Penetration first,
then expansion. The bullet always has to go deep enough to interrupt vital functions or you're just betting your life on a really noisy ice cream scoop.
The whole argument in general (not this thread) has gotten ridiculous in view of the fact that we have so much good bullet technology at our disposal these days. I have visited with Dr. Fackler at length on some of these issues, and he is not some nutty little lab rat who's never seen a GSW. He is also not "anti-HP", or anything like it. I believe his contention is simply that there are absolutes of terminal performance, and that you can't change them just because it's Thursday.
When you're talking about gunshot wounds as a mechanism of injury, penetration is the foundation stone of the "wall". You might improve performance by doing something neat with the stones at the top of the wall- but you cannot yank the foundation stone out and cut it up to make "pretties" with. The wall will collapse when you need it, and all the fancy doo-dads in the world won't keep it standing.
Put another way- "Gee guys, let's cut 4 feet off the bottom of this ladder, so we can take it up and use it at the top- where we really 'need' it." Huh?
Conventional handguns do not consistently generate significant hydrostatic shock or compound tissue damage (simultaneous stretching/tearing caused by combined hydrostatic shock and explosive fragmentation) at their typical velocities. Most of the frangibles sacrifice penetration in an attempt to achieve this. If your BG has a folded up "Rolling Stone" under his jacket, or maybe something taped to his abdomen, wouldn't you like to be able to do better than just ruin his wardrobe?
None of this is to say that HP's are 'bad', or 'don't work'. They work better than they ever have, provided that we use some common sense and select a load that will always penetrate the torso with enough retained energy to disrupt the spine, should we be lucky enough to hit it. Moderate bullet weight per-caliber is required to do this. Now, get ready for a shock- this kind of performance often results in an exit wound. Two holes are better than one. Over-penetration is not something to obsess about. If taking the shot creates a greater hazard to the public than the lunatic you want to shoot, you simply don't take the shot. This can suck sometimes, but it's better than shooting into a covey of little old ladies.
There's really nothing left to argue about, because you can finally buy HP's that penetrate AND expand. Just make sure they are of sufficient weight to continue to penetrate when they do expand, and yes, gelation is the best medium we currently have to establish penetration/expansion in tissue. Gelatin is a pain in the a$$ to mix, cook, refrigerate, calibrate, etc. and you can rest assured that when something better comes along, we "jello junkies" will be among the first to lose it. The replacement medium is going to have to essentially do evertyhing that gelatin does, though, so I don't expect that "cheese in a can" is going to replace it this week. We'll just have to see what can be done over time.
This is not to say that Evan Marshall is "full of it" either, or that his work is irrelevant. He set out to do great things, but it seems that work he did has become commercialized to the extent that it compromised the credibility of the work itself. (I wonder who caused him THAT problem??) This is too bad, because a lot of Marshall's early findings are fairly consistent with what I have observed over 25 years of sorting out human mayhem. The .40/180 is not the end-all, be-all of defensive handgun loads. It works as well as a lot of other handgun rounds and that's all you can ask of it. If I was shopping for .40 ammo today, I'd give the 165's a hard look. It seems to be a good balance point for this cartridge offering decent penetration, along with some expansion.
None of them are the Hammer of Thor, and we would do well to remember that. Thor, to the best of my recollection, seldom missed or needed a 'follow up' shot!
