hollow point bullets and auto brake lines

Back in the 1980s, my grandfather complained about a DOT regulation about automotive brake lines. The regulation required them to be steel, not copper.

For those who do not know, auto brakes are hydrolic. Pressure on the fluid inside metal tubes, the brake lines, makes the brakes work. The DOT came to the conclusion that since steel is stronger than copper, it makes a safer brake line.

While this seems like a perfectly reasonable conclusion, the actually facts of driving in the North caused him to doubt it. Winter roads are corrosive because of the salt used by the state to melt ice. This causes steel brake lines to rust. Copper does not rust, so a copper line is stronger than a half-rusted steel line.

Last week I heard John Stewart express concern over hollow point bullets which he suggested belong in the military. With respect to one of the smartest, most honest guys on TV, he's wrong. Here is why.

Pistol bullets come in many varieties for different applications. Practice rounds are generally of the "full metal jacket" (FMJ) variety as they are the cheapest. The projectile is completely encased in copper. Defensive rounds tend to be hollow point. The nose of the bullet has a recessed cavity. When that bullet hits something, the depression flattens out, making the bullet much wider than it originally was. Criminals seem to prefer FMJs because they are cheap.

One HP shot will cause more damage than one FMJ bullet. In actual practice, however, FMJ rounds are prone to "over penetration." That means the bullet might hit the "bad guy," go through him, and hit someone behind him. Or, if you miss, the bullet might go through the wall and harm a neighbor. By "mushrooming," the HP is more likely to stay in the assailant's body and not over penetrate. Likewise, a missed shot will probably stay stuck in the wall.

HP is also safer for the bad guy than FMJ. The reason is because most pistol rounds are under powered. The odds of stopping a determined assailant with the first shot are low. I've prosecuted many cases where police had to shoot dangerous suspects and have found it to be true. If a bullet does not over penetrate, all of its energy is directed at the assailant. An over-penetrating bullet takes much of its energy with it when it exits the body. Consequently, it usually requires more shots of FMJ than of HP to take down a suspect.

One HP wound is usually a lot less dangerous to the person getting shot than multiple FMJ wounds. This is what makes HP safer for the person getting shot. This is why police officers almost universally carry hollow point rounds. Police do not seek to kill suspects, but only to STOP them. This is also the goal of any personal or home defense situation. Yes you can kill someone with a single FMJ pistol round, but it is far less likely to stop someone with one shot than HP.

Oddly, the military does NOT use HP rounds. Their job is different from the police. They really are out to kill folks, or to wound them enough to be a burden to their comrades. The Geneva Convention prohibits expanding rounds. The reason for this goes back to the musket age. Back then, bullets were big, soft lead, and slow. A hit in the extremities would cause the bullet to deform around a bone and rip it out of the body. This caused unnecessary deaths and losses of limbs.

The military still bans hollow points largely because the main weapon of a soldier is a powerful RIFLE and not a relatively weak pistol. Rifle bullets are frankly devastating to human flesh. (Yes, I know about the problems with 5.56mm at close distances). In the event that an enemy is shot in the extremities, the wound will put him out of the fight, but the copper jacketed bullet will not likely pulverize his bones or create a huge wound that will immediately bleed out. So, no expanding rounds in the military.

This presents a problem for their pistol back-up guns. 9mm pistols are not very effect man-stoppers. The army makes up for that by using heavier bullets with extra pressure (+P or +P+) and speed. The unusually high speed bullet transfers more energy to the enemy than a normal speed bullet would.

So, to conclude:

Hollow points: safer for civilians including police than full metal jacket.

FMJ: required for military use

Given the abuse I get when I express the smallest sympathy for guns owners, I will not be answering responses.