Just a musing before I nod off. I was at a place Friday that sold Hornaday XTP hollow point pistol bullets for reloading. I am just wondering why?

 

No one reccomends reloaded ammo for defense. This place was in PA so maybe it is for hunting?

Shooting hollow points has its benefits.

 

to me... in order of importance.

 

1. Cleaner holes in targets.

2. Less to clean, cleaner shooting as the base is not exposed.

3. No exposed lead base, so to me, better for health.

 

Lastly, speaking with Rob Pincus at Shot Show, no reason why you cannot shoot reloads for self defense.

Make your own hunting loads for non-Nanny states that permit hunting with handguns.

Most of the experts recommend that you do not make your own self defense ammo. A prosecutor might say you created extra deadly ammo. Also, ballistics tests could be difficult since you are not using ammo with known and consistent characteristics. Others say this is total BS. Who knows?

My thoughts are that using the same gun and ammunition as your local LE agency is the safest route against your choice of gun or ammo being turned into an argument in court. Anything they try to spin against your choice, would in effect be saying the same things of the local LE agency.

 

That being said, after starting to reload, I started asking myself this same question again. This topic was one of my first posts on the forum here, and I remember others' argument that deadly force is deadly force no matter what kind of bullet or ammo that you use.

 

Think about it.. No matter what , stuff can be twisted against you, so my new thinking is shifting towards using the ammo / loads that you feel most comfortable with no matter what they are.

 

LE ammo - "Oh so you think you are a cop now, Mr Vigilante?"

Hunting ammo - "Oh, so you want to hunt humans, you had your chance didn't you"

Self defense ammo - "Oh, so you were just waiting for an opportunity to try your exploding designed to kill humans ammo"

Cowboy ammo - "Oh, so you think you're a cowboy now? You act like you live in the wild west?"

Target ammo - "Oh, so you view people as targets... ehe Looks like you got your headshot here"

Cheap plinking ammo - "Oh, so you view people as things to "plink" off the face of the earth, and you have 4,000 rounds of the stuff also!"

Reloaded ammo - "Oh, so you like to create extra deadly human killing ammo, and couldn't wait to test it out"

 

LE ammo - "Oh so you think you are a cop now, Mr Vigilante?"

Hunting ammo - "Oh, so you want to hunt humans, you had your chance didn't you"

Self defense ammo - "Oh, so you were just waiting for an opportunity to try your exploding designed to kill humans ammo"

Cowboy ammo - "Oh, so you think you're a cowboy now? You act like you live in the wild west?"

Target ammo - "Oh, so you view people as targets... ehe Looks like you got your headshot here"

Cheap plinking ammo - "Oh, so you view people as things to "plink" off the face of the earth, and you have 4,000 rounds of the stuff also!"

Reloaded ammo - "Oh, so you like to create extra deadly human killing ammo, and couldn't wait to test it out"

 

+1 they will spin anything any way they can against you.

Shooting hollow points has its benefits.

 

to me... in order of importance.

 

1. Cleaner holes in targets.

2. Less to clean, cleaner shooting as the base is not exposed.

3. No exposed lead base, so to me, better for health.

 

Lastly, speaking with Rob Pincus at Shot Show, no reason why you cannot shoot reloads for self defense.

 

I am relatively new to relaoding so I have only purchased two bulet types. I started with some Nosler HP's but found the Rainier Lead safe online to be much cheaper. They don't have an exposed base and I really like them.

 

But I am interested to know how a hollow point makes a cleaner hole?

My thoughts are that using the same gun and ammunition as your local LE agency is the safest route against your choice of gun or ammo being turned into an argument in court. Anything they try to spin against your choice, would in effect be saying the same things of the local LE agency.

 

That being said, after starting to reload, I started asking myself this same question again. This topic was one of my first posts on the forum here, and I remember others' argument that deadly force is deadly force no matter what kind of bullet or ammo that you use.

 

 

Interesting. I had thought to myself that no matter what I would use aprofessional round for defense just because of the reliability. I only have 30 total HD rounds in the house; two mags worth.

 

I chose not to buy HP's to reload after my first 250 because I thought it might look bad having 1000 hollow point bullets sitting around the house. In this state that could mean something to a jury as well. 1000 Flat tip FMJ probably could be construed badly as well, but at least it doesn't have that extra boogey man BS attached to it like hollow points.

But I am interested to know how a hollow point makes a cleaner hole?

 

Acts like a wadcutter. Punches a hole through target vs fmj pushing and tearing material out of the way.

On top of what Maks said which is all %100 spot on, they are more accurate due to the flat jacketed base and due to the center of graviity more shifted to the rear. Thats why match rifle rounds are hollow points.

I thought they created a pocket of air in front of the bullet, creating more in flight stability through less air friction.

Cool. Thanks for setting me straight guys.

 

 

Now, how premium do your bullets need to be for that accuracy? Would you take Hornaday XTP reloads to a match or some other cheaper hollow point?

I shoot plated bullets all the time, but I suck too much for bullet choice to cause much of a difference. If I were to shoot an area match or something where money was on the line, I would go for a quality jacketed bullet, such as montana gold or precision delta.

I shoot plated bullets all the time, but I suck too much for bullet choice to cause much of a difference. If I were to shoot an area match or something where money was on the line, I would go for a quality jacketed bullet, such as montana gold or precision delta.

 

I bought that line of thinking for awhile. However I needed some bullets to make some minor loads up for the steel match. Picked up some montana gold bullets locally and made up some rounds. I can say that they are not as accurate out of my m&p as the berrys I used prior. I think it might have been because the berrys are a touch bigger then the montana golds that the rifling bites into them better. I would have to play around with them some more to be sure.

I don't mess with them anymore cause I struggled with the OAL being too long

for some guns and too short for others. It was a pain in the a** to really zero

it in. I'm sticking with round nose going forward.

 

If there is a difference in accuracy I don't shoot well enough to exploit it. Plus

for my intents and purposes I don't have to be super accurate. In competitive

shooting so long as it hit s a paper plate 25 yards away free hand it's pretty

much good enough. Least in my experience.

Shooting hollow points has its benefits.

 

to me... in order of importance.

 

1. Cleaner holes in targets.

2. Less to clean, cleaner shooting as the base is not exposed.

3. No exposed lead base, so to me, better for health.

 

Lastly, speaking with Rob Pincus at Shot Show, no reason why you cannot shoot reloads for self defense.

 

You left off 4) they tend to be more accurate because of the rearward shift of weight and generally longer bullet for the same weight. In a poor aerodynamic package like a pistol bullet, this helps. It's not a massive difference, but it is noticeable.

 

Also 5) if you have a comp, the covered base prevents fouling of the comp from lead.

You left off 4) they tend to be more accurate because of the rearward shift of weight and generally longer bullet for the same weight. In a poor aerodynamic package like a pistol bullet, this helps. It's not a massive difference, but it is noticeable.

 

Post #10

 

 

Post #10

 

It's the power of the smartphone. Sometimes it doesn't reload the page when locking it, and I can be missing hours of comments.