Erich,et al, don't take it so personal, I wasn't directing anything to you.
I see that noone has admitted to actually using a snubby in an armed confrontation.
Yeah, this could be an intersting thread , if there was some actual good info in it.
My problem is someone asks about a round and everyone starts quoting velocities, like that's supposed to mean something. Y'all know where the whole idea of velocities came from , right? And how it's totally irrelevant here. Velocity/bullet study/manipulation came from hunters, specifically, big game hunters and bullet manufacturers use this as sales pitches. What's the difference between game and humans(clothes,phones,wallets,etc)? We need to keep in mind that while that info is good for hunters , 'cause one deer/bear/water buffalo will be just like the next one, but this info cannot carry over to defensive shooting, 'cause humans are completely different. How do they test different bullet function at different velocities anyway? Which leads to mention of penetration, like that's supposed to mean something. Penetration into what, ballistic gelatin, wet phone books, jugs of water(one person mentioned 11", 11" of what?)? L-Frame, you gave a nice explaination of how you want a bullet to expand and not go thru, but failed to acknowledge that penetration in winter, with heavy layers of clothing will be completely different than summer with a single lightweight shirt. When they start giving stats on effects of velocity/bullet combos on clothed cadavers, that'll be good info. "til then how about looking at history? There's alot of stats and history of men who carried snubbies every day in the mean streets. Col Askins ,Col Fairbairn, Bill Jordan has written extensively about snubbies, how they're good from contact to 10', at COM (btw, if you're 15 yds away, you need to exit asap and not engage). Then, as long as you fire several rounds, 99% of the time, you'll stop the fight. They preferred regular SWC, but acknowledged that winter was different than summer, as clothing, etc definitely makes a difference. So, to answer a person who askes what's a good snubbie round, the best anyone could say is, it depends and then we discuss the variables, so that they're informed that they might want to carry this round in summer, so not to over penetrate, but then they might want to carry this other round in fall and winter( depending where they live), to insure penetration. Btw, a warm crock of stew is good comfort food on a cold winter day.