|
It's not quite like that.
Of course any bullet can blow up on a plate or block.
What we're talking about here is driving a given bullet well beyond the performance levels built into it for use within specific velocities.
A typical JHP will be designed to provide a certain degree of impact & travel expansion within a certain velocity range.
Too slow, it won't expand well.
Too fast, it'll break up on impact.
Rifle velocities in .357 through a longer barrel can gain over 600 FPS over a handgun with the same load.
The lighter the bullet, the faster the velocity.
It's very easy to drive a 110 or a 125 JHP past its designed performance velocities, resulting in violent expansion or breakup on impact, leaving a surface wound that may result in very little penetration.
A heavier bullet is advisable to keep velocities down through a rifle barrel, and/or a bonded or otherwise well-constructed bullet in something no lower than a 158 if going with JHP.
The Hornady XTP is a well-constructed bullet built to hold together for a combination of useful expansion and deep penetration.
The XTP line has a good rep as a tough bullet.
Even there, depending on what you intend to shoot, you don't want to go too light through a rifle.
As 44 said- you try driving a 110 or 125 JHP past its design parameters through a rifle barrel, and you will NOT get the same performance as you would dropping down into velocity ranges those bullets were designed for.
They will tend to blow up on impact, little expansion, on ANIMALS, not steel or cement blocks.
You could even get terminal ballistic degradation with a cheaper 158 JHP of another brand through the rifle.
If you're looking at deer, a good 158 JHP (GOOD one) is perfectly fine.
If you're planning on black bear defense, you most certainly do not want a lightweight JHP.
A heavier well-built jacketed softpoint or hardcast lead will provide much more reliable penetration, and the 180s are the ones to look at there.
Denis
|