hollow points vs jacketed hollow points

Matt nelson

Established Member
Jan 29, 2016
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46
hey guys id like to know what the difference is between regular hollow points and jacketed hollow points?
 

4CERTN

Established Member
Feb 2, 2016
697
613
Alabama
Often, they refer to one and the same thing, with the term "hollow point" or HP being simply a quicker way to describe it.

Now, technically...the jacket hollow point (JHP) bullet has a literal "jacket" or covering of metal over the raw lead bullet. Sort of like a full-metal jacketed bullet (FMJ, also known as "hardball" sometimes) which has a total metal covering over the lead bullet.

One can have "non-jacketed" hollow points. I've most often seen these in calibers like .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and the like for revolvers.

I've also seen HPs packaged as SJHP or semi-jacketed hollow points, where the metal jacket extends partially up the body of the bullet, leaving the lead hollow point end of the bullet exposed.

Likewise, there are non-jacketed, non-HP rounds, sometimes marked as LRN (lead round nose), etc.

Most often, you'll want jacketed rounds of whatever type for a semi-auto pistol to avoid potential feeding problems that might occur with non-jacketed bullets.

I'm sure there are another 14 dozen or so iterations of this we could encounter haha...I have definitely not seen it all; anybody else please chime-in to correct, clarify, etc.
 
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