hunting bullet styles

[terry-1]

I am reloading hunting rounds for my pistol and was wondering how a flat nose Full metal jacket would perform compared to a flat nose cast lead bullet at the same FPS and bullet weight? I was always told not to hunt with full metal jackets but it seems to me both rounds are just punching a hole with no expanding? Anyway thanks for any anwsers I am just getting starting in pistol hunting and reloading and this topic has been on my mind the last few days.

[Duffy]

If you could find a decent fmj with a large frontal flat area the same as a cast it should work as well but most jacketed FN bullets have a very small meplat. Just use .130 less than bore as an example. In other words the flat area is .130 smaller than the size of the bullet. Also be aware that some states do not allow FMJ for hunting.

[Mikey]

Duffy has a very good position on this issue and I appreciate his response.  I also feel you need to look at the 'real' shape of the bullet - most jacketed 'flatnose' bullets do not really have a flat nose with a 'sharp' edge to it like the cast swc bullet, they are ogived or rounded and their ability to leave an incapacitating wound channel by cutting a 'square hole' and giving necessary penetration is not as good as the same weight bullet in cast swc type configuration.  

I would say this is more the case in a revolver than a semi-auto where wadcutter shape bullets or other sharp edged flat nosed bullets really give the revolver a more effective bullet shape to use.  If semi-autos could feed square nose bullets as reliably as round noses, it would add a real boost to the capability of a semi-auto for field use.

About the easiest way to show the difference of the type of entry characteristics the bullet provides is to shoot both on a paper target - you will notice the 'flat nose' fmj does not cut a 'square hole' or one with a sharp edge - it cuts the same type of 'pushed through' hole that all fmjs cut with edges that close up after passage reducing the diameter of the entry hole.  Swc or wadcutter types cut 'square holes' or those that have sharp edges and those are more incapacitating.   And that's my two cents worth, lol.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Lloyd Smale]

what weve found in penetration testing is that because of there soft lead cores they tend to rivit when they hit bone and penetration then suffers. Without digging through all the data if memory serves me they didnt do much better then a soft point but slightly better then hollow points.