Hey, again, Danny. I'm supposed to be studying, darn it...
Nam, there really is no such animal as "stopping power". There is killing power, which any bullet has. The methodology used by M&S is suspect, in that it only used single shots to the torso to judge round effectiveness. Where I'm from, we shoot aggressors twice on reflex- more if they're damn yankees.
(The point I'm making is that well-trained modern shooters tend to fire twice if they are only engaging a single target. "Torso hit" covers a lot of area, too...What I'm saying is that the whole "one shot stop" premise is flawed from inception.)
Let me try to summarize quickly. First and most importantly, if one HAS to attend a gunfight, bring a shoulder arm (rifle or shotgun). These weapons are not only more powerful than sidearms (revolvers and pistols), but the stock aids in control, which translates into both speed and accuracy.
Next, with any rapidly cycling firearm, shoot twice (at least). Just train that thought right in. The sole exception should be when the perp instantly drop in his tracks-
but that almost never happens.
There is no wonder magic bullet. If you are using an underpowered handgun round (ie,
all of them), expect to be forced to score multiple hits to stop an attacker. Expect to make
decent hits if the multiple rounds you are sending downrange are to actually prove effective.
Once upon a time, handgun bullet made holes. When the modern hollowpoint bullet was developed, some of those handgun bullets expanded when fired into tissue, making bigger holes. Multiple generations of development later, we have gone from being forced to find a handgun that fires the largest diameter round- since we don't really expect it to expand- to being able to choose anything from 9x19mm up, and expect most of the rounds to expand with decent ammo. By expanding, the playing field has narrowed- there is much less difference (in effectiveness) between a well-expanded 115-grain .355 bullet and an expanded 230-grain .45 bullet, than there is between unexpanded bullets in those two calibers! So, the caliber- after reaching that "minimum caliber" considered base (9x19mm or .38 Special)- is much less important than other factors such as how well you shoot the piece, dependability, size, cost, etc.
(If the two paragraphs immediately prior seem contradictory, they aren't. Expanded bullets make bigger holes. Even these bigger holes may not stop an adversary immediately, and never expect just one to do the job.)
Okay...after the infamous
Miami Shootout, when a single wonder magic bullet did not immediately stop an aggressor (it would have apparently killed him, but would have taken a few minutes longer than several FBI agents needed), the FBI decided they needed a new super magic wonder caliber. Thus the FBI, the S&W 1076, and the Glock 20.
The new super magic wonder caliber- 10mm- was too much for many of the Fibbers to handle. It was downloaded to a 180 grain bullet at about 1,000 fps- almost identical in power to several popular loads for the venerable .45 ACP. It was discovered that the 10mm reduced power loads could be put in a shorter case. This shorter-cased round could be made in 9mm-sized platforms. Thus, the .40 Smith and Wesson- which quickly became the standard for many police departments in the US. The .40 is a higher-pressure cartridge than the .45, so while it's not more powerful, some experienced shooters feel the recoil more sharply.
The Smith 10s are strong guns, Danny. It was the agents that were weak, not the pistols.
(Poorly trained/skilled would be more accurate, truthfully.)
MLovett: thanks for the entertaining anecdote, that's quite a story. Where and when did this happen? I'd certainly love to read more details about it- I'm sure the press had a heyday.
John
