David Scott
New member
Tamara,
I read the "perils" thread, and I thought it was a hoot in places. Everybody's got a pet theory. Some rely on math, some rely on "street data", some rely on "common sense", and a few seem to have called the Psychic Friends Network for help. If I had to pick a single number to guide me, it would be muzzle energy, because energy is the ability to do work, and I wnat work done. Fortunately, I don't have to go by one number.
You pays your money (at the ammo store) and takes your choice. If you ever have to fire your choice at a human being, there are too many variables to be sure you will always have a one-shot stopper. So, in a sense, I agree with the point in the "perils" thread that there is no Holy Grail Stopping Power Formula. So what? Even without a formula, you can still maximize you chances by working on the variables you CAN control while understanding those you CAN'T control.
What can I control?
I can choose an accurate, reliable weapon over a POS. The shooter with a SIG 9mm is, I think, better off than with a Lorcin 9mm.
I can train myself to use it quickly and accurately. This is a big gain, because case histories suggest that the first one to land a shot on the other's person is most likely to win the fight.
I can choose calibers, bullet weights and designs. There are some obvious things in this choice -- I can confidently predict that a .44 Magnum is more likely to stop a bad guy than a .22 short, in the hands of the same shooter, given proper training with the weapon. "More likely" is the key phrase -- nothing is certain. Some stuff is less obvious, like the great expansion versus penetration debate, the "gelatin is not human anatomy" mantra, etc. My method? Listen to all of them, but don't get religion about any of them. IMHO, the ideal ammo is one that gets good marks under multiple people's systems. (Just for the record, this logic led me to CCI-Speer 124 gr. Gold Dots as a 9mm carry load.)
I read the "perils" thread, and I thought it was a hoot in places. Everybody's got a pet theory. Some rely on math, some rely on "street data", some rely on "common sense", and a few seem to have called the Psychic Friends Network for help. If I had to pick a single number to guide me, it would be muzzle energy, because energy is the ability to do work, and I wnat work done. Fortunately, I don't have to go by one number.
You pays your money (at the ammo store) and takes your choice. If you ever have to fire your choice at a human being, there are too many variables to be sure you will always have a one-shot stopper. So, in a sense, I agree with the point in the "perils" thread that there is no Holy Grail Stopping Power Formula. So what? Even without a formula, you can still maximize you chances by working on the variables you CAN control while understanding those you CAN'T control.
What can I control?
I can choose an accurate, reliable weapon over a POS. The shooter with a SIG 9mm is, I think, better off than with a Lorcin 9mm.
I can train myself to use it quickly and accurately. This is a big gain, because case histories suggest that the first one to land a shot on the other's person is most likely to win the fight.
I can choose calibers, bullet weights and designs. There are some obvious things in this choice -- I can confidently predict that a .44 Magnum is more likely to stop a bad guy than a .22 short, in the hands of the same shooter, given proper training with the weapon. "More likely" is the key phrase -- nothing is certain. Some stuff is less obvious, like the great expansion versus penetration debate, the "gelatin is not human anatomy" mantra, etc. My method? Listen to all of them, but don't get religion about any of them. IMHO, the ideal ammo is one that gets good marks under multiple people's systems. (Just for the record, this logic led me to CCI-Speer 124 gr. Gold Dots as a 9mm carry load.)
) One thing you may be interested in knowing, though, in the interests of formula revision; I plugged GHDPF into my little Excel ballistics spreadsheet and the correlation between rankings sorted by GHDPF and TKOV is 1:1. Sort the data by either number and not one round changes position on the chart... (Both being momentum calculations weighted with diameter)
) has a 6" barrel in .40 Super. At least I have seen advertisments with that length.