[mad_as_he$$]

Well, FMJ in 9mm and 45 has been chewed into fine atomic pieces over the years. Many believe that a hollow point or semi jacket in either does no good because the energy just is not there to get the bullet to expand. The US Army has run lots of tests on this going back into the 20's. They are all on the net somewhere. My basic take is that a HP or semi jacket has a better chance of expanding when it hits a bone than an FMJ. I shoot HP's in 9mm for self defense but not for practice. All my 45 is hardball with an overcharge they go out at about 1150 FPS. VERY HARD ON THE GUN!!! But they do serious damage on pig carcasses. My favorite though right now is a 357 with semi wadcutters turned around. They hit pigs and spread out to about a nickel's diameter.

At the end of the day it is in my opinion all about shot placement. You hit somebody in the heart twice and once in the head they are going down. BTW do not forget to make sure they do not get up.

[andy58-in-nh]

At the end of the day it is in my opinion all about shot placement.

Yep. The reason I practice frequently is to improve accuracy through trigger control, sight picture and breathing. I'm just concerned about ever relying on target ammo for defensive purposes with a handgun, should I ever run out of the good stuff. I've used +Ps in 9mm but it does seem to be hard on the gun (Springfield XD-9). Perhaps I should just suck it up and buy up whatever HP's I can afford before Obama slaps a 500% surcharge on the SOB's.

[MaxMax]

Have you checked out RBCD ammo? It's expensive but the 45acp travels
at 2036fps/828flbs with 90 grains. The TPD 45 ammo does 2375+fps/1002+ flbs using 80 grains.