Detailed Discussion:Can I use hollow point bullets
in South Africa?

Can I use hollow point bullets in South Africa?

Introduction

Many people in South Africa are under a false impression about the possession and use of hollow-point ammunition. There is a general misunderstanding that it is illegal to use hollow-point and similar defensive ammunition. In terms of the Firearms Control Act, however, a person duly licenced to carry a specific firearm may have any ammunition of that calibre in his firearm and all types of ammunition that can be legally purchased in a gun shop can be possessed and carried legally.

What is a hollow-point bullet?

A hollow-point bullet is a type of expanding bullet that are used for controlled penetration, in cases where over-penetration could cause collateral damage. They are often used in target shooting for greater accuracy due to the larger meplat.

Meplat is the technical term for the flat or open tip on the nose of a bullet and the shape of the meplat helps to determine how the bullet will move through the air. This has a significant effect on a bullet’s ballistic coefficient.

Hollow point bullets are more accurate and predictable compared to pointed bullets.

The History of hollow-point bullets

The first hollow-point bullets were used in the late 19th century and marketed as express bullets. They were hollowed out to reduce the bullet's mass and provide higher velocities but also turned out to provide significant expansion, especially when the bullets were cast in a soft lead alloy. Those bullets were originally intended for rifles, but the popular .32-20, .38-40, and .44-40 calibers could also be fired in revolvers.

With the initiation of smokeless powder, velocities increased, and bullets became smaller, faster, and lighter. Especially in rifles these new bullets needed to be jacketed to handle firing conditions and the full metal jacket bullets were inclined to penetrate straight through a target causing less internal damage than a bullet that expands and stops in its target.

Around 1890 this led to the development of the soft point bullet and later jacketed hollow-point bullets. Although these bullet designs were soon outlawed for use in warfare, they steadily gained ground among hunters due to the ability to control the expansion of the high velocity cartridges.

These days the use of hollow points is mainly used in handgun ammunition, which tends to operate at lower velocities than rifle ammunition. At the lower handgun velocities, hollow point designs are generally the only design to expand reliably.

Features of hollow-point bullets

Hollow-point bullets are used due to their unique features, of which the most important feature is the fact that it expands on impact causing a more lethal hit without penetrating further than necessary. This, and other features and their benefits, can be described as follows:

Expansion

When a hollow-point hunting bullet strikes a soft target, the pressure created in the pit forces the material, which is usually lead, around the inside edge so that it expands outwards and increase the axial diameter of the projectile as it passes through.

This is often referred to as mushrooming, because the end result, a widened, rounded nose on top of a cylindrical base, looks like a mushroom. This larger frontal surface area of the expanded bullet limits its depth of penetration into the target and causes more extensive tissue damage along the wound path.

Some hollow-point bullets are jacketed, which means a part of the lead-cored bullet is wrapped in a thin layer of harder metal, like copper, brass or mild steel to provide extra strength to the bullet, increase its penetration and to help prevent it from leaving deposits of lead inside the bore. In controlled expansion bullets, the jacket and other internal design features help to prevent the bullet from breaking apart.

Accuracy

Some bullets designed for target shooting have a cavity in the nose, called the meplat, which allows for a greater consistency in shape and enhanced aerodynamic properties among bullets of the same design, although with a slightly decreased ballistic coefficient and higher drag.

This leads to a slightly decreased overall accuracy between bullet trajectory and barrel direction and an increased susceptibility to wind drift, but due to bullet consistency also a closer grouping of subsequent shots, often increasing the perceived accuracy of a shooter.

The manufacturing process of hollow-point bullets also causes a flat, uniformly shaped base on the bullet which is said to increases accuracy by providing a more consistent piston surface for the expanding gases of the cartridge.

Modern hollow-point bullet designs use different methods to provide controlled expansion, including the following:

• Jackets that are thinner near the front than the rear, in order to allow easy expansion at the beginning.
• Partitions in the middle of the bullet core to stop expansion at a given point.
• Bonding the lead core to the copper jacket to prevent separation and fragmentation.
• Fluted or otherwise weakened jackets to encourage expansion or fragmentation.
• Posts in the hollow cavity to cause hydraulic expansion of the bullet in tissue.
• Solid copper hollow points are far stronger than jacketed lead, and provide controlled, uniform expansion even at high velocities.

Legal use of hollow-point bullets in South Africa

What does the Firearms Control Act say?

In terms of the Firearms Control Act (Act 60 of 2000), a person licenced to carry a specific firearm may have any ammunition of that calibre in his firearm. All ammunition that was legally purchased in a formal gun shop is legal to carry.

What about the SAP

Members of the South African Police are only allowed to use the ammunition that is issued to them, which is normal Ball ammo. So, for a SAPS member it is illegal to use hollow point ammo because it is not the standard issued SAPS ammo.

Conclusion

Till to date no person in South Africa has been charged and prosecuted for possession or use of hollow-point ammunition, because it is legal in South Africa providing you have a valid license for that caliber firearm and its ammunition.

FAQ

Is it legal to own or use hollow-point ammunition in South Africa?

Yes, according to the Firearms Control Act a person licenced to carry a specific firearm may have any ammunition of that calibre in his firearm.

What is a hollow-point bullet?

A hollow-point bullet is a type of bullet that expands when it hits its target and is used for controlled penetration.

Why would you want to use hollow-point bullets?

Hollow-point bullets are used because it expands on impact causing a more lethal hit without penetrating further than necessary.