Truncated cone was all the rage years back but I hear nothing about it anymore.

Is a flat nose the same as truncated cone?

I am thinking 9mm.

Any thoughts really appreciated - thanks - Rick

Yes a hard cast truncated cone has a flat nose. I use them in 45ACP and they feed well.

Thanks. I know what you said is true, but is a flat nose bullet the same as a truncated cone or is there more to it?

Years ago they spoke about "shocking power"  and tissue damage being pretty impressive on the truncated cone - has that all died out with jacketed HPs?

Are they good for self defense?

Thee is more to it. For instance the Keith hard cast semi wad cutters are flat point bullets and the will do more damage. They are effective for self defense but there are better choices against soft targets. Hard cast bullets driven fast tend to give very deep penetration.There are other bullet designs that have flat points too. Some have a wider Meplat.

I have never had a nine and have no experience loading for them so I don't know how they would work in a semi auto.

The original design for the 9x19's bullet was a 124gr truncated cone.
Technically, all truncated cone bullets are flat points, but not all flat points are truncated cone.

Generally speaking, a flat point bullet has an ogival profile with a flat point; imagine a standard round nose bullet with the point filed flat.
A truncated cone bullet, OTOH, has a straight-sided taper with a flat point; imagine a cone with the pointy end filed flat.

The flat part is the meplat. Taken to the extreme, we have a full-diameter meplat, aka a wadcutter. The wider the meplat is, the more drag there is, both in air and meat: flat points smack things harder. A meplat that's too wide, however, can cause feeding problems in magazine-fed repeaters.

TC is almost a requirement in .357 Sig.  The TC 124gr plated berrys work well in .357 Sig, but not in 9mm.  OAL is too short to feed properly or if you make them longer, the ogive hits the chambers of some pistols.  I sure did buy a lot of them too.  

If all I had were fmj I'd stick with FP/TC. They at least seem to track straighter.

Almost every .40caliber "ball" loading will be of a truncated cone nature if you are looking for a pic/example. TC bullets smack harder than true ball by design. Modern HP's trump TC loadings for self defense in most cases. Where TC bullets really shine is when we are talking about handgun hunting bullets constructed of Lead Hard Cast pills with a wide meplat. They tend to crush tissue and bone better than ball ammo and they track true and strait as well. I like Buffalo Bore's hard cast offerings in 9, .38Spec, and .45Super "Outdoorsman" load offerings for woods carry.

Yep, I don't think I ever saw normal .40's for sale.  All FMJ in .40 I've used in years has been flat.

I also have some .50AE FMJ that is flat nose as well.

I've been shooting for a long, long time. And I'm one of the few fans of the much hated .40cal... But I think that one time, I did see some off brand .40cal that wasn't of a truncated cone nature... Maybe!

TC bullets cut neater and larger holes in paper for target shooting. The "fat" shape also allows for the most weight in a bullet for a given caliber.

They do the same in flesh and cause a little more damage then the typical round nose FMJ. No where near as much damage as a decent modern hollow point but maybe a little more cutting. They tend to deflect less off auto bodies when fired at angles.

Ummm no, no they don't... They do much more damage against thick skin/pelt, muscle, sinew, and bone... Shooting paper and shooting animals are very different things. Wad cutters and True "Elmer Keith" style bullet/load are far, very far from close to each other...