Plunk test

AutoPistols:

Hollow "PLUNK" sound base even or slightly under the barrel hood extension edge/falls out of barrel when upside down: Safest "general" bet that the assembled cartridge will fit/function not jam.

Assembled cartridge base even w/ barrel hood when pressed fully home -- and while "sticky"/not falling out can still be picked out w/ finger nails -- likely best accuracy.

Assembled cartridge base even w/ barrel hood when pressed fully home -- and can only be removed with cleaning rod: Incipient bad JuJu.

Assembled cartridge base past/beyond barrel hood when pressed fully home -- and can only be removed with cleaning rod: DEFINITE bad JuJu. Jammed gun.
 
44amp; admittedly i am not a pistole kind of guy, but did i understand correctly "of the same weight a hollow point bullet will be shorter than a round nose" ?

it may be general design normal, but it sounds counter intuitive. are they generally designed that way "shorter + fatter" ?
Click to expand...

Yes.

(time for one of Uncle Nick's excellent illustrations :D)

Look at a bullet and note the basic parts and the terms used. From the bullet base up, the bullet has straight sides and if full bore diameter. This is the "body/shank/ bearing surface" etc. This is the part that contacts the rifling.

Then the bullet reduces diameter, from full bore diameter down to the tip. It may be a straight slope, or it may be some kind of curved slope. This section of the bullet is called the ogive (and it is the entire distance from the straight "shank" down to the tip). It does not contact the rifling, because it is smaller in diameter than the bore size. The actual bullet tip area is called the "meplat"

Now, take a regular RN or pointed bullet shape of a given weight. Lets use 9mm FMJ for example. How do you make that a hollow point??

You cut off the tip (and a bit) and "remove" some of the lead to make the hollow part. But removing that metal makes the bullet lighter as well as shorter.

TO maintain the weight, what is done is that the ogive is slightly changed, making the sloped nose section slightly "fatter" than the FMJ, allowing the room to "add back in" the weight of the material removed to create the hollow point, so the result is a hollow point of the same weight as the FMJ, but with a slightly "fatter" (wider in diameter) nose section than the FMJ has. The ogive portion of the bullet still does not contact the rifling, the bearing surface of the bullet is not changed, only the width of the nose.

Different makers do it slightly differently from each other, but this is the general concept.

This is why a 115gr FMJ and a 115gr JHP can have the same amount of bullet seated inside the case, but different overall loaded lengths.

For an obvious example, take any Spitzer and RN rifle bullet of the same weight and compare them. The nose of the spitzer is "long and skinny" the same weight RN bullet nose is thicker and shorter compared to each other. Same weight, just different lengths and shapes where the bullet doesn't touch the barrel.

Hope this helps.
 
didn't help a bit. just asked if that was common, not how it happened. already knew that. also know the round nose and hollow point could be same length or even reverse with the hollow point being longer, it all depends on the way it's shaped ^ only asked if it was normal for pistol bullets to be hp= shorter than rn. so thanks.
 
ok, sorry for covering what you already knew, but its possible some other reader might benefit from the information.

In general, yes, its is common for pistol bullet hollowpoints to be shorter than RN designs of the same weight.

Common, but not the only way they are made.
 
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