Flat point vs round nose ammo

imaoldcowhand · Jan 26, 2019

Specifically .38 special....

For plinking and target practice with a revolver, is there a difference in flat point or round nose ammo?

How about for defensive?

Thanks for your reply’s.

gwchem · Jan 26, 2019

For defense you want open tip or soft point ammo. Defensive loads expand and do more damage.

For a revolver, I doubt you'll see much difference between the two you listed. Semi-autos are picky with ammo sometimes, due to feeding issues. That's not relevant in a revolver.

ihriec · Jan 26, 2019

I find flat points much better for punching paper.

Trekker · Jan 26, 2019

ihriec said:
I find flat points much better for punching paper.

Agreed, they leave neater round holes, while the round nose bullets leave noticeably smaller holes surrounded by small rips.

gwchem said:
For defense you want open tip or soft point ammo. Defensive loads expand and do more damage.

For a revolver, I doubt you'll see much difference between the two you listed. Semi-autos are picky with ammo sometimes, due to feeding issues. That's not relevant in a revolver.

I think the flat point will do a bit more damage with a wider tissue crushing radius, but as already mentioned the difference will probably not be significant with a 38spl. I recall that a lot of the lead 44mag/45colt/etc bullets are flat head, but they have more mass and more velocity to capitalize on for penetrating depth. If the 38spl round is loaded hotter or has a heavier bullet, then flat point will start showing more advantage over round nose. If the intention is for a defense round though, then as gwchem mentioned there are better bullets for that purpose.

imaoldcowhand · Jan 26, 2019

The use of flat nose and or round nose for self defense was just a question that I asked out loud, yes I understand that hollow points are best suited for this.

Pinecone · Jan 27, 2019

Flat point FMJ are better than Round Nose FMJ.

The Flat Point was developed to make an FMJ work better, for those that had to carry FMJ (military).

ironhead7544 · Jan 27, 2019

The round nosed bullets will work better with a speedloader.

Back when the police used revolvers, little difference between the standard load and +P load with RN and SWC bullets was found. The 38 Special with a 158 gr lead SWCHP +P load did work better. It is still one of the best 38 Special loads out there.

I recently bought some Federal 158 gr SWCHP +P loads and they chronoed at 905 fps from a 4 inch S&W revolver. The last records of this load in a 4 inch revolver show a one stop rate of 76%

Flat point vs round nose ammo

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