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No spitzer bullet is stable in dense media like water... or meat.
The question is, does it fragment or "tumble" in a way that makes it more damaging? Viet Nam era M193 ammunition is said to break up at the cannelure; current M855 at the seam between lead and steel cores; IF the velocity is still high enough/range short enough. Farther out, you depend on the bullet yawing or "tumbling" to enlarge the wound.
The British found the very stable .303 FMJ roundnose less effective on Afghans et cetera than lead .577-.450s. So they tinkered around with the original cut-nose Dum-Dum and several successive marks of expanding bullets to the point that they had to assure the early meetings at the Hague that they would maintain inventories of FMJs for declared wars against "civilized" nations, and keep the hollowpoints set aside for shooting at savages.
Their traditional Continental adversaries and allies begged to differ and the British gave up on that plan.
This all became academic when everybody started going to spitzer bullets based on the French Balle D and found that the pointed bullets would turn over on impact and make a wound nasty enough for any purpose. The British enhanced the effect with a light insert in the jacket nose of the Mk VII bullet.
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