FMJ is standard for combat. It might even be required by some treaty or convention.
Yes, it is in the Geneva Convention under use of expanding or “dum dum” bullets as they used to be called.
Interesting. But with fmj you lose some of the advantages of a larger caliber. I suppose there is more penetration, if that’s what they are looking for.
Geneva Convention requires FMJ ammo. Thus the movie. I have many rounds of mil-surp ammo in many calibers, it is all FMJ.
“It might even be required by some treaty or convention.”
It is.
It is a mistaken belief that the Geneva Convention applies to ammunition; it does not. The one that does is the First Hague Convention of 1899, to which the U.S. is not a signatory. However, there is a provision in the Second Hague Convention of 1907 against ammunition designed to cause cruel or extraordinary wounding, and we are signatories to that convention.
It is arguable that expanding ammunition is not intended to cause any sort of wounding at all, but a quick and humane kill. That is certainly the argument for its employment in hunting. Were I to decide, we'd be using it at least in handguns, which do not (usually) develop the muzzle velocity necessary for tissue supercavitation that does occur in rifle ammunition and is the reason that rifle fire tends to be more lethal than pistol fire.
Hollowpoints are banned under the Hague Convention of 1899. It would be more productive to just declare that we will no longer subscribe to these treaties.