Very well considered and written. Thanks for the info on defense against human attackers. I didn’t know about the 24 Brinnell bullets! That’s really hard! Softer lead makes sense, as most human attackers won’t present a deep target (e.g., torso from front to rear) while attacking.
If you haven’t already seen it, here’s something else that you might enjoy. Mostly about revolver tech. more in regards to hunting, though.
Gun Notes: The .45 Colt - Dissolving the Myth, Discovering the Legend
by John Linebaugh
http://www.customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm
That is a very interesting article. I don’t think I would take a .45 LC out to his pressure or velocity range as the slower recoil of the normal 700 FPS 250 grain load is interpreted by my brain and body as much less recoil than most pistols that use a smaller bullet but have higher velocity and sharp jumping recoil. I can shoot the .45 at between 700 and 950 feet per second all day long and it is comfortable, useful for nearly anything that comes along. It is what I consider a “working gun”.
The recoil is quite different than the high speed rounds: It is a push rather than a sharp jump and keeping the barrel down for the second shot is quite a bit easier with .45 LC or ACP than most of the smaller mouse guns.
The .45 rounds, acp, long colt and .45-70 are, for my money, the best rounds ever developed. They can be shot at high speed or low speed and they simply deliver the goods.
The .45-70 can be shot with roundball at 450 FPS for rabbit or at higher velocities and the round is favored for downing African Elephants. All of those functions can be done with either modern powder or black powder and I use both although I have recently switched over to black powder for nearly all my guns but the semiauto pistols.
I am a bit surprised to see the Ruger shot at such high pressures and velocities in the article but we do have recoil junkies out there who like to be challenged. .45 LCs are also shot with roundball at low speeds which are great for training and for kids and just messing around. It gets them into the “SlowSpeedBigCaliber” school at a very early age.
I had hoped to post a very funny video of a guy that was probably 250 lbs being knocked backwards and on the ground by firing a .45-70 factory load in a Contender pistol, but it appears that the video has been taken off of Youtube. It knocked him into the back of the shooting area and he tripped and fell down just before he reached the tables behind. I had hoped to post it as an example of recoil exceeding customer’s expectations. It was hilarious.
I was surprised to see that 24 BHN but it comes directly from a recent article by Glen Fryxell which is posted at:
LASC.us/
This is the Los Angeles Silhouette Club site and all of Glen’s articles are posted there for the free use of shooters.
His book is also downloadable at that site and it gives a great deal of insight into the interior ballistics of pistol rounds. It is probably the best book written on that subject: I frequently look up answers to my questions and he always seems to deliver the answers in an understandable format.
The usual pattern when someone comes on the board is that they are shooting very hard bullets and the bullets are keyholing and are all over the target. The regular posters just smile and write these very words:
“Stop water cooling your cast bullets and enlarge them to a dimension that is .001 or .002 larger than the rifling at the throat and most all leading and keyholing will disappear. You enlarge the mold by using small strips of .001 high temperature aluminum tape on the face of the mold. It works, try it.”