Posted on 02/06/2026 6:06:46 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
Roy E. Harrel, Jr. (Paul's brother): "Welcome into the studio. No, you haven't been clickbaited. A video with Paul is coming up shortly. But before we get there, we got a couple disclaimers and yeah-buts and all those things that Paul used to say. And the first one is that this video was filmed on a closed set under close supervision of safety personnel. Do not try anything that you're going to see in this video at home or on your own personal range."
"With that little bit out of the way, this is a video that Paul made in August of 23. I'm in it, John's in it, and we don't have any speaking roles, so that's how far back it goes. Paul was commissioned to make this video for a legal matter, and we'll leave it at that. We now have permission to release this edited version of this. the video that was made that day. It deals with shooting a moving vehicle and I'll let you watch the rest. You will see that in the end there is an abrupt cut and Paul doesn't have a conclusion. I'm going to give you the conclusion today when we get done with the video."
"So, with that said, let's get to it."
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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It's interesting to see how they set up the demonstration, shooting at a target vehicle being towed by a pickup truck.
Rest In Peace Paul, the world owes you a great debt.
Pinging those from the post about Paul’s goodbye video in September 2024.
I have some experience shooting cars when when deployed to Iraq.
Here is my take away.
Assuming you do not hit the driver and you are specifically talking about the ballistics impacting the mechanical operation of the car, 5.56 and below are borderline useless unless you hit the gastank or something (which I never saw) ...
Even straight into the engine block through the front and side wont stop a normal car (ford opals were the car of choice in most instances)
You wont realistically be able to put enough lead into the car in time if its moving to effect it.
7.62 has moderate but unreliable effects, and also needs a good amount of accurate fire to disable the engine immediately.
The only thin that worked like a charm very quickly was .50 CAL.
That stops a care or truck dead in its tracks. It penetrates the engine block, it will destroy the transmission and axels. Nothing smaller does this reliably.
Maybe not stop it cold, but hitting that radiator will stop it once it overheats.
A 44 Mag Ruger Black Hawk pistol will penetrate an engine block. But then the down side is you have to be within 100 feet or less.
I .50 cal. Barrett would be a go to gun. I agree with you.
Headline says shooting the tires. There is a reason LEO uses stop sticks.
Ma Deuce always comes through.
Very interesting and well-done. Thanks for posting this.
“Ma Deuce always comes through.”
Yeah...and its been in service for over 100 years.
Amazing.
Thanks, my brain stands corrected: Shoot out a tire and the car won’t stop and may not go out of control, but it won’t get far either or be controllable at speed.
I suspect that most of the difference between the origin of the tactic and its reality today is due to the changes we have seen in tires, with much lower profiles and stiffer sidewalls today than in days of yore.
I’d never seen Paul Harrell before, but now I know what became of Dr House when he went on the lam.
“Maybe not stop it cold, but hitting that radiator will stop it once it overheats.”
True..and the radiator almost always was shit...and even the smaller calibers will do that.
But even with the blown radiator...the car can still go a few miles...and you wont get the “stop dead in its tracks” effect
Never mind. He really only looks like Dr House in that one, early still shot.
What is the researchable legal case and any media reporting to give the ‘why’ of the video.
Not only ridiculously useful, but ridiculously durable. Plenty of stories out there about 50+ year old guns still being used.
Not only ridiculously useful, but ridiculously durable. Plenty of stories out there about 50+ year old guns still being used.
Law enforcement mostly gives themselves three choices; ARs, handguns, or stop sticks.
For others, shotguns would be better than rifles or handguns for rapidly deflating vehicle tires.
The wider pattern helps. Also, if the shooters are trained in trap, skeet, and/or sporting clays, they'd be more capable of hitting a moving target.
Paul Harrell's demonstration was based on an actual incident. Separate from that demonstration, I'd repeat it with beginner, intermediate, and expert clay shooters to show the contrast between a shotgun, shot ammo, and a clay shooter, versus single bullets from stationary target shooters.
That’s correct, you don’t have to do the head space and timing anymore. You just switch barrels like it was an M240.
And when I was in Germany, they had a bunch of old 50 Cals in some of the arms rooms that were pre-1970s and still fully functional.
But damn..the basic desing...I guess like the Colt 1911 ACP was pretty close to perfect...because not much has changed and its still highly effective 100 years later.
I've seen cars go for miles with an empty radiator, especially if the driver stole it or it was slated for the scrap yard.
I witnessed cars intentionally destroyed before being junked. It could easily take half an hour after losing all its coolant for an engine to finally quit.
I haven’t seen Paul before.
He seemed a decent and helpful man.
The video is interesting and well done.
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