Store Hours

Mon-Fri: 10am-8pm
Sat-Sun: 9am*-7pm

*First hour of weekend range time (9am-10am) is reserved for members only. Retail store is open to everyone during these hours.

When purchasing ammunition in general there are two basic types of rounds to choose from:

• Self-Defense / Hollow-Point / JHP (Jacketed Hollow Point)
• Practice / Ball / Plinking / FMJ (Full Metal Jacket)

The latter, practice ammunition, is usually much less expensive. The projectiles used in practice ammunition are lead or copper-jacketed lead and have a round nose or front end. Because of the shape and uniformity of these projectiles they will retain their shape and mass when hitting an object and continue on; their kinetic energy is expended by displacing the target's mass in roughly the same diameter as the projectile itself. Thus ball ammo (the military term) will not cause a large temporary or permanent wound cavity.

On the other hand, self-defense or hollow-point ammunition is specifically designed to deform when it strikes solid material. The hollow-point projectiles have, (as the name suggests) a hollow indentation at the front of the projectile which is designed to mushroom open upon contact. The rest of the projectile, usually made of lead and copper as with practice ammunition, is also engineered to deform while retaining mass. Thus the kinetic energy contained in the shot round is expended very quickly in a small distance, and the temporary wound cavity as well as the permanent wound volume is much larger than that of practice rounds. Since the bullet itself is more complicated and the rounds are also loaded with more powder for higher pressures and have lower mechanical tolerances they are much more difficult to manufacture and thus more expensive.

Please see our Bullet Penetration article for details on depth and type of projectile penetration.