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the lead or alloy within a hard jacket cuts down on these tendencies despite the greater velocities employed, and this in conjunction with the typically smaller calibre created a greater tendency for the new rifle bullets both to create a smaller wound and to pass through, rather than lodging within, the anatomy of the target whether human or animal, thus increasing the probability of wounding rather than killing. For this reason, full metal jacket rounds are considered more humane for military purposes, since it is only necessary to incapacitate enemy soldiers to neutralize them on the battlefield; conversely, they are less effective for hunting animals where killing the quarry swiftly is the objective. To produce a smokeless-propellant round that would engage in rifling efficiently but also match or exceed the lethality of the old, low-velocity ammunition it was necessary to invent the soft-point. The process was not difficult: reversing the direction of jacket placement leaves the lead-alloy core exposed at the forward tip of the projectile creating a soft-point bullet.
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to remain intact. Alternative designs include a jacket with an internally thicker belt around the central part of the bullet intended to resist expansion while the thinner forward part of the bullet jacket ruptures. Some bullets have a core formed from a soft alloy in the forward part of the bullet bonded to a harder alloy core in the rear of the bullet. Others have a jacket which is thicker near the base of the bullet and tapers to a thin fringe adjacent to the soft point.
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process, a thicker jacket will be stronger than a thinner jacket. Energy available to expand the bullet is proportional to the square of the velocity at which the bullet strikes the target. If the bullet passes through the target, the energy represented by the square of the velocity of the departing
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The jacketed bullets were typically of smaller diameter than the previous lead-alloy type, and the stronger jacket made them less likely to be deformed on impact. Such deformation increases the effective diameter of the projectile and can also cause an erratic trajectory within the wound. Enclosing
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Four .30 caliber (7.62 mm) hollow point bullets. Each of the three round-nose bullets on the left has a small cavity at the jacket opening on the leading tip of the bullet. Such bullets are sometimes called open-point bullets, as opposed to soft-point bullets where the lead core extends forward of
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are designed to increase their forward diameter while remaining intact to penetrate deeply enough to damage internal organs likely to cause rapid death. Big-game bullets sometimes have a specialized jacket including a center baffle between a forward core intended to expand and another core intended
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jacketed bullets on the right have an enclosed flat base with a jacket opening on the rounded point. If these bullets were loaded and fired in the opposite of their intended direction, the full metal jacket bullet might expand like a soft point, and the soft point bullet might perform like a full
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Soft-point bullets expose the soft lead-alloy core on the forward part of the bullet most likely to be deformed when striking a target. The sides of the bullet remain covered by the jacket to reliably impart stabilizing rotation from rifling. Expansion of a soft-point bullet depends upon the
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into a cup of the stronger metal covering the front and sides of the core, but leaving some of the core exposed on the base of the bullet. The bullet jacket may be described as a metal envelope, steel envelope, or hard envelope; and the jacketed bullet may be described as metal-covered,
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with a soft metal core enclosed by a stronger metal jacket left open at the forward tip. A soft-point bullet is intended to expand upon striking flesh to cause a wound diameter greater than the bullet diameter. Jacketed soft point bullets are usually abbreviated
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metal-patched, or metal-cased. But while these new types of projectile were easier to stabilize at the new high velocities, it was discovered that the new jacketed design was actually less lethal than the softer lead-alloy types that had preceded it.
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Jacketed flat point (JFP) may describe either soft-point or full metal jacket bullets with a flat, rather than a rounded front. Until recently, flat-point bullets were required in centerfire rifles with tubular magazines, such as
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bullet has no effect on the target. Soft point bullets may not expand if they strike a target at low velocity, or if the target does not slow the bullet enough to deform the exposed point or rupture the surrounding jacket.
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on the right provides an aerodynamic windscreen enclosing a void so the center of mass of the entire bullet remains within the full diameter portion of the bullet, to minimize misalignment with the bore
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improvement rather than expansion. Bullets with a large amount of core exposed forward of the jacket might have a hollow point within that core; and some hollow-point bullets have no jackets.
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available from the decrease in bullet velocity as the bullet encounters target resistance. A core of pure lead is softer than a core of lead alloyed with metals like
527:, where the rounds are stored front-to-back. Use of metal-pointed bullets in these rifles can be highly dangerous, as the point of the bullet will rest against the
535:. Since late 2005, newer bullet designs with polymer tips offering improved ballistics have become available for safe use in tubular magazine rifles.
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round as the jacket does not extend to the tip. The notches on the tip of the JHP assist in the expansion of the bullet on impact with soft tissue.
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bullets with thin jackets are intended to expand rapidly and disintegrate upon encountering minimum resistance. Bullets intended for
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An assortment of .30-caliber (7.62 mm) round-nose bullets illustrating the exposed lead tip characteristic of soft-point bullets.
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on the left and soft point bullets on the right. Both bullet types are 220-grain (14 g) .30-caliber. The silver-colored
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jacketed bullets on the left have an enclosed rounded point with a jacket opening on the flat base, while the copper-colored
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644:"Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Ammunition :: Rifle :: Choose by Product Line :: LEVERevolution®"
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in the ammunition and reloading industry. The use of soft-point bullets in warfare is a violation of the
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611:(3rd ed.). New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 112–126.
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This image illustrates the jacket placement difference between
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rounds. Left: Jacketed flat/soft point (JFP/JSP). Right:
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Type of bullet that expands on impact with a solid object
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137:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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338:Hague Convention of 1899, declaration IV, 3.
487:Soft-point bullets are similar to jacketed
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449:than others; and, for any given alloy and
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259:Learn how and when to remove this message
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90:of all important aspects of the article.
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301:Some soft point bullets have a more
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122:needs additional citations for
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609:Complete Guide to Handloading
512:Jacketed hollow point (JHP)
239:the claims made and adding
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607:Sharpe, Philip B. (1953).
555:List of handgun cartridges
360:nitrocellulose propellants
413:full metal jacket bullets
550:List of rifle cartridges
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489:hollow-point bullets
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131:improve this article
579:avalon.law.yale.edu
323:), also known as a
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757:Total metal jacket
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499:Flat-point bullets
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187:November 2020
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36:Please help
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737:Hollow-base
692:Handloading
514:. JSP is a
508:.357 Magnum
493:aerodynamic
417:cupronickel
303:aerodynamic
825:Propellant
721:Soft point
650:2015-09-05
629:2015-09-05
584:2023-02-20
561:References
233:improve it
157:newspapers
39:improve it
833:Gunpowder
805:Rock salt
800:Flechette
772:Wadcutter
727:Frangible
713:Expanding
451:annealing
403:Expansion
356:gunpowder
343:Evolution
237:verifying
80:summarize
45:talk page
881:Category
795:Buckshot
790:Birdshot
539:See also
439:antimony
431:hardness
362:such as
887:Bullets
752:Spitzer
364:cordite
307:spitzer
231:Please
171:scholar
858:Primer
844:, etc)
700:Bullet
533:recoil
529:primer
435:energy
392:swaged
388:rifled
380:nickel
376:copper
368:jacket
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810:Sabot
483:axis.
372:steel
352:alloy
178:JSTOR
164:books
815:Slug
708:Cast
441:and
384:zinc
348:Lead
150:news
767:Wax
443:tin
382:or
374:or
334:JSP
235:by
133:by
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593:^
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321:SP
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