Its just my opinion, but id say with modern HP ammunition, all of the "service" calibers are so close in stopping power, that the difference is really negligible.
A center mass hit with 9mm, .40, .45, .357mag, etc are all going to bring someone down 90%+ of the time.
Is that true, or is that just how their data was interpreted by some others?the central people responsible for that bit of irresponsible silliness are M&S.
Stopping power is an illusion.
It is important to start a book on handgun stopping power with that in mind. There are no magic bullets. There are no manstopping calibers. There is no such thing as one-shot stopping power.
Everyone reading this book will make more survival-oriented decisions if they expect their bullet to have little, if any, effect on the target. Instead they will fire from behind cover or get behind cover as soon as possible. They will fire numerous times. They will be more precise in their fire. They will keep their gun pointed at the target until they are absolutely certain the action is finished.
Is that true, or is that just how their data was interpreted by some others?
Stopping power is an illusion.
It is important to start a book on handgun stopping power with that in mind. There are no magic bullets. There are no manstopping calibers. There is no such thing as one-shot stopping power.
If some feel that there is something to learn from the compiling and analysis of actual shooting data--while others are saying in essence, "Oh, that way madness lies"--well, that honest difference of opinion by itself could account for for a lot of books, articles, lectures, etc. Even a career. Do you begrudge Marshall, Sanow, MacPherson, and Fackler their careers? They (and others) have all feasted on this controversy.So either "Stopping power is an illusion" and there is no "one-shot stopping power" or one can write a number of books, articles, lectures etc. and make a career in which the idea of such is a critical componant.
The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.
---F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Handle With Care", Esquire Magazine (March 1936)
If some feel that there is something to learn from the compiling and analysis of actual shooting data--while others are saying in essence, "Oh, that way madness lies"--well, that honest difference of opinion by itself could account for for a lot of books, articles, lectures, etc.
Perhaps we are, as adults, all familiar with many concepts that are both true to some extent, and yet also false to some extent?
Closer, I would say, to considering it all, rather than accepting it or dismissing it. Acceptance and dismissal both imply certainty. If I don't have enough info to say that something is sound science, how can I have enough to say it must be faulty science?It seems that you on the other hand embrace and defend it all, what is useful and the faulty science.
357 Terms said:^^ so do you think that the 9mm, 40 or 45 is more effective? they all cant be the same. One has to be better than the other if only marginally.
Actually, I've seen more folks in the ER from shotgun wounds than handgun wounds by far.I knew an ER doc who after treating a whole lot of gunshot wounds was totally unimpressed by the stopping power of any handgun. It seems that patching up a guy with 7 bullet wounds and then releasing him as his injuries were not serious enough to require admittal to the hospital, really turned him off to handguns for home defense. He keeps a 12 gauge ready for that use, commenting that he never gets to work on folks shot at close range with a shotgun. Seems they get delivered to the morgue instead of his ER.
But is that a result of effectiveness of the weapon, or of where you are?Actually, I've seen more folks in the ER from shotgun wounds than handgun wounds by far.
Mostly those hit with birdshot, but sometimes those hit with buckshot.
I have seen men take multiple hits and continue to fight.There are two different running opinions that make the biggest splash on this site. One is that your service round-chambered pistol is inadequate in any and all situations, and that you'd be likely to do more damage with a slingshot and a marble. The other opinion is that good, possibly numerous hits with a pistol will drop an enemy. I'm in the second camp. I have an extremely hard time believing that two rounds from a service-caliber handgun applied to a human's chest is not going to do the job. If you hit the heart or the lungs or even both, the lights are going to fade.
You do not need a rocket launcher to bring down a man.
Yep.I have seen men take multiple hits and continue to fight.
Could a gun with "less stopping power" potentially have equal or greater stopping power in real terms if it can be accurately fired more rapidly due to less recoil due to using less powerful ammo?
A 22lr can be fired quickly and accurately. If shot placement and follow-up shots are the most important factors why not carry a 22?
Because the .22LR, when shot from a handgun, performs dismally at QUICKLY STOPPING aggressive humans.A 22lr can be fired quickly and accurately. If shot placement and follow-up shots are the most important factors why not carry a 22?
This is an old shooting myth.a well placed 22 rimfire is liable to hit in the shoulder and come out the hip.....doing extensive damage along the way, just sayin.
357 Terms said:Just assume you have multiple attackers shooting at you, you have sooo much stress and precious fractions of a second to react. There is no guarantee that you will hit the men COM, let alone a double tap. When you hit them (wherever it may be) would you rather have a 9mm or a 125grn 357?