The Importance of Pistol Caliber in Home Defense

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ricco

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The energy transfer theory is called hydrostatic shock, think of a pebble being dropped into a pool of water and the small waves radiate away from the impact point. The theory was that these "waves" would impact nerves with enough force that a trauma message would be sent to the brain and the brain would, as a safety mechanism, tell the body to lie down. After the Miami FBI gunfight as previously mentioned the bullet makers went to work on bullet design, they wanted to make a bullet that was more reliable in various mediums. They tested the bullets in ballistics gel and used high speed cameras to capture what the bullet did at different points in the gel. Some, seeing the effect of the "temporary wound cavity" ran with hydrostatic shock as the be all and end all of the mythological term "stopping power". Lot's of magic bullets have been sold on the strength of a myth. Ballistics gel does not now and was never supposed to replicate human tissue. Simply put, all bullets fired from commonly carried hand guns suck, people that don't want to fight will give up or run away and people that do want to fight will keep fighting until they lose consciousness from blood loss.
 

swampratt

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My heart shot deer run very very far sometimes.
My spine shot deer drop right on the spot.
Destroy the spine through the neck and instant drop.
Skull shot cattle drop like a stone.

I can't comment on humans as I never had to put one of those down with a firearm.
I do have a very dandy 12 gauge load with a solid shot cup that holds 3 round balls of lead that are .490" diameter.
25 yards and the balls are still in the cup.
That would put a heckuva hole in a critter.

I hit a tree at 25 yards and the round balls went into the tree and the shot cup was stuck in the bark.
 

swampratt

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Did the tree die from exsanguination or drop from fright? Or did it keep fighting?
Nope that tree died 2 years ago I just like overkill.

I hope I never need to shoot a person but depending on where I am in my house you could get shot by many different kinds of weapons.
 

JEVapa

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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.””
I absolutely don't feel any smarter for reading that article.
“With few exceptions, criminals ceased their advances immediately upon being shot.” - that is surely no sh*t
 
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HiredHand

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The point that I think is relevant is having a gun and being able to put hits solidly in the upper thorax above the diaphragm or in eye box are what matters, caliber isn’t as important for the civilian. I think that’s important because there are folks out there that for some reason can’t handle full size guns with 10+ round capacity in a duty caliber. Rule #1: Always bring a gun to a gun fight.
 

OK Corgi Rancher

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I can't believe people are still talking about "energy transfer" and "handgun stopping power". I thought those myths were exposed long enough ago they would've died by now.

I do agree with the writer of the article that even small caliber guns are usually sufficient for most people, especially if that's what they're comfortable shooting. My own anecdotal evidence is this: over 15 years on the street I saw a lot of people who had been shot by handguns and had the opportunity to speak with many of them. None of them...zero percent...complained about being shot with a gun too small in caliber.

Rarely got to speak with anyone shot by a rifle...
 

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