one shot stop

[zimm]

i see plenty of discussions on the importance of it.

by my reckoning, this means more to the fuzz than to self defense weapons.

the fuzz, may need to shoot someone in any variety of situations and distances, whereas, with all the legalities involved, if youre going to shoot someone in self defense, its going to be darn close quarters, and youre likely give them more than one. sure a 357sig has better stop stats than a 38special, but like lays potato chips, hes not gonna eat just one.

as such, the Kahr pm40 i carry is a bit over gunning, and the muzzle blast is irritating and sharp. i wish ida bought the 9.

hell, i dont even put 357 in the 640 anymore. just little ol' +p's.

 

[robert]

I can say that while I've seen instances of one-shot stops, including a really neat one with a .22LR*, most folks who were dead from handgun wounds had multiple holes in them. As the saying goes, if it's worth shooting once, it's worth shooting several times. That said, I want each and every round to do the maximum amount of damage it can while balancing that with my ability to accurately place my shots. For example, in a given time frame I can put more rounds of 9mm or .45acp on target than I can with a .40 so I generally stick with them (no, I do not personally care for .40).


*Dude was DRT in the middle of the road, spread eagle on the double yellow line like someone had positioned him there (he'd been standing there and some sort of drug deal went bad). He had a single .22 cal hole just below the xiphoid process that transected his abdominal aorta and he'd bled out into his abdomen; almost no blood on his clothing. Definitely not the norm, especially with a small caliber.

 

[jh504]

Accuracy is the most important thing as stated above. Statistics show caliber has very little to do with winning a fight, when dealing with handguns. If you shoot 9mm the best then stick with it. The only guaranteed "one shot stop" is an accurately fired round through the brain stem.
I've been fortunate enough to do some ballistic wound testing of different calibers, and while you can tell a difference in some, the real world statistics just point to it not really making a difference.
I like .40 or above because I deal with a lot of vehicle incidents and I have a little more confidence in its ballistics against auto glass and sheet metal. If that was not a major factor I would prefer 9mm.

 

[zimm]

Accuracy is the most important thing as stated above. Statistics show caliber has very little to do with winning a fight, when dealing with handguns. If you shoot 9mm the best then stick with it. The only guaranteed "one shot stop" is an accurately fired round through the brain stem.
I've been fortunate enough to do some ballistic wound testing of different calibers, and while you can tell a difference in some, the real world statistics just point to it not really making a difference.
I like .40 or above because I deal with a lot of vehicle incidents and I have a little more confidence in its ballistics against auto glass and sheet metal. If that was not a major factor I would prefer 9mm.

so whats your load? out of the couple inch barrel on my 40, i load fmj. im more interested in it just getting there, then how much expansion if it does. in that light, i think a 9mm fmj will clear a car door and penetrate better than a 40 with hollow points. bringing on why the question as to why i even bother with a 40.

of course, watching tv yesterday, r. lee emory was shooting gell with a few rounds. a 38 and a45 were hard to distinguish. the 44 mag on the other hand...

 

[robert]

http://brassfetcher.com/

Feel free to make your own judgements. Personally I would not carry FMJ in anything .380acp and up unless I had a specific reason for doing so. A bullet must hit something important to effect a stop. An expanding round increases your chances of doing this (increasing permanent cavity and generally temporary cavity) and modern jackets i.e. bonded further increase the damage caused; reference rounds such as the Winchester Ranger.