The Importance of Pistol Caliber in Home Defense

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HiredHand

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https://ccwsafe.com/blog/the-importance-of-pistol-caliber-in-home-defense
“Posted By: Justin Collett

When it comes to the stopping power of a firearm, the general wisdom is “bigger is better,” and this is absolutely true when the goal is to incapacitate an attacker. Firearms instructor Claude Werner says that, for law enforcement, the ability to incapacitate an assailant is important: “They have to render the assailant immediately powerless and unable to escape because they have to get the bracelets on a criminal that they’ve just justifiably shot.” For a home defender, however, the goal of self-defense is not to incapacitate or capture a criminal; it is to break contact with an attacker. “In the case of an armed citizen, if you shoot the criminal, and he runs away and the attack is ended,” Claude says, “that’s good enough.””
 

ricco

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Depends.

Unless it's a CNS hit bullets work by causing exsanguination. Most CCW gunfights last less than 10 seconds (watch ASP videos) with the bad guy more often than not running away. Forensic pathologist Dr Vincent Di Miao, the author of the definitve work on gunshot injuries titled "Gunshot Wounds" testified at the George Zimmermen trial that a person with a destroyed heart can remain conscious and able to move as long as there is oxygenated blood in the brain, maybe up to 15 seconds. Injuries to other parts of the body can take much much longer for blood loss to cause unconsciousness.

People immediately falling down or no longer fighting is more psychological than physiological in that 15 second or longer time frame.

On occasion people will instantly drop unconscious from a gun shot injury that is not a CNS hit. That is called vasovagal syncope, a definition, "Vasovagal syncope (vay-zoh-VAY-gul SING-kuh-pee) occurs when you faint because your body overreacts to certain triggers, such as the sight of blood or extreme emotional distress." Mas Ayoob tells a story about a new CCW that wanted his snubby carry revolver not to rust so he sprayed it down with WD-40, he failed to remove the ammo before spraying the WD-40. We know what metal penetrating oil does to primers, right. So our CCW needed his revolver to defend his life, he drew the revolver pointed it at the bad guy, pulled the trigger, it went click and the bad guy dropped to the ground unconcious.

The entire testimony is worth listening to but if you are only interested pertinent information skip to 1:00:00. As an aside, the defense attorney questioning Dr Di Maio is Don West, he is now National Trial Counsel for CCW Safe.

 

wolfkpr

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.22 is used a lot in home defense shootings- because lots of folks have them handy. I have an older relative whose house gun is a .410 ( because she aleady has it and she’s comfortable with it). Yes in a home invader shooting if they break contact it accomplishes the goal- but the immediate goal is to stop the attack, and incapacitating ( shoot til they stop) is the correct response. So use whatever you have, if its all you have- ( after all bullets are like real estate- location, location, location)- but i’d recommend a service caliber (.38+p, 9mm or better). There’s a reason LE doesnt use anything smaller..
 

TANSTAAFL

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From what I understand self defense ammo is not designed to necessarily kill, it is about energy transfer, in theory. The shock of the bullet striking them is supposed to incapacitate the attacker, knocking them out much like a punch to the jaw. In practice all sorts of strange things occur. Guns and Ammo had an account years ago of a drug addled axe wielding assailant hit 18 times with a .357 Magnum, the person defending themselves used speed loaders 2 times! Finally after being struck by the 18th round the assailant fell.
 

Tanis143

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From what I understand self defense ammo is not designed to necessarily kill, it is about energy transfer, in theory. The shock of the bullet striking them is supposed to incapacitate the attacker, knocking them out much like a punch to the jaw. In practice all sorts of strange things occur. Guns and Ammo had an account years ago of a drug addled axe wielding assailant hit 18 times with a .357 Magnum, the person defending themselves used speed loaders 2 times! Finally after being struck by the 18th round the assailant fell.

Just go back and review the Miami/Dade FBI gun fight from the 80's. This case is the gold standard of what people can do even when shot. One guy took a 9mm round to the side that broke ribs, went through one lung and stopped just short of his heart. Afterwards he was able to still kill 2 agents and wound 2-3 others.

Self defense rounds are used to inflict the most amount of damage as possible. Expanding ammo (hollow points, hydroshocks, etc) are more about transferring energy than penetration. The more vital organs you can turn to mush means the quicker the assailant will drop.
 

kingfish

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From what I understand self defense ammo is not designed to necessarily kill, it is about energy transfer, in theory. The shock of the bullet striking them is supposed to incapacitate the attacker, knocking them out much like a punch to the jaw. In practice all sorts of strange things occur. Guns and Ammo had an account years ago of a drug addled axe wielding assailant hit 18 times with a .357 Magnum, the person defending themselves used speed loaders 2 times! Finally after being struck by the 18th round the assailant fell.
Not sure where you got this info from, but it goes against everything I and apparently the ammo makers seem to believe. If relative energy transfer was the most important factor, you would want a bullet that flattens out nearly instantaneously and stops which would transfer the most impact energy in a very quick spike. All main stream defense handgun ammo is designed for a minimum of 12" of penetration with controlled expansion which spreads out the energy transfer spike if velocity and bullet weight are the same. There is a belief amongst some ballistics experts in what is called hydrostatic shock which is a pressure wave that travels through a fluid medium that causes incapacitation but most agree it is minimal in handgun ammo and doesn't come into play until you get above 1500 fps. It is controversial as some studies have shown some support for it while others have not.
 

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