I'm looking for fact-based and experience-based opinions. After creating one topic where people told me that in my Tiny House I ought to learn to hip-fire my Ruger American 45 to stop a burgler 10' or less away from me (versus practicing at targets 20-25 yards away), I wanted to finally ask my last self-defense question involving the amazing 45 caliber bullet and VERY close self-defense kind of situation. As I had a burglary attempt by a man who ran away when I shouted before he finished picking my lock alerting him that I was indeed home, it came to mind that if he wanted to kill the hell out of me he could have if he wanted to. That's what prompted me to buy a gun. I know HapKiDo however if even Bruce Lee was killed by a gun (and even on accident) then I'd still rather than a gun in such a situation.
This all in mind regarding my very tiny adorable house that attracts far too much attention than I prefer, I just wanted to make sure that my bullet choice for very close self-defense was both reliable and effective with as little trade-off as possible.
Here are the facts I've seen so far
1) Jacketed Hollow Points "should" expand after initial penetration, but don't always. Still true?
2) JHP's for 45 Autos like my Ruger American sometime don't feed well. I've already experienced this multiple times but it may be my gun is brand new. However, 200 FMJ's at the range fired flawlessly
3) JHP's are said to sometimes have less than reliable penetration and expansion performance on targets wearing thicker clothing like winter jackets. Some guys laughed at this flat-out saying they had killed deer with their 45 handgun loaded with JHP's, making it through the tough hide without an issue, and others still point out that stats still sometimes show less than reliable performance. I've heard very convincing arguments from both sides, and I mean VERY convincing
4) Facts seem to conflict regarding a (230gr.) 45 JHP @830FPS in particular having the needed muzzle velocity to reliably and deeply penetrate THEN expand. Some have even show premature expansion or no expansion at all (effectively not even penetrating either sometimes). I've read studies that showed a JHP's 230gr. @930 or more FPS offer much better penetration and expansion.
#4 above is why I've decided to make this about +P JHP vs plain old FMJ, both at 230gr.
FMJ's
1) Many say that a FMJ has been a reliable killer-bullet for over 96 years and that JHP's are even necessary. This is an obvious fact!
2) FMJ's are far more likely to feed better/more reliably than hollow points
3) BUT overpenetration is a big issue, it seems. Some say the wound channel is more important than a JHP's "less channel with a larger diameter" wound
4) And last but not least, stopping power. I've seen it so many times that people say a FMJ kills a man but doesn't stop a man, while a JHP can stop him dead in his tracks. They often say you don't want to be shot or stabbed in the 10-15 seconds it takes for a man to bleed out because you chose an FMJ over a JHP. I find this to be more B.S. because who would stop shooting after 1 or 2 bullets? I would opt to keep shooting til he's face down so I'm not sure this makes much sense unless your handgun only has a 3 bullet capacity lol
I'd honestly like to know what is best and if these stats and opinions are tried and true.
Remember that I'm comparing +P JHP's 230gr. @950 FPS vs 230gr. FMJ @835 FPS. The topic is about reliability and proper bullet expansion of hollow points if they have a great enough velocity to reliably expand in the attacker. So what do you guys think?
Thanks guys, and don't forget the polls
