Bullet energy transfer

[bulldog75]

I ran this past Tom and thought it would be a interesting bit of info.


http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs3.htm

[TAB]

ideal energy transfer is where it goes all the way thru the body, but is stoped by the clothes on the other side.   

[fullautovalmet76]

Bulldog,
I have posted a topic on something similar and the people who want to believe in energy transfer and such stuff as applied to handguns are legion. They absolutely refuse to believe the science....

[tombogan03884]

While I generally agree with the provision that bigger holes bleed faster, I have to call BS on this paragraph;
There have been many police officers here in the United States who've been shot with medium-high energy Magnum handgun bullets (as well as shotgun slugs) while wearing soft body armor. Soft body armor is constructed of several layers of fabric. When a projectile impacts soft armor, its energy is transmitted directly through the flexible fabric to the officer's body. There's not one documented incident in which an officer was knocked unconscious or physically incapacitated or in any way rendered unable to perform willful activity after his soft armor stopped such a projectile. These officers absorbed nearly 100 percent kinetic energy transfer, yet none were incapacitated by the blunt trauma "shock" of projectile impact or temporary displacement of underlying soft tissues.

I don't know or care about the math on muzzle energy or any of that stuff but I've been hit with enough crap over the years to know that my total attention at least momentarily goes to dredging up every four letter word that I ever heard.
The reason I don't disagree with the conclusions that the article draws is because the worst thing I've been hit with was small branches across the face on a cold morning  

[TAB]

the vest  and the bullet is what eats up most of the energy.  Just like when your hit with out a vest, the energy is used to reshape your flesh and reshape the bullet. 

[Sponsor]

[twyacht]

from article:
(and sometimes .380 ACP), you're better off selecting a non-expanding bullet that might exceed 18 inches of penetration than to choose a bullet that expands and underpenetrates. When a bullet expands, the increased diameter and non-aerodynamic shape acts like a parachute to quickly slow and stop the bullet as it penetrates flesh. These tiny bullets lack the mass and momentum to achieve adequate penetration after they expand.

***

and so lies the quandary, as opinions vary from one spectrum to the other. My .380 Cor-Bon DPX, Speer GD, Rem GS, etc,...are the best ammo you can get for a .380. but where over-penetration is a factor i.e, apt. condo, townhouse, parking lot with bystanders, etc,.. shooting FMJ is better?

maybe I missed something...

[1911 Junkie]

While I generally agree with the provision that bigger holes bleed faster, I have to call BS on this paragraph;
There have been many police officers here in the United States who've been shot with medium-high energy Magnum handgun bullets (as well as shotgun slugs) while wearing soft body armor. Soft body armor is constructed of several layers of fabric. When a projectile impacts soft armor, its energy is transmitted directly through the flexible fabric to the officer's body. There's not one documented incident in which an officer was knocked unconscious or physically incapacitated or in any way rendered unable to perform willful activity after his soft armor stopped such a projectile. These officers absorbed nearly 100 percent kinetic energy transfer, yet none were incapacitated by the blunt trauma "shock" of projectile impact or temporary displacement of underlying soft tissues.

I don't know or care about the math on muzzle energy or any of that stuff but I've been hit with enough crap over the years to know that my total attention at least momentarily goes to dredging up every four letter word that I ever heard.
The reason I don't disagree with the conclusions that the article draws is because the worst thing I've been hit with was small branches across the face on a cold morning  

I seem to recall an officer being shot in the back and paralyzed. Granted, the body armor saved his life, but I don't think he would have been able to perform any duties afterward.

[Timothy]

We had a cop take a round to his badge in the last couple weeks.  Saved his life and basically bent the badge in a 90 degree angle.  Ironically, the PD had only started wearting their badges again and this particular cop was bitching about how much the badge weighed. 

He ain't complaining anymore.

[Tyler Durden]

Brings a new meaning to the term "badge heavy".  LOL!

I saw one of these cop re-enactment shows where some guy wearing a wife-beater was holed up inside his house.  He shot one cop with a shotgun slug.  The cop was wearing a vest of somesort but still suffered a broken rib.

Ya break a rib bad enough, it will puncture a lung. 

Just for the record...I don't like "always" or "100%" statements.

That website that was linked to above had placed a date with its articles.  So Yeah, here it is 2010, I wouldn't be surprised if that article was from 2001.  There's been a whole lot of police involved shootings since then.  And IIRC, at least one manufacturer of "armor" had a recall.  That might have been soldier stuff though.

[Tyler Durden]

Yeah, just as I expected.  That link is from 1998.   

LOL!

At least they did us the service of dating their work.