Study upon study, who knows for sure?
Heavier Ball ammo (any round of 200gr weight or greater) such as .45ACP 230 gr., .44 Special 246 gr., .45 LC 255 gr., .38 Special 200 gr. LRN,(3) all followed the intended flight path, even upon hitting bone. These projectiles gave the best observed handgun performance in creating damage that would be consistent with producing incapacitation of a human target with the fewest possible shots fired. They also did not exit the cadaver torso as the energy was invariably shed in the target, leaving no apparent energy for over-penetration and exit(4). Exit wounds did occur with face shots, head shots and extremities, face shots causing imparting of secondary velocity to teeth and chunks of bone, creating secondary fragment projectiles.
Softer lead gave surprising results(5), in that it deformed on impact but pushed ahead through bone and flesh and shed its velocity and energy quicker, stopping 3 to 5 cm earlier than FMJ. In other words, it produced a MORE violent stopping effect than harder leads. This result also duplicates the Army findings from the 1904 tests. It is problematic for modern law enforcement use, however, as soft lead does not feed reliably in semi-automatic pistols. It's use is outstanding, however, in revolvers as there is no feed travel problem.
QUOTE]an effective bullet will also make as wide a wound channel as is possible. This facilitates rapid blood loss. Wound channel size is increased by bullet size, tumbling, mushrooming and bullet shape [/QUOTE]
A heavy bullet may have less energy at the muzzle, but will have a greater proportion of this energy retained by the time that it reaches the target.
Heavier Ball ammo (any round of 200gr weight or greater) such as .45ACP 230 gr., .44 Special 246 gr., .45 LC 255 gr., .38 Special 200 gr. LRN,(3) all followed the intended flight path, even upon hitting bone. These projectiles gave the best observed handgun performance in creating damage that would be consistent with producing incapacitation of a human target with the fewest possible shots fired. They also did not exit the cadaver torso as the energy was invariably shed in the target, leaving no apparent energy for over-penetration and exit(4). Exit wounds did occur with face shots, head shots and extremities, face shots causing imparting of secondary velocity to teeth and chunks of bone, creating secondary fragment projectiles.
Softer lead gave surprising results(5), in that it deformed on impact but pushed ahead through bone and flesh and shed its velocity and energy quicker, stopping 3 to 5 cm earlier than FMJ. In other words, it produced a MORE violent stopping effect than harder leads. This result also duplicates the Army findings from the 1904 tests. It is problematic for modern law enforcement use, however, as soft lead does not feed reliably in semi-automatic pistols. It's use is outstanding, however, in revolvers as there is no feed travel problem.
QUOTE]an effective bullet will also make as wide a wound channel as is possible. This facilitates rapid blood loss. Wound channel size is increased by bullet size, tumbling, mushrooming and bullet shape [/QUOTE]
A heavy bullet may have less energy at the muzzle, but will have a greater proportion of this energy retained by the time that it reaches the target.
Muzzle energy can be deceptive, and is not really a good indicator of incapacitation capability. For example, a .38 Spl +P 115gr bullet at 1,250fps has 399 ftlbs of energy, while a 158gr at 890fps has only 278 ftlbs. Penetration of gelatin for both rounds is effectively the same (14.8-15.4"), and in actual shootings the 158gr has proven a more consistent manstopper
From these figures it should become
apparent why throughout history slow heavy pistol bullets have proven so effective.
The M&S study was a bold effort but poorly designed, so little credibility can be given to many of the results. Less forgivable is that some of its proponents refuse to admit that there are errors.Most medium calibre expanding rounds are too light. Tests indicate that bullets lighter than 200gr are far more likely to be deflected by an impact and veer off path, missing the internal structures that they were aimed at. The only medium calibre round that did not show this tendency in tests was the 200gr 38 Spl LRN round. Soft lead versions of this round had even more marked wounding.
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