That is probably correct but until around the early 1960s, maybe earlier, maybe later, there was little difference in the bullets used in handgun cartridges, at least as they came from the factory. Revolvers used lead bullets, autos used full metal jackets. There were also full metal jacket revolver loads, too. Hollowpoints had been around since before WWI but were apparently not common. However, the 1940 Stoeger catalog listed hollowpoints for both .30 Luger and 9mm Luger as well as .38 Super. There was also "soft point" for autos, too. But outside of the catalogs, you'd never know anyone used them. Maybe no one did. They may have been hard to find.
Things began to change when ligher hollow points at a higher velocity were made available from the old Super Vel. Most ammo companies eventually began introducing their own varieties of hollow point ammo and +P loads as well. Nowadays there's a huge variety of commercial loads available for just about everything, although finding some of it may take some searching. The projectiles have changed but I'd also say that muzzle energy is important to most of the premium cartridges.
Penetration has always been recognized as important, too, and the old catalogs generally gave penetration results in pine boards for handgun ammunition.
