding bullet with a soft metal core enclosed by a stronger metal jacket left open at the forward tip. A soft-point bullet is intended to expand upon striking flesh to ...
and later jacketed hollow-point bullets at the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
in
Dum Dum
Dum Dum is a city and a municipality of Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of Kolkata urban area and also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).
Etymology
During the 19th ...
, near
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
around 1890. Designs included the
.303" Mk III, IV & V and the
.455" Mk III "Manstopper" cartridges. Although such bullet designs were quickly outlawed for use in warfare (in 1898, the
Germans
, native_name_lang = de
, region1 =
, pop1 = 72,650,269
, region2 =
, pop2 = 534,000
, region3 =
, pop3 = 157,000
3,322,405
, region4 =
, pop4 = ...
complained they breached the
Laws of War
The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...
), they steadily gained ground among hunters due to the ability to control the expansion of the new high velocity cartridges. In modern ammunition, the use of hollow points is primarily limited to handgun ammunition, which tends to operate at much lower velocities than rifle ammunition (on the order of versus over 2,000 feet per second). At rifle velocities, a hollow point is not needed for reliable expansion and most rifle ammunition makes use of tapered jacket designs to achieve the mushrooming effect. At the lower handgun velocities, hollow point designs are generally the only design which will expand reliably.
Modern hollowpoint bullet designs use many different methods to provide controlled expansion, including:
* Jackets that are thinner near the front than the rear to allow easy expansion at the beginning, then a reduced expansion rate.
* Partitions in the middle of the bullet core to stop expansion at a given point.
* Bonding the lead core to the copper jacket to prevent separation and fragmentation.
* Fluted or otherwise weakened jackets to encourage expansion or fragmentation.
* Posts in the hollow cavity to cause hydraulic expansion of the bullet in tissue. While very effective in lightly clothed targets, these bullet types tend to plug up with heavy clothing materials that results in the bullet not expanding.
* Solid copper hollow points, which are far stronger than jacketed lead, and provide controlled, uniform expansion even at high velocities.
* Plastic inserts in the hollow, which provide the same profile as a full-metal-jacketed round (such as the
Hornady
Hornady Manufacturing Company is an American manufacturer of ammunition cartridges, components and handloading equipments, based in Grand Island, Nebraska.
History
The company is currently run by Joyce Hornady's son, Steve Hornady, who took over ...
V-Max bullet). The plastic insert initiates the expansion of the bullet by being forced into the hollow cavity upon impact.
* Plastic inserts in the hollow to provide the same profile for feeding in semiautomatic and automatic weapons as a full-metal-jacketed round but that separate on firing while in flight or in the barrel (such as the German Geco "Action Safety" 9 mm round)
Mechanism
![Halvmantlad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Halvmantlad.jpg)
When a hollow-point hunting bullet strikes a
soft target, the pressure created in the pit forces the material (usually
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
) around the inside edge to expand outwards, increasing the axial diameter of the projectile as it passes through. This process is commonly referred to as ''
mushrooming'', because the resulting shape, a widened, rounded nose on top of a cylindrical base, typically resembles a
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...
.
The greater frontal surface area of the expanded bullet limits its depth of penetration into the target, and causes more extensive tissue damage along the wound path. Many hollow-point bullets, especially those intended for use at high velocity in
centerfire
Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center
A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike rim ...
rifles, are ''jacketed'', i.e. a portion of the lead-cored bullet is wrapped in a thin layer of harder metal, such as
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
,
brass
Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...
, or
mild steel
Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states:
* no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...
. This jacket provides additional strength to the bullet, increases penetration, and can help prevent it from leaving deposits of lead inside the
bore. In ''controlled expansion'' bullets, the jacket and other internal design characteristics help to prevent the bullet from breaking apart; a fragmented bullet will not penetrate as far.
Accuracy
![proload](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Proload.png)
For bullets designed for target shooting, some such as the Sierra "Matchking" incorporate a cavity in the nose, called the
meplat
The meplat (from the French word "''méplat''" meaning "flat surface of a cylinder") is the technical term for the flat or open tip on the nose of a bullet. The shape of the meplat is important in determining how the bullet moves through the air. ...
. This allows the manufacturer to maintain a greater consistency in tip shape and thus aerodynamic properties among bullets of the same design, at the expense of a slightly decreased
ballistic coefficient
In ballistics, the ballistic coefficient (BC, ''C'') of a body is a measure of its ability to overcome air resistance in flight. It is inversely proportional to the negative acceleration: a high number indicates a low negative acceleration—the d ...
and higher drag. The result is a slightly decreased overall accuracy between bullet trajectory and barrel direction, as well as an increased susceptibility to wind drift, but closer grouping of subsequent shots due to bullet consistency, often increasing the shooter's perceived accuracy.
The manufacturing process of hollow-point bullets also produces a flat, uniformly-shaped base on the bullet which allegedly increases accuracy by providing a more consistent piston surface for the expanding gases of the cartridge.
Testing
Terminal ballistics
Terminal ballistics (also known as wound ballistics) is a sub-field of ballistics concerned with the behavior and effects of a projectile when it hits and transfers its energy to a target.
Bullet design (as well as the velocity of impact) larg ...
testing of hollow point bullets is generally performed in
ballistic gelatin
Ballistic gelatin is a testing medium designed to simulate the effects of bullet wounds in animal muscle tissue. It was developed and improved by Martin Fackler and others in the field of wound ballistics. It is calibrated to match porcine muscl ...
, or some other medium intended to simulate tissue and cause a hollow point bullet to expand. Test results are generally given in terms of expanded diameter, penetration depth, and weight retention. Expanded diameter is an indication of the size of the wound cavity, penetration depth shows if vital organs could be reached by the bullet, and weight retention indicates how much of the bullet mass fragmented and separated from the main body of the bullet. How these factors are interpreted depends on the intended use of the bullet, and there are no universally agreed-upon ideal metrics.
Legislation
The
Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, prohibited the use in ''international warfare'' of bullets that easily expand or flatten in the body.
It is a common misapprehension that hollow-point ammunition is prohibited by the
Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
, as the prohibition significantly predates those conventions. The
Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868
The Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868 or in full Declaration Renouncing the Use, in Time of War, of Explosive Projectiles Under 400 Grammes Weight is an international treaty agreed in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, November 29 / December 11, ...
banned exploding projectiles of less than 400 grams, along with weapons designed to aggravate injured soldiers or make their death inevitable.
Despite the widespread ban on military use, hollow-point bullets are one of the most common types of bullets used by civilians and
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
, which is due largely to the reduced risk of bystanders being hit by over-penetrating or
ricocheted bullets, and the increased speed of incapacitation.
In many
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
Jur ...
s, even ones such as the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, where expanding and any other kind of ammunition is only allowed to a
Firearms certificate
In the United Kingdom, access by the general public to firearms is subject to some of the strictest control measures in the world. However, fulfilment of the criteria and requirements as laid out by the laws results in the vast majority of fir ...
holder, it is illegal to
hunt
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, et ...
certain types of
game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
with ammunition that does ''not'' expand.
United Kingdom
Most ammunition types, including hollow-point bullets, are only allowed to a section 1
firearms certificate
In the United Kingdom, access by the general public to firearms is subject to some of the strictest control measures in the world. However, fulfilment of the criteria and requirements as laid out by the laws results in the vast majority of fir ...
(FAC) holder. The FAC holder must have the calibre in question as a valid allowance on his or her licence. A valid firearms certificate allows the holder to use ball,
full metal jacket
''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel ''The Short-Timers'' and stars Matthew M ...
, hollow point and ballistic-tipped ammunition for range use and vermin control. A firearms certificate will only be issued to any individual who can provide good reason to the police for the possession of firearms and their ammunition. Until recently all expanding ammunition fell under section 5 of the
Firearms Act 1968
The Firearms Act 1968c 27 is a UK Act of Parliament, controlling use and possession of firearms.
Since 1968, the act has been extensively amended. Following the Hungerford massacre, the Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 extended the class of prohibi ...
and was only allowed when conditions were entered onto an FAC by the police. This condition would allow expanding ammunition to be used for:
* the lawful shooting of
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
* the shooting of
vermin
Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterpr ...
or, in the case of carrying on activities in connection with the management of any estate, other
wildlife
Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...
* the humane killing of animals
* the shooting of animals for the protection of other animals or humans
Some ammunition types are still prohibited under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968. Ammunition that explodes on impact or any
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
that is intended for military use are examples of this.
Popular calibres used in the
UK for
vermin
Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterpr ...
,
fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
and
deer
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
control are as follows:
.223 Remington
The .223 Remington (designated as the 223 Remington by the SAAMI and 223 Rem by the CIP) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command ...
,
.243 Winchester,
.308 Winchester
The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...
,
.22-250
The .22-250 Remington is a very high-velocity, short action, .22 caliber rifle cartridge primarily used for varmint hunting and small game hunting. It is capable of reaching over 4000 feet per second. It does find occasional use by women and yo ...
amongst others, all using hollow-point bullets. Many rimfire calibres also use expanding ammunition such as
.22 Long Rifle
The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...
,
.22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire
The .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire, also called .22 WMR, .22 Magnum, .22 WMRF, .22 MRF, or .22 Mag, is a rimfire cartridge. Originally loaded with a bullet weight of delivering velocities in the range from a rifle barrel, .22 WMR is now loaded ...
and
.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire
.17 Hornady Magnum Rimfire, commonly known as the .17 HMR, is a rimfire rifle cartridge developed by Hornady in 2002. It was developed by necking down a .22 Magnum case to take a .17 caliber (4.5 mm) projectile. Commonly loaded with a 17 ...
.
United States
The United States is one of few major powers that did not agree to IV-3 of the
Hague Convention of 1899, and thus is able to use this kind of
ammunition
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
in warfare, but the United States ratified the second (1907) Hague Convention IV-23, which says "To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering", similar to IV-3 of the first Convention. For years the United States military respected this Convention and refrained from the use of expanding ammunition, and even made special FMJ .22LR ammunition for use in
High Standard pistols that were issued to the OSS agents and the Savage Model 24 .22/.410 combination guns issued in the E series of air crew survival kits. After announcing consideration of using hollow point ammunition for
side arm
Sidearm, side-arm or Side Arm(s) may refer to:
*Sidearm (weapon), a backup weapon
*Sidearm (baseball), a baseball throwing technique
*Sidearm, a flying disc (Frisbee) throw
*'' Side Arms Hyper Dyne'', a 1986 arcade game
*AGM-122 Sidearm
The ...
s, with a possible start date of 2018,
the United States Army began production of M1153 special purpose ammunition for the
9×19mm Parabellum
The 9×19mm Parabellum (also known as 9mm Parabellum or 9mm Luger or simply 9mm) is a rimless, tapered firearms cartridge.
Originally designed by Austrian firearm designer Georg Luger in 1901, it is widely considered the most popular handgun a ...
with a jacketed hollow point bullet at per second for use in situations where limited over-penetration of targets is necessary to reduce
collateral damage
Collateral damage is any death, injury, or other damage inflicted that is an incidental result of an activity. Originally coined by military operations, it is now also used in non-military contexts.
Since the development of precision guided ...
.
The state of
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
bans possession of hollow point bullets by
civilian
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...
s, except for ammunition possessed at one's own dwellings, premises, or other lands owned or possessed, or for, while and traveling to and from hunting with a hunting license if otherwise legal for the particular game. The law also requires all hollow point ammunition to be transported directly from the place of purchase to one's home or premises, or hunting area, or by members of a rifle or pistol club directly to a place of target practice, or directly to an authorized target range from the place of purchase or one's home or premises.
The United States military uses open-tip ammunition in some
sniper
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
rifles due to its exceptional accuracy.
W. Hays Parks, Colonel, USMC, Chief of the JAG's International Law Branch, has argued that this ammunition is not prohibited by military convention in that the wounds that it produces are similar to
full metal jacket ammunition
A full metal jacket (FMJ) bullet is a small-arms projectile consisting of a soft core (often lead) encased in an outer shell ("jacket") of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel, or, less commonly, a steel alloy. A bullet jacket usual ...
in practice.
Winchester Black Talon controversy
![Winchester Black Talon 9mm (detail)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Winchester_Black_Talon_9mm_%28detail%29.jpg)
In early 1992,
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
introduced the "Black Talon", a newly designed hollow-point handgun bullet which used a specially designed, reverse tapered jacket. The jacket was cut at the hollow to intentionally weaken it, and these cuts allowed the jacket to open into six petals upon impact. The thick jacket material kept the tips of the jacket from bending as easily as a normal thickness jacket. The slits that weakened the jacket left triangular shapes in the tip of the jacket, and these triangular sections of jacket would end up pointing out after expansion, leading to the "Talon" name. The bullets were coated with a black colored, paint-like lubricant called "Lubalox", and loaded into nickel-plated brass cases, which made them visually stand out from other ammunition. While performance of the Black Talon rounds was not significantly better than any other comparable high performance hollow-point ammunition, the reverse taper jacket did provide reliable expansion under a wide range of conditions, and many police departments adopted the round.
Winchester's "Black Talon" product name was eventually used against them. After the high-profile 1993
101 California Street shooting
The 101 California Street Shooting was a mass shooting on July 1, 1993, in San Francisco, California. The killings sparked a number of legal and legislative actions that were precursors to the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, H.R. ...
in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, media response against Winchester was swift. "This bullet kills you better", says one report; "its six razorlike claws unfold on impact, expanding to nearly three times the bullet's diameter".
A concern was raised by the president of the
American College of Emergency Physicians
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) is a professional organization of emergency medicine physicians in the United States.
The organization was founded August 16, 1968, by eight physicians in Lansing, Michigan. ACEP established ...
(ACEP) that the sharp edges of the jacket could cut medical personnel's skin and risk spread of disease. An ACEP spokesman later said he was not aware of any such cases.
Winchester responded to the media criticism of the Black Talon line by removing it from the commercial market and only selling it to law enforcement distributors. Winchester has since discontinued the sale of the Black Talon entirely, although Winchester does manufacture very similar ammunition, the Ranger T-Series and the Supreme Elite Bonded PDX1.
See also
*
List of handgun cartridges
List of handgun cartridges, approximately in order of increasing caliber.
Table of handgun cartridges
{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left"
, -
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References
External links
High speed video!-- Not sure if WayBack Machine link is correct, or even if the page existed in the first place. Please verify and correct if needed. --> clips of several Barnes expanding bullets on impact. The 180 grain .308 bullet shows an ideal mushroom shape in the
ballistic gelatin
Ballistic gelatin is a testing medium designed to simulate the effects of bullet wounds in animal muscle tissue. It was developed and improved by Martin Fackler and others in the field of wound ballistics. It is calibrated to match porcine muscl ...
, and clearly shows the ripples in the temporary cavity formed by the spinning bullet.
History of commercial hollow-point bullet molds going back to the 1890s.
Precision Shooter, March, 1996. A comparison test of four different
.30-06 hollow-point bullets, showing how performance is measured and compared.
{{Handloading
Bullets
Paramilitary cartridges