It's important to note that the article didn't really answer the question. Not due to any fault of the author. The question has perplexed people at least as far back as the Civil War. For some insight on how people have tried to predict or account for bullet effectiveness you can look up "Hatcher Index" and "RSP (Relative Stopping Power)". Note also the angst and chest beating the FBI went through after "The Great Miami Shootout".
To summarize, one of the first FBI agents to get a round off got a solid body hit on the first perp with his "wonder 9" only to have that same perp almost single handedly take out most of the FBI detail with a shotgun and a Ruger Mini-14. An autopsy stated that the hit with the 9mm would have proved ultimately fatal to the perp, but did not take him out of the fight.
And after all, isn't that the ultimate demand of a defensive handgun? That it be a reliable fight stopper?
You might want to look at a study by Evan Marshall and another by Massad Ayoob. One I found interesting was this one.
I think the most important thing to take away for this article is this portion: The ultimate stopping power rests with your training with your weapon system. Accurate hits in any reasonable caliber will “stop” a person...
In real estate, they say the three most important features of a property are location, location and location.
With firearms, you could say that the three most important features of stopping power of a particular round are placement, placement and placement.
From Greg Ellifritz’s “An Alternate Look at Stopping Power” http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/alternate-look-handgun-stopping-power
9mm .40 .45 Luger S&W ACP
# of people shot - 456 188 209 # of hits - 1121 443 436 Average number of rounds until incapacitation - 2.45 2.36 2.08 % of people who were not incapacitated - 13% 13% 14% Accuracy (head and torso hits) - 74% 76% 85% % actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) - 47% 52% 51% % of hits that were fatal - 24% 25% 29% One-shot-stop % - 34% 45% 39%
The data suggests that there is more skill (% accuracy) with the .45 ACP shooters which may contribute with a higher percentage of hits that were fatal, but that there are more one-shot-stops with the .40 S&W.
4 comments:
It's important to note that the article didn't really answer the question. Not due to any fault of the author. The question has perplexed people at least as far back as the Civil War. For some insight on how people have tried to predict or account for bullet effectiveness you can look up "Hatcher Index" and "RSP (Relative Stopping Power)". Note also the angst and chest beating the FBI went through after "The Great Miami Shootout".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_FBI_Miami_shootout
To summarize, one of the first FBI agents to get a round off got a solid body hit on the first perp with his "wonder 9" only to have that same perp almost single handedly take out most of the FBI detail with a shotgun and a Ruger Mini-14. An autopsy stated that the hit with the 9mm would have proved ultimately fatal to the perp, but did not take him out of the fight.
And after all, isn't that the ultimate demand of a defensive handgun? That it be a reliable fight stopper?
You might want to look at a study by Evan Marshall and another by Massad Ayoob. One I found interesting was this one.
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/alternate-look-handgun-stopping-power
30-06 ap , 8mm tracer, 9mm steel.. .. Behind Enemy Lines. In Unconstitutional, Collectivist Ct. We Will Not Stand Down. AAA/O.11B20.
I think the most important thing to take away for this article is this portion:
The ultimate stopping power rests with your training with your weapon system. Accurate hits in any reasonable caliber will “stop” a person...
In real estate, they say the three most important features of a property are location, location and location.
With firearms, you could say that the three most important features of stopping power of a particular round are placement, placement and placement.
From Greg Ellifritz’s “An Alternate Look at Stopping Power”
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/alternate-look-handgun-stopping-power
9mm .40 .45
Luger S&W ACP
# of people shot - 456 188 209
# of hits - 1121 443 436
Average number of rounds until incapacitation - 2.45 2.36 2.08
% of people who were not incapacitated - 13% 13% 14%
Accuracy (head and torso hits) - 74% 76% 85%
% actually incapacitated by one shot (torso or head hit) - 47% 52% 51%
% of hits that were fatal - 24% 25% 29%
One-shot-stop % - 34% 45% 39%
The data suggests that there is more skill (% accuracy) with the .45 ACP shooters which may contribute with a higher percentage of hits that were fatal, but that there are more one-shot-stops with the .40 S&W.
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