In a significant doctrinal shift, the U.S. military is relegating full metal jacketed (FMJ) pistol bullets to a training role, and will be adopting modern hollowpoint designs similar to those used by most domestic law enforcement agencies and citizens who carry handguns for self-defense.

The stunning announcement was made at the U.S Army’s Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey yesterday during the military’s two-day “industry day” for the Modular Handgun System (MHS), which will conclude today.

A military lawyer who made a presentation during the Industry Day noted that the United States is not a signatory to the Hague Conventions which outlawed the use of “dum-dum” and expanding bullets more than a century ago. It is the military’s position that the shift to jacketed hollowpoint (JHP) ammunition, which more efficiently transfers energy to the target and which presents much less of a risk of over-penetration, is more humane and less of a risk to innocent civilians downrange in modern combat where there are often no clear front lines.

The MHS contract is still caliber agnostic, with the primary requirement being that the adopted cartridge must perform 10% better than currently issued M882 (9mm NATO, 124-grain FMJ) with both the FMJ training ammunition and the hollowpoint ammunition issued for deployment.

Both the FMJ and JHP must perform similarly so that the training and combat ammunition has the same recoil impulses and performance parameters.

A lot of conventional wisdom suggests that the 9MM and .45 ACP are the top two contenders for the MHS contract.

Read the Remainder at Bearing Arms.