Hollow points vs full metal jacket

[Petalpusher]

Do hollow points destroy your gun barrel? I was told they do. I just bought a Glock 42, my first gun ever, for protection. It's a .380, and I would like to load with hp for carrying, I was told full to use metal jacket for practice.
No technical talk please. I'm pretty new to this.

 

[Spencir]

Hollow points will not hurt your barrel. Use FMJ for practice, because it's much cheaper than using hollow points. You should absolutely use hollow points when you carry.

 

[romad7]

I haven't heard this. Some defense ammo has more power so using it a lot could cause extra wear on your gun. It would be a lot more expensive to practice a lot with defense loads.

The hollowpoint part doesn't touch the barrel so it shouldn't wear the barrel any more than an FMJ.

For cost reasons alone, it is preferable to train with FMJ but carry HP. Just run a hundred or so of your carry ammo through your gun to make sure it works fine with that ammo.

 

[Woobie]

FMJ or plated for practice because it's cheap.

HP, or some variant thereof, for carry.

Not your fault, OP, but the gun myths abound, and I'm continually surprised at the ones that keep popping up. I haven't heard this one before. Glad you're asking the questions, keep it up!

 

[MCgrease08]

I'm thinking whoever told you this was referring to some defensive ammo that's rated +p or +p+. Those are higher pressure loads designed to make the bullet travel faster.

These "hotter" loads do put more pressure on your barrel so using them exclusively could wear out your barrel faster. But we're talking over the course of thousand of rounds, not a couple of boxes of ammo.

You will need to test at least a couple of boxes of any defensive ammo you plan to carry just to make sure it functions well in your individual gun. I have a Glock 42 and it can be picky about the type if jhp ammo it likes.

Of course there are others who will tell you to use regular ball ammo in a .380 to get better penetration from the lighter bullet, but that's a whole other topic.

 

[ajeandy]

I own a g42 as well. the hollow point doesnt start expanding until it hits something, so effectively its no different.

I'd recommend hornady American Gunner jjps or Gold Dots jhp.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Yeah, your buddy is full of it.

Welcome to INGO by the way...

 

[billybob44]

use regular ball ammo in a .380 to get better penetration

First-WELCOME to INGO!!!

As for ammo in your Glock 42..NO Hollow point bullets will NOT hurt your Glock..

Here's the thing--.380 ACP is the very LOWEST powered caliber that a person would want to use for self defense. You will get a better "Stopping" shot with Full Metal Jacket bullets in the .380 ACP.

You NEED all the penetration that you can get with this small caliber....Bill.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

As stated, no, it won't hurt your barrel. The part of the bullet that touches the barrel is same-same for hollowpoint or for FMJ. VERY VERY few shooters will every shoot enough to actually wear out a pistol barrel.

As for HP to carry, do your research. I'm a detective who works a lot of people shot and haven't really made up my mind with it comes to .380. HP can be pretty inconsistent in penetration in this caliber, but ball can overpenetrate on soft tissue only hits, and of course does not damage to blood vessels.

 

[Snapdragon]

I'm also wondering if they meant the uncoated lead hollowpoint bullets, which do foul your barrel more. I avoid unplated lead in all of my handguns.

 

[ajeandy]

idk...I've never shot any uncoated lead...

 

[Bigtanker]

I'm also wondering if they meant the uncoated lead hollowpoint bullets, which do foul your barrel more. I avoid unplated lead in all of my handguns.

Good point Snap.

Welcome to INGO.

A little info for you on Glocks. The rifling in a Glock barrel is polygonal. Shooting raw lead bullets can cause bad leading of the barrel. Some say it is a myth, but I'm not a Golck guy so I can't say for sure.

 

[WebSnyper]

Do hollow points destroy your gun barrel? I was told they do. I just bought a Glock 42, my first gun ever, for protection. It's a .380, and I would like to load with hp for carrying, I was told full to use metal jacket for practice.
No technical talk please. I'm pretty new to this.

I'm also wondering if they meant the uncoated lead hollowpoint bullets, which do foul your barrel more. I avoid unplated lead in all of my handguns.

Good point Snap.

Welcome to INGO.

A little info for you on Glocks. The rifling in a Glock barrel is polygonal. Shooting raw lead bullets can cause bad leading of the barrel. Some say it is a myth, but I'm not a Golck guy so I can't say for sure.

The above are correct. If your buddy indicated that shooting lead, non jacketed bullets from a Glock OEM barrel could cause issues, then he would be correct.

If in fact he told you that JHPs (non +p or +p+) would cause you a problem in your barrel, it is time to start taking your gun advice from someone else.

Leading a polygonal rifled barrel can cause issues (it won't be a first shot thing, but it can cause issues if you allow it to gather lead excessively). That said there are people who do it/have done it for long periods of time without issue, but I'm guessing they also maintain and clean the bore well, and therefore avoid the issue.

Also, the best advice would be for you to shoot a decent amount (not a single mag) of whatever ammo you plan to carry in the gun, before you get into a self defense situation. Don't load up your new gun (even if it is a Glock or other brand noted for reliability) with JHPs and shove it in the holster to carry. Make sure every part of your EDC in combination works as intended before you need it to do so.

As others have stated, +p and +p+ ammo can cause issues over time, and may not generally be comfortable to shoot in a subcompact or smaller gun anyway. However, if you intend to carry +p or +p+ ammo, you should still put a fair amount through the gun in advance at the range. Just don't make it your every day at the range ammo (cost would probably be prohibitive to do that anyway).

 

[MohawkSlim]

Being as untechnical as possible -

A long time ago the steel used to make gun barrels wasn't as good as the steel we see in modern guns today. The rifling of the barrel would, over time, wear down when hard metals on bullets would scrape against it as they were shot.

Lead is a really soft metal so it doesn't cause any damage to the steel when shot but it does cause it to get gunked up ("fouled") over time and that decreases accuracy, causes other issues (like the old Elmer Fudd stuff) and is just generally undesirable. As such, lead bullets started being encased in another metal like copper. This copper "jacket" would act as a barrier between the lead and the steel of the barrel.

As that evolution occured sometimes other, harder, metals like brass would be used as jackets and, over time, those harder metals would wear down the steel in barrels. Since there's more exposed metal in a hollow point than there is in a jacketed round, the myth of "hollow points will wear down your barrel faster than FMJs" was born.

Today, the steel in the barrels is much stronger and hard metal isn't really used to jacket bullets. Like all gun myths, there was maybe some truth to it for that transitive period when folks were using different combinations of steel and hard metal jackets. But the idea that modern JHPs will wear out your barrel is hogwash. Maybe after 5,000 rounds or so it could wear it down a bit but the average G42 shooter will shoot a couple hundred JHPs - if that - out of their barrel and, at best, a couple thousand FMJs.

In short, shoot whatever modern factory ammo you can and you'll be fine.

 

[pudly]

As others have stated, +p and +p+ ammo can cause issues over time, and may not generally be comfortable to shoot in a subcompact or smaller gun anyway. However, if you intend to carry +p or +p+ ammo, you should still put a fair amount through the gun in advance at the range. Just don't make it your every day at the range ammo (cost would probably be prohibitive to do that anyway).

Please be aware that you shouldn't use .380 +P ammo in a Glock 42. Why?

• Unlike many other rounds, there is no standards around .380 +p pressures and I'm not aware of any manufacturers that endorse the use of .380 +p.
• Glock does not endorse the use of .380 +p rounds. It may not cause any damage to your firearm, but it also may not work properly.

Since the .380 is considered a marginal self-defense round, there has been a long-standing debate about using FMJ (solid) vs. using HP (hollow point) bullets. Unfortunately, .380 FMJs will over-penetrate, while most .380 HPs tend to under-penetrate. ShootingTheBull410 has done an excellent series of YouTube videos providing detailed analysis of .380 HP rounds. I understand if you aren't enough of an ammo geek to want to view all of the videos, but the OP should at least view his "best of" video below.

[video=youtube_share;GNtPHYwcDts]http://youtu.be/GNtPHYwcDts[/video]

The original .380 tests were done in 2013 with a micro pistol, but ShootingTheBull410 did an update for the G42 in 2014 that didn't change the results significantly.

 

[WebSnyper]

Please be aware that you shouldn't use .380 +P ammo in a Glock 42. Why?

• Unlike many other rounds, there is no standards around .380 +p pressures and I'm not aware of any manufacturers that endorse the use of .380 +p.
• Glock does not endorse the use of .380 +p rounds. It may not cause any damage to your firearm, but it also may not work properly.

Thanks, I should have included those disclaimers. Great point. From some past reading (assuming it is still current), I think SAAMI only recognizes a few +p loads (38 special +p, 9mm +p, 45 ACP +p and 38 Super +p) and no +p+. (from a bit more looking this appears to be the reference http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/specifications/Velocity_Pressure_CfPR.pdf )

Personally I'm not a fan of +p or +p+ especially in a subcompact or smaller. I didn't like the .40 in those size guns, I'm definitely not going to like a +p or +p+

My main point though was that the OP should be aware that whatever ammo he is going to carry for defense, he should shoot enough of it to understand how the gun behaves with it and if it will function, etc.

 

[ajeandy]

Please be aware that you shouldn't use .380 +P ammo in a Glock 42. Why?

• Unlike many other rounds, there is no standards around .380 +p pressures and I'm not aware of any manufacturers that endorse the use of .380 +p.
• Glock does not endorse the use of .380 +p rounds. It may not cause any damage to your firearm, but it also may not work properly.

Since the .380 is considered a marginal self-defense round, there has been a long-standing debate about using FMJ (solid) vs. using HP (hollow point) bullets. Unfortunately, .380 FMJs tend to over penetrate, while most .380 HPs tend to under-penetrate. ShootingTheBull410 has done an excellent series of YouTube video's providing detailed analysis of .380 HP rounds. I understand if you aren't enough of an ammo geek to want to view all of the details, but the OP should at least view his "best of" selections.

[video=youtube_share;GNtPHYwcDts]http://youtu.be/GNtPHYwcDts[/video]

The original .380 tests were done in 2013 with a micro pistol, but ShootingTheBull410 did an update for the G42 in 2014 that didn't change the results significantly.

He also tested Lehigh defense rounds, which proved to perform excellent, yet people still say they're worthless. They're worthless to me because of the cost, but I like how people are set in their ways regardless of facts. I went with the Hornady American Gunner 380 because of the XTP bullet and the lower cost vs Hornady Custom despite being the exact same ammo.

 

[Spear Dane]

Do hollow points destroy your gun barrel? I was told they do. I just bought a Glock 42, my first gun ever, for protection. It's a .380, and I would like to load with hp for carrying, I was told full to use metal jacket for practice.
No technical talk please. I'm pretty new to this.

I've been told it's also a good idea for your practice ammo round to be the same weight as your carry round as different weights will shoot and recoil differently. Makes sense to me.

 

[bobjones223]

First-WELCOME to INGO!!!

As for ammo in your Glock 42..NO Hollow point bullets will NOT hurt your Glock..

Here's the thing--.380 ACP is the very LOWEST powered caliber that a person would want to use for self defense. You will get a better "Stopping" shot with Full Metal Jacket bullets in the .380 ACP.

You NEED all the penetration that you can get with this small caliber....Bill.

Ohhhh back to the 9mm v/s 45 argument.... I have heard both sides about the .380 and actually had a guy I work with aske me the same thing..."What hollow point should I get for my new .380?".....I said...."Can of worms open now!"....instill have no good answer... H.P. v/s F.M.J. in a .380????? I still don't know the answers.... I carry H.P.'s just because they make me feel better but have NO IDEA if they truly are any better in the .380.

 

[pudly]

Ohhhh back to the 9mm v/s 45 argument.... I have heard both sides about the .380 and actually had a guy I work with aske me the same thing..."What hollow point should I get for my new .380?".....I said...."Can of worms open now!"....instill have no good answer... H.P. v/s F.M.J. in a .380????? I still don't know the answers.... I carry H.P.'s just because they make me feel better but have NO IDEA if they truly are any better in the .380.

Then you really should listen to someone who has put in the effort to make an informed decision: https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/ammunition-reloading/400897-hollow-points-vs-full-metal-jacket-2.html#post6248628