Stopping power

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Check out this website I found it is an interesting read on stopping power of bullets. If you think a 45 ACP is big and slow well your right but it is unbeatable for stopping power IMO.

Stopping power

Read it and state your opinion.
 
Do a search on Marshal, Sanow, or "One Shot Stop" here or on TFL.

The short answer: It is junk. But people cling to it with ideological fervor.

Quoting myself from an old topic on the subject:

Food for thought: the M&S studies can't tell the stopping power difference between some .40 S&W loads... and a .308 rifle or a 12 gauge shotgun. All are within a couple of percent of each other on the OSS scale. Think what you want, but in my mind if a study can't tell the difference between the effects of a 165 grain projectile going 1,150 feet per second, and a 168 grain projectile going nearly 3,000 feet per second (or a 385 grain slug at 1,900 feet per second), it isn't much of a study.
Click to expand...

Oh, and there are reasons to belive that it is an outright fraud anyway...

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthre...rpage=25&highlight=One Shot Stop&pagenumber=2
 
NO handgun has any real stopping power. The 9MM, .40, and .45 are just about dead equal in fight stopping ability. (In the real world)

Actually, the 9MM may have a slight edge, because you can make faster follow up shots. And in most cases, you will need follow up shots, regardless of caliber.
 
I reckon all too often ... the mythical ''stopping power'' is treated as if it was the ''injury potential'' ...... a different thing entirely IMO.

Whether a rounds ''injury potential'' produces a stop is dependent on placement of said shot ..... and that is another subject!

I prefer to think not so much of ''injury potential'' as ''disruptive (per tissues) capability ... for a given combination of bullet and round loading. yet again tho ... placement influences any ''stop'' potential.

A heavy .44 mag might perhaps smash an adversary's femur .. pain, shock, bleeding ... but no guarantee it'll stop him emptying the rest of his mag at you. Same round to the head ..... different matter!
 
Years ago I did my own study comparing 9mm and 45acp. The target was woodchucks and observation of the hits was the prime point. Woodchucks make an excellent target since they are tough beyond their size. No attempt was made to put it into a mathematical formula. This also was atime before sophisticated bullets. Woodchucks instantly killed were ignored. When the 9mm was used the 'chuck reacted sometimes as if it were stung by an insect, then it would run to it's hole . Never wanting a running shot on a 'chuck , I never got a second shot with the 9mm. The 45 was very different . When hit the 'chucks body would shudder then he would WALK to his hole .I could then take another shot. These tests were far more meaningful then those done by the "experts". They also showed that the 45 is significantly better than the 9 though modern bullets may have reduced the advantage. BTW I find no difference between the 45 and 40.... It's interesting that hunting dangerous game in africa the choice is 40 caliber or more. Lesser calibers just don't reliably do the job. Yes , I prefer big bore. As far a formulas Hatcher in " Textbookof Pistols and Revolvers" has two formulas. The first was based on energy and it did NOT conform to the real world. He changed it to one that depended on momentum - that did conform to the real world.
 
water jugs at 25 yards

When shot at this distance,the 9mm (125gr) seems to blow the cap off the milk jug(1 gallon) clean enterance and exit.Zippy little rounds.
Then same test with 40sw (180gr) it just completely ripped the upper 1/3 of the same type of milk jug.
Point proven to me.Wouldn't want to be a milk jug convict!
 
My own informal test between my 9mm and a friends 45 ACP. I clung to the 9mm because it was getting the good press at the time, he claimed 45 ACP was the king of the hill.

Shots fired:
Target, one ripe watermelon.

Four rounds of 45 ACP 230 grain FMJ, hey, it was an unmodified Series 70 Colt, this was his only reliable round. Anyway, four rounds fired, four 0.451" entrance and exit holes.

One round of 9mm Winchester 115 grain Silvertip hollowpoint, hey, the S&W 39-2 would feed any thing except empties. Anyway, one round fired, one 0.355" entrance hole, one exit hole big enough to stick your fist through.

Conclusion: the 9mm trounced the 45 ACP. Watermelons beware!!!

:D


Unfair comparison? Most likely. If he could have fired hollow point ammo, the 45 ACP exit would have been the same as the 9mm hollow point. I have carried 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 9mm, and 45 ACP. I stoked all of them with hollow point ammo, hoping to get the most out of the chosen caliber. That being said, I would rather protect myself with a 12 gauge shotgun or a Howitzer, but concealment becomes an issue.
 
They are all handgun calibres, and ergo that means they all suck. They are a compromise for when one cant have a rifle or a shotgun at thier disposal. Pick one your comfortable with shooting, and whichever number makes you happy. 9mm, .40 and .45 all seem to work about the same in real world fights, so pick one you use best.
 
Placement placement placement

I understand the comments about this study not being able to tell the difference between a rifle and a handgun. But I also believe there's much more at work here. I think it's interesting in the "goat" study, that the difference between the .380 and the 45 acp was -- if you consider a few seconds one way or the other -- nominal. And the shot placement? Chest. Just like a hunting shot or, in defensive terms, a COM shot.

I've been bowhunting for years, at velocities and rates far far (and, once more with feeling, far) below that of the average defensive handgun load. Yet at what I would consider a bit *beyond* what you'd normally think of a defensive range, out to about 30 yards. I've killed many deer with those slow, old arrows, and very few of them lived much beyond the 8-11 seconds listed in the goat-killing table. Most of them lived five seconds or less, in my estimation.

Once again, it's all about practice, the ability to place your round, and the knowledge of where you *should* be placing that round.
 
I know plenty of weapons that will one-shot-stop. However, they are all crew served, and most are mounted to sea-borne craft.


M110-A2 203mm Self Propelled artillery anyone? Like to see'em come at me after one of those HE rounds through the chest.

really. I want to see that. Then I could prove zombies exist, and I would know to use enough gun. That being Atomic Annie, or an Iowa-class Battleship.

I would like to see someone take one of those point blank COM. "Lunge at me now, b***h.":D
 
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