Quote:
Originally Posted by ContinentalOp
Just my opinion, but with .380 I'd still prefer a good, deep pentrating JHP than FMJ. Rounds using the 90gr XTP bullet tend to perform well in terms of penetration. The Speer Gold Dot also seems to do well. My reasoning is that the open mouth of a JHP is more likely to actually cut and tear tissue, i.e. a "cookie cutter" effect, than FMJ, even if it doesn't expand. A FMJ will penetrate deeper, but it will stretch the tissue before breaking through it. After the bullet's passed through, the elastic nature of tissue will often cause it to spring back, leaving a hole that's actually smaller than the bullet's diameter. I'm not sure if a flatnosed FMJ would do much better than a roundnosed FMJ.
This is, of course, presuming the JHP round is reliable in the gun. I would prefer to find a gun/JHP combo that worked reliably than just default to FMJ, if at all possible. But I would rank reliability and shootability higher than terminal performance, so I wouldn't rule out using FMJ in .380, but it wouldn't be my first choice.
I know there are many people, however, who would disagree with me and stick with FMJ in .380s. To each their own.
|
If it were one of the larger sized .380's I'd be using the best JHP I could get, but in the little pocket sized guns that are meant for close quarters situations with short barrels and very little margin for error in their short action cycles, I just feel that FMJ is the way to go (even if the gun does cycle reliably on the range with JHP). I especially favor the round nose FMJ in the tiny guns, despite the agreed upon fact that these don't give the best wounding profiles- its all about ensuring reliability.
Doesn't matter what your loaded with if the gun goes click not bang, and for one of these little guns that are meant for desperate situations, that would be very bad.