[Jeff Higgins]

FN "green tip" bullets are very light at 27 grains, where the Federal and Speer ammo is loaded with heavier 40 grain bullets. The NRA was only getting 1,500-1,600 fps or so from the Ruger. I'm sure if they had tried the lighter FN "green tip" ammo, they would have seen substantially higher velocities as well.

And yes, the military FMJ ammo from a SMG is specifically intended to defeat some levels of commonly worn body armor. The rate of fire from their SMG is quite impressive as well - something like 900 rounds per minute. So the original idea, really, was to put a couple dozen of those tiny little rounds into an adversary, which I'm sure would be pretty damn decisive. Much more so than the same number of 9mm rounds that did not penetrate the body armor. They traded single round power for the cumulative affect of many little rounds that actually get through the armor.

I'm not convinced of the veracity of that approach in a civilian situation, using a handgun. We have no requirement to penetrate body armor and, therefor, no need to make the compromises required to do so. That, and we do not have SMGs, so we are far more dependent upon the effectiveness of single hits, or just a couple of hits, as opposed to dozens of very quick hits.