I have seen a lot of answers, that are telling that it has more damage area and it fits in auto loaders better. I accept the second one, but not the first. Imagine a 9mm hits a vest and… nothing, probably a couple of broken bones, even though it has a larger damage area. Then the person takes their gun and shoots you. Your shots were probably useless. But if that 9mm was pointy it would, depending on the vest, penetrate it and hit the person, severely damaging the person. You’re now safe. That’s my scenario. So why are low caliber bullets not pointy?
In: Engineering
you wouldn’t necessarily use a low caliber weapon if you need to pierce armor. The first answer is basically the correct one. lower caliber bullets are generally for close range and a blunted round transfers energy to the target better. and you can have a heavier round in the same “size” as a pointed one. a pointed bullet at close range would possibly just go straight through with a clean entry/exit and not necessarily do what you need it to do……which is stop whatever it is you are shooting.
the more pointed a round is (assuming fired from the same weapon) the shorter the casing has to be……ie, less powder.
rifle rounds need to carry velocity over longer distances, which being pointed helps. and when we’re talking about rounds in assault rifles, they also need to pierce armor. a standard 5.56 round is going like 3x as fast as a standard 9mm.
You COULD load a 5.56 with a heavier bullet that goes around the same speed as a 9mm if you were doing some CQC type of stuff where you needed close range stopping power, but different bullets and guns are designed for different types of engagements.
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