In Jim Cirillo's book "Guns, Bullets, and Gunfights" he describes a shootout with the NY City Stakeout squad where 2 baddies came to rob someplace that was staked out.
Good guy cop has shotgun. Both bad guys have sawed-off shotguns. VERY bad situation shaping up. Good guy knows he has to put them both down fast. He pops #1 with a slug, then swings to shoot #2, sees in his peripheral vision that #1 is still standing, but decides to still engage #2 before going back to hit #1. So he shoots #2, who goes down, then swings back and shoots #1, who now cooperates and falls immediately from the impact.
Good guy checks out the falled baddies. #1 has TWO perfect slug wounds in his chest. Good guy did NOT miss with his first shot!
Right after describing this, Cirillo says I know you find this tough to believe but he's seen men shot with
-12 gauge buck
-12 gauge slug
-#4 buck magnum
-158 gr .38 Special roundnose
-158 gr .38 special semiwadcutter
-200- and 230-gr .45 ACP hollowpoint
-110 gr .30 Carbine hollowpoint
"...and still function."
He then says, "In my opinion, man is the toughest animal to stop. I had one gunman cock his revolver as I approached after a junior stakeout man had hit him with No. 4 buck magnum. The autopsy showed that his spine was severed, two pellets had pierced his heart, and five pellets had gone through his lungs. The only one-shot stops I ever saw were a 110-gr .38 Special Super Vel and a 12 gauge slug. Both were shots to the brain."
Oleg: is that enough anecdotal info for you?
Let me add that Jim Cirillo's book is very good reading. Although I do not agree with everything he says, I sure do pay close attention to the lessons he talks about. How many multiple gunfight survivors actually write about their experience??
One thing I got out of the book was that a man in "fight mode" is very tough to stop. Virtually all the gunfights he describes were when both sides were at max alert which makes for a very interesting study in worst case gunfights!! I imagine someone in relaxed mode is much easier to put down, but we can't rely on Mr. Baddie being relaxed.
As to WHY someone doesn't go down? Unless you can turn off the electricity, everything else can still run for a while, IMHO. If you miss the good stuff then it will take even longer for Mr Baddie to "cooperate."
Cirillo's book is published by Paladin Press at
http://www.paladinpress.com/
Edmund