TexasCHLforum.com

Try http://www.gunbot.net/ammo/40sw/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After reading the responses (all of which were fine), I wonder if a "newbie" would understand some of it.

Here's some basics: a cartridge, which is what you load in a weapon, is made up of four parts; the casing or shell (usually brass, sometimes steel), the primer (the little round thing in the center that the firearm's hammer hits to ignite the powder), the powder (the explosive charge used to propel the bullet) and the bullet (the actual projectile that leaves the barrel of the weapon). When you fire a weapon, the bullet travels through the barrel and exits, the primer and powder are expended and the casing or shell is either ejected (in the case of semi-automatics like your Glock) or retained (revolvers) and must be removed in order to reload.

165gr, 180gr refers to the weight of the bullet. In general (but there are many exceptions) the heavier the bullet the larger the wound and the more damage that is done. (But much has been done in the area of bullet design to negate those advantages.)

FMJ refers to Full Metal Jacket. It's one type of bullet. There are many. Boat Tail, Wadcutter, Semi-Wadcutter, Frangible, etc., etc. Google them for a description of the purpose of each.

For self defense HP (Hollow Point) or JHP (Jacketed Hollow Point) bullets are recommended. Those bullets are designed to expand on impact and not exit the body. For particularly sensitive situations, frangible bullets may be used, but they are not generally recommended for self defense due to their poor pentration and they have been known to go through walls as well.

The real question you have to answer is what happens to the bullet if I miss? In real world testing at the Box O' Truth (linked later) 9mm hollow points penetrated 8 3/4 inch pine boards. .45 hollow points penetrated 7 3/4 pine boards. All of them went entirely through 12 pieces of 5/8 inch sheet rock (the equivalent of six walls).

An odd thing about hollow points is that although they are designed to expand on impact with flesh, when they hit other materials they may not expand at all but instead will fill up with material from the substance they struck.

Keep in mind that bullets behave in funny ways. Oblique angles can cause them to go in all sorts of weird directions, and each thing they hit reduces their energy until they are entirely spent. Without testing it's impossible to say if they would make it all the way through your house and into the neighbor's house with enough energy left to hurt someone. The bottom line is hit what you're aiming at.

For the performance of bullets (how far they will penetrate, how much they expand, etc., etc.) there is much information on the web. One particularly useful site is The Box O' Truth. They have an entire section on penetration testing. Two other sites that are particularly useful are The Truth About Guns and Ballistics By The Inch. The former has good information about guns in general. The latter has scientific analysis of real world bullet performance (muzzle speed or velocity as it relates to barrel length) using commonly available ammunition.

I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion.