Confidence in one's weapon and their ability to use it counts for a lot more than dubious statistics and hearsay.
Excellent point, thank you.
I've never been much for ft-lbs of energy. It is only a very rough yardstick to judge a projectile's effectiveness. A fastball probably has more ft-lbs of energy than a 45 ACP, but which would you rather be hit with? Now, do I think there is a difference between a round with 60 ft-lbs and another with 4,000? Sure. But 300 and 350? Or even 200 and 500?
Probably not, though I could be wrong. I sure won't be volunteering to find out!
Look at it like this: If you have one dollar to your name and then receive a second, you have doubled your "wealth" ... but you are still poor! A dollar just isn't much $$$. A 357 Magnum with 600 ft-lbs of energy may sound like a lot (600 lbs, woah), but it really isn't much in human terms. After all, according to Newton's 3rd law, "To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". And a 357 Mag certainly won't send you flying back across the room when you fire it (or get hit with it) as if clobbered by a 600 lb weight.
As has been said, the key factors IMVHO are placement and penetration. Of course, the attitude/psycology of the bullet's recipient play a huge roll too. The "Three Ps" perhaps
? buzz_knox and Halo summed it up pretty well actually. The primary determinant is software, not hardware.
In the end, all we are really doing is hurtling very tiny chunks of metal at high speed. Not that I care to be hit with any of it
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