The denim defeats the bullet in two ways. As seen from the .38 Special bullet that was fired from a "snubby", the denim can brinell or emboss the soft lead of the mouth of the hollowpoint. The denim bridges across the opening and prevents it from dilating.
The second way that denim defeats hollowpoint bullets is that the cavity can pack with fiber. A column of fiber can be placed in compression and will exhibit very little bulging.
Run a little mental exercise with me. Visualize a deck of playing cards in a vice. Spin the handle. Almost nothing happens to the physical dimensions of the deck of playing cards. Now, put a large, rubber eraser into the vice and spin the handle. In your mind's eye, can you see the eraser bulging. The same phenomena happens in reverse when we pull on a rubber band. The band gets longer and the band gets thinner.
If the cavity is filled with water or gel or flesh, then the outward forces on the cavity "tip" the expansion. Fiber, not so much.
Bullet engineers determined that if they pre-fill the cavity with a rubber plug then the cavity cannot fill with fiber. That negates one of the problems with denim covered targets.
The issue is that when bullet makers are selling every projectile they can ship, why should they invest the extra labor, expense and increased scrap-rate that the more complicated elastomer-tipped projectile forces?
---This material is provided solely for entertainment purposes---
Suppose it were possible to retrofit regular, hollow-point bullets with rubber plugs? Then, we could buy excellent and economical bullets from a company like Rocky Mountain Reloading and "upgrade" them to perform more robustly when they encounter cloth barriers.
Is it possible?
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| After filling |
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| Latex exhibits about 20% shrinkage as the water evaporates. Bullets for semi-auto pistols should have the plug counter-sunk so it does not hit the ramp on feeding. |
Using that screw and that type of latex is a Great Idea. I would never of thunked of that. I had to look up what a thesbian is. I kinda was thinking of one of those newly invented bedtime types. Then I remembered. Duh. thanks--ken
ReplyDeleteNeat. Will you be doing any testing of the original and tipped bullets to see if there's any difference in expansion results?
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Might be good stuff to have post apocalypse. In the mean time, I would keep in mind that every round you fire in self defense has an attorney's name on it.
ReplyDeleteHave you comparison tested these to see if their is a change in accuracy? The latex you are adding may cause the bullet to be out of balance...heavier on one side as it spins causing precession and loss of accuracy. One of the reasons that the specialty bullets with the elastomeric tip such as CorBon makes are expensive is the engineering of that polymer to insure accuracy isn't altered.
ReplyDeletefor Pistol rounds... in a self defense scenario....
Deleteyour accuracy is gonna be crap at everything but close range anyway.
Prolly a non-factor in my opinion.
I realise thar there be a different ethos upon your side of the pond but I cannot understand why it would be important to ‘improve’ an already potentially lethal tool so that it will cause even more damage? Don’t worry I’m not a lefty do goody hippy type and I firmly believe that if someone intends harm or theft from one or one’s home then they are more than fair game but surely just having a weapon suitable enough for the job of..erm.. removing such people is enough without wanting to develop even more devastating ways to do so is enough?
ReplyDeletePerhaps I am missing the point here but on the other hand I do admire your tenacity and solution finding for the perceived problem of the hollow points.
John
John, while an expanding handgun bullet is more effective in "doing damage", the primary reason for using an expanding bullet is so that it dumps its energy and stops in the target rather than passing through and possibly damaging something behind it.
ReplyDeletePaul Harrell does a lot of testing with his meat target and it is covered in t-shirt, denim and leather gets most hollow points to expand (unless they are crap ammo. I think maybe once, there might have been an issue with clogging.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard about this issue before either, so I suspect it isn't a big deal.
DeleteI've long carried the Federal Hydra-Shok and HST rounds, which have a small pin molded into the cavity, which is supposed to prevent it from becoming clogged. Different methodology with the same outcome, I hope.
ReplyDelete