Stopping Power

[tman]

CZ, that was a good read, shot placement a important factor

[2HOW]

Try Cor-Bon DPX

Richard  I cant disagree with this pick. Although I like the Federal EFMJ . That being said I dont like a 9mm , other than that the heaviest +p+ Gold Dot bullet would be a good choice. My wife has just started carrying a Kel-Tec PF-9 until we can get hold of the federal round  shes loading  S&B FMJ .

[wisconsin]

You can't go wrong with anything made with a Barnes bullet.

[someguy]

My p226 is full of Speer Gold Dot, as is my P220 compact, my Kel-Tec P3AT and my USP Compact 40sw.

Hey, if it ain't broke...   

[gunman1911]

 A long time ago I used to have the opinion of the 9 mickey mouse with 18 rounds and 2 spare mags meant two things )1 That is is a very bad situation with a lot of bad guy at one time or )2 you don't practise enough. But new developments have changed my way of thinking . And just for arguments sake there was an Leo I believe in Saginaw who had encountered a perp on PCP the perp was hit 13 times with a .357 before he went down. If I have to shoot someone that many times I am not aiming in the right spot. Maybe we all could agree 2 to the ticker one to the snot locker. Yes I love my .357 and adore my .45 but I am seriously looking for a 9.

[Sponsor]

[Rob10ring]

I've always been taken in by the stopping power myths and have tried to always make sure that I had access to larger, more powerful cartridges. After a recent match, some of the guys were pokin' fun at a giant of a guy that was shooting a 9mm Glock. For someone that hadn't been shooting matches a lot, he was kicking butt, so one of the RSO's says, "you shoot fast, but 9's are too wimpy for 1-shot stops." A gunny policeman who was shooting in the match set this guy straight and pointed out that there are no real one-shot stops and that you always shoot until the threat is neutralized. We can all repeat the mantra of 2 chest/1 head all day, but what if you never get those shots? What if under tremendous stress, we continually miss the gold zones. I guess that's when having another shot waiting to go in that wonder-nine would be comforting. I'm still kind of a .40/.45/.357 guy, but I'm thinking that I might buy a few more mags for the CZ.

[DesertMarine]

Although stopping power is an interesting measure of handgun performance...it is (in my opinion) a flawed statistic that does not take into account the dynamics of mental reaction to a) having the business end of a gun pointed at you, or b) how the nervous system will react to having a projectile of any size ripping through your innards. I think the following article sums this up quite well...

http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/one-shot-stop-handgun-statistics-and-why-theyre-a-load-of-crap/

Just my $0.02 worth.

30 some odd years ago, the FBI published a report about shooting and effects.  They were the first ones to rate .357 and .45ACP in the 96 to 98% rankings based on shooting statistics.  I do not know if they have any current reports.  There has been a lot of improvments in the science of bullet making.  Seems like the saying about taking a knife into a gunfight might apply here.  Why would a person want to take a caliber that is known to have questionable stopping power to a gunfight versus one that will in most probability stop with one shot, if shot placement is made.  Yes, there are a lot of factors that can affect what happens when a person is hit.  I would prefer to use a caliber that can stop with one round, rather than having to rely on double-tap or more.  To me the most important factor on caliber choice is what a person is comfortable with.

[brosometal]

I would offically like to change my name to Death Train.   I loved the writing in that peice, and stop picking on Todd!

[PegLeg45]

You never know what will happen when it comes to ballistics.

Case in point:
"Big Mickey" was a co-worker of mine a long time ago. He was a big man and got that way from a lifetime of manual labor.
On the weekends he worked part time as a bouncer at a local juke joint.
One night a patron got liquored up and commenced to squabbling with his old lady.
Big Mickey went to break up the fight.
The guy pulled a .38 and raised it up and pointed it at Mickey.
Realizing what was about to happen, Mickey tensed up his entire body (picture the Hulk in a pose-down).
The gun went off but everyone figured the guy missed because Mickey grabbed the gun and commenced to pound hell out of the guy.
Only afterward did anyone notice that Mickey was bleeding. He had a neat little .38 caliber hole in his right chest muscle.
Later at the hospital, the ER doctor removed an intact .38 wadcutter, undeformed.

Mental and physical conditions apply to every shooting. In this case both applied...along with caliber and power of projectile.
Point being, conditions change and there are too many variables to depend solely on charts and tables.

This was a true incident, I really knew Mickey.
Cancer took him a few years later.........RIP "Big Mickey".

[tombogan03884]

You all need to read the "Tales from the mortuary" thread. The gist is that a lot of people shot with little calibers wind up dead, every one shot with a big caliber is stopped, unless you are an "Operator" of some sort your LEGAL objective is NOT dead, it is to make them STOP doing what made you shoot them in the first place. A small caliber is a murder weapon, you have no choice but to kill with it as it lacks any of the EFFECTIVE intimidation factors, Noise, Flash, or a honking big muzzle, or a significant FEELING of impact.some one fires at you with a full power .357 or .45 even a non life threatening injury will make you rethink your career choices. If some one shoots at you with a .22, you can take a FATAL hit, and not even realize they have a gun.