2004 "American Handgunner" Annual

[Lone Star]

Be advised that the named annual has one of the most practical handgun stopping power articles that I've yet seen, by Dave Spaulding. It actually pictures bullets dug out of PEOPLE, not gelatin blocks. The comments are very revealing. They are not designed to promote any particular products, although I must say, the Federal Hydra-Shok .38 Special Plus P did very well in fights involving two different snubs. The photo of the lead HP bullet that melded with the lock it was meant to shoot off is quite interesting.

Also has good photos in an article on classic handguns, by John Taffin, and a feature on how gun owners on Jersey (the UK island) have managed to keep their handguns, banned on the mainland. Action pistol shooters will like the South African shoot, which tells more about the country than the mass media has done of late. (Some large cities and provinces are being renamed, for political reasons.)

The price is outrageous at $9.95, but I paid it, mainly to get Spaulding's article and photos.

It's on newsstands and in major book stores now.

Lone Star

 

[Shawn Dodson]

It actually pictures bullets dug out of PEOPLE...

I haven't yet seen this publication, but unless Spaulding identified everything the bullets encountered (intervening obstacles, clothing, bone, etc.) from the time they exited the muzzle until they stopped, as well as the barrel lengths of the guns in which they were fired from, the photos merely serve as examples of terminal performance that CAN happen in certain isolated incidents as opposed to examples of typical in-service terminal performance.

I'll keep my eye out for it and peruse it if I get the chance.

 

[DigMe]

Yeah, I need to go back and read it but after skimming the Spaulding article in the store I didn't find anything that was particularly helpful to me. Then I looked over the Ayoob article and saw some seemingly teenage masturbation reference in an attempt to be funny and that was pretty much it for me. I thought it was a particularly telling flash of unprofessionalism.

brad cook

 

[Lone Star]

Spaulding did do a pretty good job of tracing the bullets' courses, and he named barrel lengths, too, in most (if not all) cases. I guess one thing that impressed me was how well the 129 grain Hydra-Shok performed from both Colt and Smith snubs, because that's what I carry in my S&W M60's when I can't find lead HP's locally. I like Speer's Gold Dot, but it's a tight fit in the chambers of one gun.

One major point that he made is that in the app. 200 cases to which he has access, there is no real consistency. A load that works splendidly in one shooting may be unimpressive in another. He does note that HP's work better if they hit an area of the body that has a lot of fluid.

I haven't read Ayoob's articles yet, but often skip his material unless he's writing about shooting results. He tends to dwell on petty issues, like he's trying to outdo everyone else or impress us with the infinite range of possibilities. I personally have never seen a case in which having handloads has mattered in a shooting that was otherwise righteous, but that may matter more where he lives, in the NE. It is a recurrent theme in his writing. I haven't taken him as seriously as I once did since he wrote that, "Be Roll-Out Ready" story, in which the idea was evidently to be equipped like a SWAT cop or Army Ranger assaulting the Presidential Palaces in Baghdad, for home protection. I've always hoped that story was written tongue-in-cheek...I've also taken him with a grain of salt since he referred to the wonderful South American sense of work ethics in promoting the Taurus line. Thanks, Mas, I'll stick with US work ethics, which are bad enough!

Lone Star

 

[Shawn Dodson]

One major point that he made is that in the app. 200 cases to which he has access, there is no real consistency. A load that works splendidly in one shooting may be unimpressive in another.

This is what I expect to see. Sounds like a good article. I'll have to make an effort to locate it.

Thanks for thje heads up.