Hollow point ballistics

[Okami]

Can anyone tell me exactly what 7.62 hollow points do when they hit a living target? I know they expand, but how much. Are they likely to stop within the target, or go through? Hope I'm not making anybody sick with these questions.
Thanks.

[Ay-K]

Your question requires many variables to be known before concluding what the h.p. will do exactly.

What I do know offhand is that the f.m.j. [solid] certainly has the tendency to go right through flesh and light bone (and too many other things) without a decisive shock factor or energy dissipating within the target.
With the h.p. you can expect a much better performance once it hits the target because the hollow cavity at the tip of the projectile must deform to some degree once it hits anything harder than flesh such as bone, thereby creating a wider wound channel and expending more of its energy within the target. Depending on the design characteristics of the hollowpoint projectile, of course, it may not be necessary for the projectile to hit something hard before it deforms; a soft lead h.p. will deform on almost anything, for example.

I believe the 7.62X39mm h.p. projectile was designed to be a 'happy' medium or a compromise of sorts while serving a dual purpose adequately: keep the hard penetration required of a rifle bullet while allowing for some expansion on 'soft' targets. And there you have more kills-----casualties to be politically correct.......
........now if you'll excuse me I will now go use the restroom.

ayk

[This message has been edited by Ay-K (edited June 21, 1999).]

Last October I bought 120 round brick of Russian hollow points for a coworker at a gunshow. His son used this ammo in a SKS deer hunting. He shot a doe at 75 yards in the neck. There was a finger size hole going in and a fist size coming out. It blowed two vertabre out the hole and deer dropped on the spot. The bullet went through the deer and was not recovered. If the bullet went clean through after hitting bone there is no way soft tissue would stop one.

[Bryant]

Imagine the possibilitys.

[Butt Plate]

My Russian hollow-point doesn't expand at all. I think it would make terrible hunting ammo because it doesn't fragment.

[Tomac]

Hey, ButtPlate... Check the depth of the HP on your ammo, will you? There appears to be at least 2 varieties, one with a very deep hollow point and one with a minor hollow point. Which one were you using that doesn't seem to expand? Thanks!...
Tomac