DHS purchases 1.6 billion hollow point rounds.

[popeyespappy]

I am curious if you know what an IDIQ contract is, John. I'm also curious if you have a clue who uses what kind of ammunition (hollow point versus FMJ) and why?

IDIQ is indefinite dilivery and quantity am I right? From what I know hollow points are illegal in war because the geneva conventions because they enduce suffering and make sure the target dies. Hollow points do have Mj's right? But besides those rounds fmj's are used for armor peircing purposes.

To be honest people should use both, because if you mixed in a few hollow points you are sure to kill protection or not.

Yes, IDIQ is indefinite delivery indefinite quantity. These are IDIQ contracts. What that means is DHS isn’t stock piling anything. At least not per the information in your links. Solicitation Number HSFLGL-12-B-00003 is an attempt by the government to get the best possible price by saying, “Hey guys, we might buy up to 750 million rounds of ammunition over the next 5 years. We need vendors capable of providing that kind of quantity. If you can then what is your best price based on minimum orders of 1,000 rounds each?” DHS hasn’t actually bought anything on that contract. DHS probably won’t buy quantities even close to the maximum value of the contract. They are just looking to put contract vehicles in place that will allow them to buy small quantities of various types of ammunition on an as needed basis from vendors that are capable of producing large quantities should the need arise. BTW this is a multiple award solicitation so potential suppliers don’t have to be capable of producing everything that is asked for, only the specific amount asked for on each type of round that they reply to.

Hollow points are useful for a situation in which your target is positioned amongst a crowd of non-combatants. IOW, they reduce the risk of penetrating the target and continuing on the the bystander behind the target. They give greater knowdown power but also cause greater damage as side effects of the manner in which this is achieved (from the perspective of law enforcement they're extremely advantageous if the target is armored btw - as it amounts to hitting someone in the chest with a very large very fast sledgehammer). That sounds like a pretty legitimate reason to deploy the round to me.

Yea, hollow point rounds transfer energy a lot better than non-hollow point rounds. At least they are supposed to. The kinetic energy of the round is transferred both to the target as the round expands presenting a larger surface area, and into deforming the round itself. As Rhythm pointed out it is a good way to limit penetration. Limiting penetration to your target is usually a very good idea no matter who you are.