From: Michael S. Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Mon Jan 15 2001 - 08:11:52 MST
"Michael M. Butler" wrote:
>
> Mike Lorrey said some stuff, which I quote out of order and interject
> comments on:
>
> > Read gun magazines and books,
> > become one of those guys at the grocery story people look leery at for
> > reading 'those gun magazines'
>
> Warning! Warning!
>
> Unfortunately, most gun magazines exist, like most car magazines, to
> sell copies of themselves and thus to sell advertising. No matter how
> knowledgeable a single author sounds, do not swallow any "party line"
> whole. Be skeptical. Keep learning.
>
> > If stopping power is what you are interested, dropping a perp
> > immediately with little chance of him continuing an assault, then you'll
> > want to use a larger caliber pistol round, from 9mm, .40, .45 ACP, .45
> > Special, .45 Long Colt, .44 magnum, .454 Casull, or .480 Ruger. Hollow
> > point ammo, especially +P powered hollow point like Cor-Bon is highly
> > effective in stopping a perp, but oddly enough less likely to kill them
> > from wounds than a small caliber like .22 (because they don't go into
> > shock as easily from smaller calibers, they bleed easier).
>
> Umm. Well. *Ahem*. The Marshall and Sanow notion of the ultrafast light
> projectile in larger calibers sure seems to sell a lot of magazines.
The problem with ultrafast is penetration. Ball penetrates the most, and
is most likely to hurt someone else, while hollow points 'star' out and
transfer more energy to the first target hit, are less likely to go
completely through a large target, etc. The higher velocity a projectile
carries the more likely it is to pass through the target, which is why
there is something to be said for .45 ACP, which is heavy and subsonic,
and while it stops perps well it is statistically less likely to kill.
The only ultrafast thats really effective are high velocities as seen
with .223 type or higher hollow point rounds where the bullet almost
completely disintegrates. Of course, they don't make pistols for such
rounds.
>
> > At this
> > point, 9mm and .40 Liberty are the primary self defense calibers, with
> > .45 ACP and .44 magnum close behind. .454 Casull is a powerhouse round
> > that only a well built man over 6 feet can really handle with ease.
> > Now, if concealability is your thing, then you could look at a .25, .32,
> > or .357 caliber gun. SeeCamp, and some clone companies make some decent
> > very compact .32 caliber autoloaders that fit in the pocket of one's
> > khakis with little or no 'printing' or sag.
>
> With smaller calibers, placing shots properly is even more important.
Yes, however, since most all self defense situations take place at less
than 10 yards range, its not primarily important, of course, I've seen
police videos of cops emptying entire mags at that range without hitting
the suspect, so dealing with stress while shooting is a big factor that
all the range time in the world won't help. Smaller caliber guns are
generally used for 'up the nose' ranges, in any event.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:04:53 MST