# what is JHP ammo?



## NewGunGuy (May 21, 2012)

I looked it up and saw JHP stands for Jacket Hollow Point -- is that the exact same as when people say Hollow Point? or does this 'jacket' term mean something slightly different?

thanx!!


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## berettabone (Jan 23, 2012)

Not necessarily.....you could have a half jacketed hollowpoint.....I have also seen, but rare, a non jacketed hollowpoint, which seemed useless to me, but I don't use them anyway....most ammo that you see, that states JHP, is a fully jacketed hollowpoint, and when "people" use the term hollowpoint, this is what they are refering to.......


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## NewGunGuy (May 21, 2012)

thanx!


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## Jammersix (Mar 10, 2012)

Those who pour their own lead bullets sometimes pour hollowpoints, resulting in a hollowpoint bullet that is not jacketed.

Most commercial self-defense ammo is JHP, and I think the term is used to distinguish it from a lead hollowpoint.

But I don't pour bullets.

The other type of bullet is a plated hollowpoint, which, for reloaders, are loaded using loads suitable for lead, because the plating is considerably softer than a real jacket. Jacketed bullets can only be swaged, not poured, and that gives rise to different issues, too, cost being the main one. Jacketed bullets are the most expensive, followed by plated, and way lower than both, lead.

Reloading, self defense and competition are the three places that it would be important to distinguish a jacketed hollowpoint from a lead hollowpoint or a plated hollowpoint. If you really want to get into the research, the terms to start with are "internal ballistics", "external ballistics" and "terminal ballistics". The three types of hollowpoints (lead, plated and jacketed) perform differently in all of those phases, for different reasons.

The biggest problem with studying ballistics is that it will keep you awake at night, and five years out, you'll be in an alley behind a service station, making a deal for a five gallon bucket full of lead wheel weights with a guy named "Skeeter", so you can feed your bullet pouring and reloading addiction. And you'll be using every spare minute to go to the range and test your latest load design, and the fact that you put 147 shots (out of 150) through the bullseye will make you absolutely, stomp-down crazy.

I mean, seriously...

...what happened to the other three?

Have fun!


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

A hollow-point bullet has a cavity in its nose (its extreme front part). The purpose of this cavity is to trap skin, blood, and even bones within it so that, when it hits, the front end of the bullet will expand to a larger diameter than the rest of the bullet, and will therefore do greater damage.
There are three different types of hollow-point bullets: All-lead, half-jacketed, and fully jacketed. The all-lead, hollow-point (HP) bullet is, of course, cast or swedged as a homogeneous, soft, solid lead-alloy object. The half-jacketed bullet encloses the rear half of this soft, solid object in a thin jacket of harder metal, so that the gun's bore does not become clogged with soft lead as bullets pass through it. A fully-jacketed bullet (JHP) is entirely enclosed in a thin envelope of this harder metal, both to protect the gun's bore and to control expansion of its hollow point.
Lead-alloy bullets are typically fired at relatively slow velocities, and jacketed bullets are typically fired at relatively faster ones.

It is not necessary to shoot half-jacketed or fully-jacketed bullets, in order to keep the bore lead-free. Since lead-alloy bullets without jackets are loaded to slower velocities than are jacketed bullets, they therefore do not scrub off excessive amounts of lead when fired. Regularly-scheduled cleaning then removes whatever small amounts of lead there are.
Further, jacket material also leaves a deposit in the gun's bore, and this kind of deposit is more difficult to remove than is lead alloy.
"Yer pays yer money, and yer takes yer choice."

Please also see my answer, *post #7* at: http://www.handgunforum.net/home-de...847-does-p-ammo-differ-p-ammo.html#post261076


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