Does the use of hollow point ammo in pistols increase barrel wear? I was talking to a freind who said that the use of jacket hollow point ammo in my .45 - 1911 would wear out the barrel. I had no argument for him, but it does not make sense to me.

Can someone shed a little light on the subject?

Jacketed bullets will cause faster wear than lead alloy bullets, but whether the bullet is hollow-point, full jacketed or any other shape has no effect at all.

Jacketed bullets will cause faster wear than lead alloy bullets, but whether the bullet is hollow-point, full jacketed or any other shape has no effect at all.


Jacketed bullets will wear a bore faster, but the fact is that in a .45 ACP either will take many, many 10's of thousands of shots to wear it out. It's absolutely nothing to worry about. Hollowpoint, FMJ, wadcutter, or wearing a little propeller on the front -- the bullet shape has no effect.

Jacketed bullets will wear out any barrel eventualy. At the pressures the .45 ACP operates at, it will take mucho shooting (and MUCHO dinero) to buy enough ammo to wear the barrel quickly, even considering handloads.

Jacketed bullets will wear out any barrel eventualy. At the pressures the .45 ACP operates at, it will take mucho shooting (and MUCHO dinero) to buy enough ammo to wear the barrel quickly, even considering handloads.

Thanks guys. I kinda thought that was the case, but it is always good to get input from more experienced shooters.

I fail to see why HPs would wear the bore out quicker...as the HP doesn't contact the bore.

Also...I've heard of several Glocks w/over 100K rds through them. 10K on a 1911 is nothing, w/any kind of ammo you can shoot through it.

If there is a dif, it is on the order of less than 10% and based on the life expectancy of over 100K...and they'll probably never shoot 10K and barrels are cheap...The actually diff, if even there, doesn't matter to a hill of beans. And, If there, is so negligible, that the fact that we are even talking about it shows that we have too much time on our hands.

wearing a little propeller on the front
WOW!, I've never seen any of those!, do they make a whirly sound when you shoot them!?
Where do you get them? I want some. :p
LOL!

There are many old war horse 1911's still out there that have shot plenty of FMJ ammo and never had the barrels wear out.

Pardon me for being so blunt but your friend doesn't know squat.