Frank Ettin said:
Walt Sherrill said:
....If you compare the results in that Ellifritz study, link above, you'll see that 9mm and .45 were more similar than dissimilar in terms of effectiveness. But that insipid little .22 round (which included short, long, and LR) had a higher percentage of fatal hits (34%) than either .45 (29%) or 9mm (24%). The same data showed that people shooting .22s stopped the other person with fewer shots than the .45 (.22=1.38 rounds vs. .45=2.08), and had a surprisingly similar percentage of fatal shots (.22 = 25% vs. 45 = 29%). One-shot incapacitation for the .22 was 60%, while it was 51% for the .45....
But that is not a fair summary of the Ellifritz findings. You're ignoring Ellifritz' "failure to incapacitate" data. See my discussion, above.
Actually I DID NOT ignore that point -- just three lines down from the text you quoted, I wrote what's shown below. I bolded the final sentence in this version, but not in the original post (#45).
Walt Sherrill (earlier) said:
One big advantage of the .45 was the percentage of people NOT incapacitated (in which a lower % is better), but the .40 round did better than the .45! Results: .22=35%, 9mm=19%, .40=13%, and .45=14%. If the other guy is shooting at you, the .22 may not be your best choice.
The FBI study argues that bigger is better -- but like so many of these analyses, we have to accept their conclusions on faith. I'll do that until I have better data.
But some examining the Ellifritz study might wonder about that generalization when they see that the .22 incapacitation rate was much better than the larger, hotter.32 acp, and that the .357 magnum (with similar bullet weights and operating pressures) does better than .40 S&W -- at least in terms of incapactitation.
Then too, if the person attacking you is armed, is hopped up on chemicals, very determined, or has been shot before, you're in deeper doo-doo than you can know
unless you get a central nervous system hit, regardless of the caliber used. I didn't really mention it in this discussion, but that was one of the things that became very obvious in the infamous FBI Miami shootout...
As I said earlier, I'd still like to see test results for the .22 WMR round, which has to be more effective than .22 LR fired from a barrel long enough to use the extra powder. As I said in subsequent posts,
I'll continue to carry 9mm. I'd also like to know what works best against a couple of angry dogs -- as that may be a bigger risk for some of us than bad guys.