Brownells: Hollow Point vs Soft Point vs Ballistic Tip Bullets
BY Herschel Smith
3 years, 10 months ago
They didn’t get to it until the end, but use of a hollow point bullet also helps stability in flight. Explaining that fully would probably require an experienced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) engineer and some serious parallel processing computational time.
On February 4, 2021 at 6:07 am, Stanley said:
RE: When they reference improved rifle ballistic performance for hollow point projectiles, do they mean “hollow point” or do they actually mean “open tip”? There’s a difference.
It’s my understanding that an open tip projectile can be manufactured to more precise tolerances than FMJ or HP due to the way the jacket is drawn, and the very small opening in an open tip allows aerodynamic performance equal to FMJ projectiles. I believe the jacket material on open tip projectiles is also somewhat thicker than HP or FMJ projectiles because that offers reduced variance from specifications in drawing the jacket, and controlled expansion on target contact isn’t necessary. Coupled with more precision by reducing manufacturing variance which reduces performance variance, and that target shooters are concerned with near-perfection in only 2 of the 3 ballistic factors – internal and external ballistics, because terminal ballistics are not a factor with paper or steel targets – it’s understandable why the most accurate projectiles are open tip.
And, I agree – a complete explanation of why would probably require an unreasonable amount of hours on the part of several people highly experienced in fluid dynamics. I would assume there may be someone on staff at some of the ammunition, or more likely, the bullet manufacturers (or, maybe, they’re working for Elon Musk now, or defense system artillery specialists) who could provide the answers, but good luck finding them or interpreting their answers into manageable English and calculator-level math.
On February 4, 2021 at 2:45 pm, Ferris Bueller said:
Practice outdoors and retrieve slugs to see which ones expanded and which ones didn’t.
If it doesn’t expand then it is basically an FMJ at that point.
FMJ for penetrating obstacles and JHP for ending the battle is my mantra.
Some big name rounds are not very high rated and I had a misfire which blew off the ejection port cover and ruptured the barrel, luckily the operation was not of a blowback type.
The standards and quality of society in general is in terminal decline which is part of the reason we are headed south in hand basket at a high rate of speed.