Fact, Or Old Wives Tale??

[Blaine]

Exposing a bit of lead on a FMJ makes it "better". Seems like it works on JSPs I see they are making some FMJs with the flat top for a bit of meplat. The Buffalo Bore .45acps with that penetrate about twice their regular FMJ rounds...I have some Winchester .38Spc, and some .380s like that.

[tman]

Elmer Keith always liked a lot of exposed lead up front.

[3leggedturtle]

Elmer Keith always liked a lot of exposed lead up front.

That is true.

[Blaine]

Elmer Keith always liked a lot of exposed lead up front.

Ya think?

[olyinaz]

For some reason .40 S&W FMJs from most makers have tended to be flat pointed like that. Not sure why, but I've always thought that it makes 'em perfect for a lever gun!

Oly

[FWiedner]

My Dad used to 'dimple' the bullets he loaded into the .32 S&W snubby that he preferred for carry in the belief that they would "make a mess."

Isn't yhe working theory that exposing lead on a FMJ or otherwise compromising the jacket facilitates expansion or explosiveness (fragmentation?)

If you don't have the coin at hand to purchase bullets or cartridges that are actually designed to expand, folks have been doing it for years, but I'm supposing that the results are unpredictable.

[guntar]

With some types of "FMJ" bullets this might not be too good an idea. Many FMJ bullets are basically copper cups filled with lead, and the base of the cup forming the nose of the bullet and the open end forming the base. When you start taking metal off the nose, you are basically making a tube with lead inside. Evidently this was a common practice in Africa in the early 1900's, and John Taylor talks about it in one of his books. Evidently there was a tendency, due to friction with the bore. for the copper "tube" to separate from the lead core and remain in the barrel, causing an obstruction for the next shot. I don't know how common this problem was, but it doesn't seem worth the risk, even if it does help expansion.

[KCSO]

Filing the nose off a FMJ bullet to expose lead can lead to big problems. If the base is not enclosed you can shoot out the lead and leave the jacket in the bore. I saw this the first time with a GI 45 with a badly bulged barrel. On a TMJ it can be done safely but I have never gotten any better expansion. This is why the old W/W soft point 9mm's were discontinued, they didn't expand. But then again a LOT of hllow point bullets don't expand either depending on what you shoot them into.

[Blaine]

I've never done it as of yet, but I shoot a lot of FMJ and I see lots of jackets laying around the target....jacket coming off, and lead penetrating. I've had a piece of the jacket come back and gash me a couple times, as well

[Rusty]

I read just what guitar posted as a warning against using Wolf brand hollow points in some calipers. It seems they were just taking a standard fmj bullet and drilling a hole in the nose.

[piller]

At one time there was a device, called the Hanned device, to remove a little bit of the nose of FMJ .30-06 rounds. It has disappeared from circulation, and I wonder of jacket to core separation is what caused its demise.