[Unclenick]

I'll get back to the same question as well and suggest that the silicone would most likely constitute a form of pre-plugging of the hollow point. If soft material like cloth and leather can stop a hollowpoint from expanding, then I would expect the silicone RTV to have about the same effect. Try it on gelatin or wet newpaper or even on water jugs to see if you can detect a difference? I think there was perhaps a false inference taken by the OP that there is something special about the material in the nose being a polymer instead of, say, a piece of wood, that makes a bullet expand. No such luck. Polymers include a very wide range of materials, some of which are convenient for executing the polymer nose designs, but the bullet tip and the polymer parts have to be shaped to work together. Shapes designed to be expanded directly by hydrodynamic forces probably will continue to require direct hydrodynamic forces to work as intended.

Personally, I find the irregularity of hollow point performance a strong negative. I understand that since the infamous Miami FBI shootout, the bullet manufacturers became far more diligent in testing their designs. As a result, the performance with plugged cavities and in barrier penetration are both improved in many instances.

In the mean time, essentially ignored by the major commercial ammo makers, a good deal of data has been accumulated by hunters showing that, within their range limits, flat meplat solid bullets are far more effective than intuition suggests they should be, and they suffer no inconsistency. If you want something consistent that loses energy rapidly in fluid medium, load .45 caliber 185 grain JSWC target bullets up past 1000 fps and do some experimenting. I think you'll be surprised.