Hollow point bullet
From Free net encyclopedia
A hollow point bullet is a bullet that has a pit, or hollowed out shape, in its tip, meant to cause it to expand upon entering a target. When the bullet strikes a soft target the pressure created in the pit forces the lead around it to expand greatly into a mushroom-shape. This causes considerably more soft-tissue damage and energy transfer than if the nose had not been hollow. Most hollow points are partially "jacketed", that is, a portion of the lead bullet wrapped in a copper casing.
The Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, prohibits the use in warfare of bullets which easily expand or flatten in the body. This is often incorrectly believed to be prohibited in the Geneva Conventions, but it significantly predates those conventions, and is in fact a continuance of The Declaration of St. Petersburg in 1868, which banned exploding projectiles of less than 400 grams, and weapons designed to aggravate injured soldiers or make their death inevitable. Despite the ban on military use, hollow point bullets are one of the most common types of civilian and police ammunition, due largely to the reduced risk of bystanders being hit by over penetrating or ricocheted bullets, and the increased speed of incapacitation. In many jurisdictions it is illegal to hunt game with ammunition that doesn't expand, and many target ranges also forbid full metal jacket ammunition.
In slang, the hollow point bullet is also referred to as the dum-dum, and is similar to the cross point or X-out which uses two slits instead of a pit. Recreational shooters often refer to hollow points as "JHPs", from the common manufacturer's abbreviation for "Jacketed Hollow Point".
A hollow cavity bullet is an extreme variant of a hollow point bullet. In a hollow-cavity bullet, the hollow dominates the volume of the bullet and causes drastic expansion or even outright disintegration on impact.
External links
- A history of commercial hollow point bullet molds
- Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868
- Declaration III, Hague Convention of 1899sl:Delnooplaščena krogla z votlo konico