Shooting Holes in Wounding Theories: The Mechanics of Terminal Ballistics

Ulfhere at Mindspring ^ | 1999-2004 | Ulfhere

[Cobra Scott]

If you will read the whole thing (and it is several chapters), you will be pleasantly surprised. The "Myths and Misconceptions" chapter is really good, and should have the M&S junkies howling.

[Cobra Scott]

He addresses that in detail in the full version, and dispells it with straightforward prose. Good reading.

[solitas]

Yes, and in the course of home defense it is as useless as a BB-gun if you miss the shot. Right? My thought is that it's better to quickly get rounds into your target and at least disorient it enough to get closer and finish-off properly. Single-shot/single-round arms (i.e. most rifles) aren't as immediately effective as a 22 pistol where you can quickly squeeze-off several rounds into your target to drop it, and then take care of the niceties.

[Lion Den Dan]

Actually, the 9mm with the right load does just as much damage as the .45 ACP. And for a home defense load in your 12 gauge #1 or #4 buckshot it better than 00 buck. >>>>

Didja ever shoot anything whit any of this stuff? If you did, did it bleed and could it shoot back?

[P8riot]

Personally, I prefer the 458 Winchester, a dangerous game caliber that will kill anything from elephants on down.

Wouldn't want to live downrange in your neighborhood.

[Bluntpoint]

The next time one of the local elephants tears down one of my bird feeders, I will give one of those 458s a try.

[Lurker]

For later.

L

[Cogadh na Sith]

Heh heh...

I have a pal on a small town police force. He was forced to shoot a guy shooting at him at a traffic stop. My pal shot him in the forehead with a .45 ACP.

The guy turned and ran off as fast as he could and made it almost two blocks before he keeled over...

The back of his head was pretty much blown off.

Wierd...

[litehaus]

Hows it go? Got more than I need, not as much as I want...

I WANNA 50BMG!!!!

[broadsword]

45acp handguns and 3" magnum slugs in 12ga shotguns. That's the ticket.

[Captain Rhino]

Why not have your cake and eat it too? Try the Beowulf 50 cal AE upper receiver for the AR 15. 50AE round, semi-auto, 7 rounds in a modified M16 magazine. Here's a link:

http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=19581021

BTW, I was being a little sarcastic, since the topic was wound size vs terminal velocity. You can have both in the 458. (and the 50AE, too!) You are right about the single shot. It is normally encountered in a four shot bolt action.

As far as home defense goes, it depends on how much shooting you expect the engagement to require. A .22 might require more than just a few shots to get a youthful thug, scared and full of adrenaline (or drugs) to go down and stay down.

Remember that recent home video footage taken outside a courthouse where a disgruntled client made a "final payment" to his least favorite lawyer using a small caliber hand gun (.22, .25, .32)? He emptied the gun into the man (can't recall if it was a revolver or a semiautomatic) from about two feet away. The shooter was firing from waist level, so it is hard know how many hits were actually scored. The one thing that didn't happen is that the victim didn't go down. He backpedaled away, held his hands in front of his body, cried for help, tried to hide behind a tree, etc. The shooter, frustrated, finally fled and was run down by a sheriff/bailiff; his girth being too ponderous to permit a true getaway effort.

Returning to the young, scared criminal in the dark, are you prepared to reload in the dark to make sure that he (or them) goes down? If you live in a isolated location where 15-20 shots fired in the dead of night would go unreported, you have some decisions to make, like 1) how to explain it to the police when ballistics analysis shows that the last six when into the dead guy AFTER he was on the ground, or 2) whether or not report it at all (and take care of the cleanup yourself). No. 2 is not such a good idea because there can always be a lookout or driver waiting outside. And he/she is going to go home and start talking about it and the next thing you know you're doing No.1 anyway. If you live in more populated areas, the police are probably going to be there pretty quick even if you didn't call them when the break-in/disturbance began.

So, if you have crossed the mental Rubicon and decided that you will shoot to protect yourself or your family members, you might as well choose a weapon whose first shot (and every shot thereafter) has the capacity to fatally wound/kill outright. It's just easier to 'splain it to the police if there was only one shot fired (in fear of your life before the police got there, of course) and the dead guy took it standing up (preferably delivered to the front of the upper body). Keep the story simple.

Since sight alignment and trigger squeeze can be just a little off when YOU are full of adrenaline and in the dark, the weapon of choice is a short barrel shotgun.
Personally, mine is a pump action deerslayer style 12 gauge with a magazine extender tube. I keep it loaded with a mix of 00 buckshot and 1" slugs (wound, kill, wound, kill, etc..). I have practiced getting it out and moving through my home with it in the dark (dry fire, of course). I have never had to get it out for real and hope I never will.

[thackney]

BANG

[Bluntpoint]

Some times all you need is a 30-06, a spot light, a pick-up truck, a moonless night and a case of beer.

[Captain Rhino]

See post #31.

[null and void]

I Dutch load. #8, #6, 00, rifled slugs.

I'm not an expert shot, I figure more small pellets to increase chance of a 1st round hit, then progressing to fewer larger projectiles as the perp heads for denser cover.

[Condor51]

I'm with you 100&% on the .308

However right now my 'main line' rifle is a Yugo M48, 8mm Mauser (Which is really a licensed German 98k Mauser).

The ballistics are fairly close to the .308 (maybe a tad slower) and if my math is right the 8mm (7.92) works out to .31 caliber. But in any case, a .30 caliber is mandatory as far as I'm concerned for 'serious' shooting.

I almost feel sorry for those who spend all that dough on an AR-15 and clones with that wimpy .223 Remington. Heck I'd take an AK or SKS with the 7.62x39 over that any day.

I also have a 9mm Carbine - or as DiFi would say, an Assault Rifle. I bought that for, ahem, 'close in work'. It's good to 100-125 yards. And being 9mm it's the same as my 'main' sidearm so ammo is no problem.

And for my nightstand I have a 9mm Makarov (9x18) loaded with Hi-Vel 95gr JHP Cor-Bon's. This gun was once property of the East German Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Stasi).

Anyway, I'm pretty well set - for now. But there are about four guns still on my 'wish list'. Isn't there always :-)

[null and void]

The guy turned and ran off as fast as he could and made it almost two blocks before he keeled over...

The back of his head was pretty much blown off.

Happens occasionally.

During WWII a bomber pilot took flack to the head, got up and ran to the back of the plane with pretty much everything above his eyebrows gone.

Weird with a capital Wei...

[Eaker]

I almost feel sorry for those who spend all that dough on an AR-15 and clones with that wimpy .223 Remington. Heck I'd take an AK or SKS with the 7.62x39 over that any day.

I like my AR-15 and have fired M-16's. If you care about quick mag changes and accuracy you might want to review your thinking. I don't think that I would have any trouble taking anyone down with either.

For home protection I prefer my .40s&w backing up my Winchester 1300 pump gun belting out 00 buck.

[Eaker]

Good read so far, thanks for the ping bro!!

Humblegunner, come here and look at this!!

[humblegunner]

Hydrostatic shock plays a major role.

Good read!