real world stopping power handgun info

Discussion in 'Firearms' started by OldDude49, May 24, 2019.


  1. OldDude49

    OldDude49 Just n old guy

    Too long a article to post it all here but worth a read by all IMHO....

    The Best Handgun Caliber - A Real World Study ~ VIDEO
     
  2. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    So what I gathered from this is where you place the bullet is more important than the size of the bullet :)
     
  3. apache235

    apache235 Monkey+++

    Roger that. Didn't read the article but I've seen expansion tests that show everything from .380 to .45 ACP have very similar wound paths thanks to a huge advancement in bullet design but bullet placement will get you more than anything else in a handgun round, and handgun rounds aren't all that good in the one shot stop category, especially if the perp is high on drugs or mentally messed up.
     
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  4. SB21

    SB21 Monkey+++

    I know a skinny girl still carrying around a 9mm slug in her ass from a bank drop robbery from years ago ,,, placement is the key point ,,,, that same 9mm to the forehead could have carried a whole different story .
     
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  5. duane

    duane Monkey+++

    Love reading all the data and BS, but in real world, bullet placement and body armor seem to make the most difference. If your friendly neighbors vote to have the "law" come for your "resources" that you are "hording" and take them to the shelter for "redistribution", you can bet that they will have all the latest and greatest protection supplied by DHS. Cache, going grey, and shot placement seem to dominate the real world, rather than wound channels, expansion coefficients, ETC. YMMV
     
  6. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    My pistol is just to buy time to get to my rifle. Real world experience by combat vets I know indicates a preference of cartridges more powerful than 9mm. Seems that the advances in bullet design would apply to those as well. That said, all my current pistols are 9mm for a variety of reasons including it's the same ammo used by .gov and .mil.

    Note: any "resource gatherers" who knock on my door with a battering ram will need armor capable of stopping 308 and 12 gauge at close range. Will I "win"? No, but all they will get is my dead body, a shit ton of spent brass and whatever plunder they will be looking for will be in the middle of a gas fire.
     
  7. Salted Weapon

    Salted Weapon Monkey+++

    Man a couple years ago was killed by a .177 BB gun, in the eye. Placement matters especially in the heat of the moment.
     
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  8. Salted Weapon

    Salted Weapon Monkey+++

    Reminds me of a guy in the 80's from all that contra BS in south America. Shot twice in the arm once in the leg and was fine.
    And as we all know Hitler got shot. Well had that dude been a better shot well we can only imagine....
     
  9. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    With ANY Projectile, it is a simple case of Mass X Velocity and where that projectile hits the Target... It really doesn’t matter if your HandCannon, is a .50 or .44, or .357, or just what, if you do not hit some place vital... All those “ Guys” that try and convince their wives that they just HAVE TO HAVE that 44 Magnum Pistol, for “Bear Protection” on their “Once in a Lifetime Alaska Fishing Trip” It is nothing more that Gum Magazine Foolishness.... If they are dumb enough to try and NOT Share the stream, with the Bears, then you deserve to get munched, and it will not matter in the slightest what Pistol you are pack’en...
     
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  10. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

    Meh - a 9mm might expand. 45 hardball never gets any smaller....

    Best to live in an area where you can avoid the use of a handgun to begin with..although that isn't always possible.
     
  11. Oddcaliber

    Oddcaliber Monkey+++

    In Mel Tappins book Survival Guns there is an antidotel story of a circus elephant being killed by a 22 short! Size does matter but it's shot placement that really counts.
     
    oldman11 likes this.
  12. Wildbilly

    Wildbilly Monkey+++

    Better to have a few surprises waiting a the front door; 1) Steel door and frame, 2) Cross-bar and braces for door on the inside, 3) Electricity and water on the front and back porches, 4) Fuel and a spark on the front and back porches, and 5) An IED flower pot at the front and back porches.
    PS If y'all are ever in NW Alabama come by and sit a spell, BUT CALL FIRST!:cautious:
     
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  13. AxesAreBetter

    AxesAreBetter Monkey+++

    I've shot enough stuff with enough stuff to have a solid opinion on the matter.
     
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  14. 3M-TA3

    3M-TA3 Cold Wet Monkey

    I like how you think
     
  15. Ura-Ki

    Ura-Ki Grampa Monkey

    Energy is the name of the game, and just how fast a bullet can ether dump that energy, or produce the shock violence of passing through!
    Having seen hundreds of combat gun shot wounds, I have had the unique experience of seeing what does what! A 7.62X51 that went in through a dudes heal, traveled up his leg, exploded the knee, continued up through the leg and exploded the hip before continuing on through the torso and exiting the shoulder! Have seen a 5.56 Ice pick a head, entered right side of the right eye socket, passed clean through and exited the back of she skull, dude got up and ran 50 feet before another round through the back into the heart dropped him! Hand guns flat suck at stopping bad dudes, 9 mm will ice pick unless it's hollow point, and even then expansion isn't always reliable! .45 is more like a Mack truck, it isn't fast, but it creates so much shock as it expends it's energy, its almost always lethal if it hits in the torso! .375 Mag does an OK job with hollow points, but, Having seen a dude take 5 to the back and one to the back of his skull and then get into his car and drive off 2 miles before dying, pretty crazy! I have seen a .30/06 CUT a man in half, a .300 Win Mag BLOW a man in half explosively, and a .50 BMG blow a man into several pieces and spread them all over a 30 meter circle, Rifles flat out WORK! Rarely, does a hand gun produce a one shot stop unless it hits the CPU!
    For choosing a hand gun and ammo, look for what will produce the most energy, and most expansion ( not over penetration) as you want to cause as much blood loss as possible! The more leaks you can cause, the faster death will come! A cartridge that has high speed and good expansion will cause a YUGE temp wound channel and THAT causes lots of tissue disruption, that's what you want! Organs that can't function will aid the bleeding further, and lots of small leaks can equal or exceed a large single one! Up until recently, 9 mm was a piss poor choice, even with hollow points, it would over penetrate with out causing much tissue damage, and there were many LEO shoots where the baddies required a lot of bullets to cause the blood loss required to stop the threat! When the F.B.I. went to the 10 mm, the game forever changed, as there was a super fast bullet that carried a lot of energy and opened up quickly causing massive internal damage and a rapid bleed out! None of the others can match that unless you go to a large revolver with the Magnums, and then its bullet construction that makes it all work!
    In short, you want to cause as much Bleeding as possible, there are approx 6 pints in the normal human body, the faster the heart can pump it all out of the body the faster death will come! Conversely, a shot to the snot locker will drop a tango instantly! A shot to the pump isn't always as fast, the body can still function until the organs shut down! The brain can still command the body to do things even if the heart is no longer working!
     
  16. apache235

    apache235 Monkey+++

    Ummm, 6 pints might be a tech low. Otherwise - right on.
     
  17. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    How does a headless chicken keep running ?
     
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  18. Thunder5Ranch

    Thunder5Ranch Monkey+++

    More primitive nervous system but once completely bled out they are done running......... Kill cones are yer friend :)
     
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  19. arleigh

    arleigh Goophy monkey

    How does nervous system operate a body without a head that runs without hitting any thing in the yard ?
     
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  20. AndyinEverson

    AndyinEverson Black Powder Monkey

    All I can really say is :
    That at times bullets can do weird things when they hit flesh....
    As well as:
    I have seen men shot with what should have been a dead right there mortal wound , keep on fighting...and men hit "badly" as in with a poorly place shot , drop right there ....
    Never underestimate the will to live.
    Andy
     
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