Just to be safe, I use the Federal EFMJ ammo in my 9mm & .40 home defense guns. I haven't tried the .45 yet, but I hope to pick some up shortly. I've fired around 500 rounds of this ammo, and am very impressed. All my autos feed it flawlessly, and accuracy is close to match grade. It may not expand as well as some top of the line personal defense hollow points, but it's sure better than FMJ.
Even if hollow points where legal in this state, I may still use the EFMJ, due to it's reliable feeding, and extreme accuracy. If the .45 feeds as well as the others do, it may be the answer to finicky 1911s.
The NJ State Range Master and the Division of Criminal Justice Firearms Unit just completed some testing on the EFMJ ammo on their range at Ft. Dix. The results were very positive as far as expansion. Even better than some HP's.
However, one Assistant AJ sees them as coming under the classification of "dum-dums" as defined in the statute which also covers HP's.
There is no official ruling as of yet but...?
I wouldn't invest a lot of money in the EFMJ ammo in NJ just yet.