FBI Report on choosing Handgun Caliber

[22lr]

Interesting that clothing in front of the gelatin increases wound volume about 40% of the time.

Juster, one should discard gelatine wound depth after some 12-13" because it is deeper than broadside of human body. Unless it is american of course. Say, if you draw the line at 12-13" and re-consider gelatin tests data you will see that wound channel volumes for clothed gelatin are actually smaller.

 

[sogetthis]

Unless it is american of course.

 

[Juster]

Juster, one should discard gelatine wound depth after some 12-13" because it is deeper than broadside of human body.

I agree. When was the last time you were intimidated by 12" of muscle?
Freud must work for the FBI.
What bullets do to muscle isn't that important.

 

[22lr]

For those who were too lazy to read the whole article - here is the most interesting part ( I like it the most)

An individual has to choose the most effective defense package, taking into account both the expected terminal ballistics of the round and caliber he chooses and how well he shoots that pistol and ammunition combination. For example, if a person were trying to decide between shooting 9x19 or .40SW, he might:

from a holster, at 7 yards,
shoot ten rounds into an NRA-type pistol target as quickly as possible,
do this for both pistols, and
score the targets, scale the score to percent,
multiply the FBI wound volume for each round by the target's score, and
divide that by the time it took to shoot the rounds, starting from the holster.
This kind of a calculation is going to yield something like total wound volume (in cubic inches) per second. It will take into account if a person is slower and less accurate with a certain pistol and caliber, and it will take into account the terminal ballistics of the round.

The pistol and caliber with the highest score wins.

I never seem to find time to do that above test but it sure is on my list, just pure curiosity.

 

[Broker]

View from the morgue

From: http://www.mouseguns.com/deadmeat.htm

"I see an average of 8.2 autopsies per day/365 days per year, and I can tell you that when the chips are down, there's nothing that beats a 12-gauge. As for handguns, the name of the game is not only shot placement but how a properly-placed bullet acts once it gets there. I've seen folks killed by a bb to the eye and others survive after being hit by several well-placed rounds with a 9mm. "

"As for me, I'll take a slow-moving .45 to a gun fight any day. I absolutely despise a 9mm for defensive situations (yes, they will eventually kill but often not quickly enough to prevent the BG from doing you in first)and a .380 as well. These are probably the two calibers I see most often on the autopsy table." "As I've said before, I want something that will plow through bone and keep going, not skip off of it. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a .380 or 9mm strike bone on a well-placed shot and skip off in a non-vital direction, leaving the BG free to return fire. With the .40 and .45, this seldom happens. Bone is in the body for basically two reasons--to give support as with the legs and spinal column and to protect major organs, such as the ribs protecting the heart or the skull protecting the brain. Skip a bullet off a support bone, such as the leg, and the BG will keep shooting. Break it, like you generally do with a .40 or .45, and the BG is going to hit the pavement and your chances of survival increase dramatically. It's the same with a shot to the chest. Skip a 9mm off the sternum (breastbone) and the fight continues; plow through the sternum with a .45 and, trust me, the fight is over. I'm just convinced that all things being equal, bigger is better when it comes to bullet size.

http://www.mouseguns.com/deadmeat.htm

Quote from above websight.

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