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For rifle bullets: Soft point bullets are typically for hunting applications. The lead core is exposed ahead of the jacket to initiate expansion as opposed to a FMJ which will punch through a target without as much expansion thus not transfering as much energy into the tatget. Hollow points are usually reserved for targets only and I believe the design is mostly for mass centralization for more predictable flight across greater distances, think of it like the bullet is balanced, like a football. spire point is just "pointy" and usually associated with bullets that have a flat base.
Depends on if OP is asking about pistol or rifle. It's a huge can of worms that really needs to be more specified to narrow it down. I mean, there's general concepts, just depends on how geeked out about it you want to get.
To answer your question though Allen, stay away from fotay
Very good.
I thought hollow point in pistols was defense ammo for some reason.
ohhhhh I got time so I'll give it a whirl
FMJ, full metal jacket (i kinda said it like Gomer in my mind as I typed that lol) its a fully jacketed bullet, sometimes called "ball ammo" most often very economical as compared to other bullets and mainly used for plinking and target work. Used by the military due to Geneva Conventions and such buit someone could correct me on that.
SP, soft point, used for hunting as previously explained, the exposed nose/point deforms faster/easier initiating expansion which is desired in hunting applications
RN, round nose, you'll find these mostly in tube fed rifles such as lever actions. You don't want a pointy tip inline one after the other behind the primer of the round in front of it in the tube, recoil, movement ect could potentially set the round in front of the other off.
BT, Ballistic tips/tipped, this is essentially a hollow point bullet that has a polymer/plastic tip inseted into it, the idea being it makes it more areodynamic, increasing ballistic coeffecient (how effective/well a bullet flies) as well as in some applications increasing expansion such as is marketed for Hornadys V-Max line. You'll usually see these in the smaller calibers for explosive varmint hunting. Check out Dog B gone videos for airborne critter entertainment
HP's, hollow points, in a rifle almost always used for target shooting
Now, theres the bases too, but they arent as numerous.
FB, flat based, no good explanation for that or application that I know of or can explain. I don't like them when reloading small calibers cause they are hard to get started in the seating die when perched atop a case neck
BT, boat tail, increased ballistic coeffeciency, flies better, think of the base of the bullet like you would the slip-streap on the back of a race car, bike, or whatever, reduces drag.
I'm sure I left a few out and I know I spelled coefficient wrong.
I have little to no slug experience so I won't comment on those.
ETA, when you combine the description letts, it tells you what kind of bullet it is, such as HPBT, hollow-point boat tail, or SPBT soft point boat tail, or RNFB, round nose flat based ect..
Close enough but ball ball is used due to some treaty of Versailles I believe as a result of ww1 someone will correct me on this in sure but either way not treaty of paris
Very good.
I thought hollow point in pistols was defense ammo for some reason.