what's the diameter

Too many varibles to give an accurate answer. I would suggest you do a google or youtube search for "ballistic gel tests" for each caliber you are in question of.
That should keep you busy for quite some time.
 
Depends entirely on what they hit. And if they're going fast enough to expand at all. However, a cast .38 can go to about .60 cal upon impact with nearly anything.
 
Outa curoisity, how wide are 9mm, 40s&w, and 45acp jhp after they open up
Click to expand...

Well that depends on IF they 'open up'.

Presuming they do as advertised...

A .45 becomes a .90 inch hole.
A .40 becomes a .80 inch hole.
9mm about a .70 inch hole.

But keep in mind they don't 'open up' immediately.

They have to penetrate some distance before they even start to 'open up'.

And even that depends on the design of the bullet, impact velocity, where it hits, what it has to shoot through BEFORE it enters the attacker, and other variables.

I will say this... a .45 is what the 9mm hopes it becomes.

Deaf
 
It's interesting that we keep hearing that caliber doesn't matter, you can't tell a 9mm bullet wound from a .45 wound, etc., so why does everyone make expanding bullets?
If the bullets don't perform as advertised, you know you're going to get a .45" hole with a .45. That seems a lot more important than the potential for expansion of a smaller bullet. And, assuming that diameter really does matter, contrary to the "it doesn't matter" theory of handgun performance that is currently in vogue, I'll take the larger starting diameter.
 
We have expanding bullets so they don't go through the target (like the perp) and cause collateral damages.

Interesting thing though the heavier the grain of a bullet for a caliber the bigger the expansion. The 45 230g bullet has a very impressive expansion as well as the 40sw 180g and the 9mm 147g bullets.
 
Different brands of ammo are going to give you different results. Check out Gothcopter's link above to Lucky Gunner's test. Very informative.
 
We have expanding bullets so they don't go through the target (like the perp) and cause collateral damages.
Click to expand...

No, that was a side benefit. Expanding bullets were expressly made to destroy more tissue and thus boost 'stopping power'.

They have made such bullets for well over 100 years since before the .455 Webley! Collateral damage was very low on the priority list.

Deaf
 
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