In my testing of EFMJ, (45acp), I was less than impressed.
If local regs ban JHPs or if your gun won't feed them, then I guess they're an alternative to ball ammo.
I'd rather fix the gun so it feeds JHPs the way it should.
I've also tested EFMJ, and I'm very impressed with the performance. First a little background. In my several investigations of shootings, both fatal and non-fatal, police and non-police, I came across hollow-point bullets, in most calibers, which for one reason or another failed to open and expand. The most common cause was passing through thick clothing, such as denim or leather. The hollow point cavity would become filled with the material and in effect, become a FMJ. Since the late 1960's it has been rather fashionable among us gun nuts to have larger and larger hollow point bullets, because as we all know, expansion is good. Many look very impressive, but in real life shootings, leave a lot to be desired SOMETIMES.
If, God forbid, any of us have to use our handguns for defense, it is impossible to know ahead of time just what the circumstances of that shooting will be. Will it be a stand-up shootout, or a bad guy hiding behind a car door? Will we have to shoot through glass, sheet-rock, or plywood? Will the bad guy be wearing a simple t-shirt, or a full set of leathers? There is just no way to know. Because of that, I prefer a bullet that I know will expand each and every time, no matter what it has to go through to get to the bad guy. The EFMJ expands each and every time, no matter what I've put them through. No, they don't have the jagged petals that peel back and slice & dice their way through flesh, but they do expand, penetrate and retain most, if not all, of their weight.
Does an EFMJ round have an impressive looking cavity? No, they look rather like boring flat-nose semi-wadcutters, but they perform as advertised. That's what I want my self defense ammo to do.
I hear that there are some hollow point ammo brands on the market that claim to expand after penetrating "common barriers." That's a great improvement in design, which we can all benefit from. In the mean time, I'll carry my EFMJ, if for no other reason than it is what I have a lot of, and with the rising cost of ammo I can't see dumping it and buying something else. I have a good supply of .40S&W in 165 grain, and .45acp in both 165 and 200 grain +P.
(http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb294/pioneer461/Guns%20-%20Pistols/EFMJ.jpg)