I am seeing a lot of discussion and comments about handgun calibers (I don’t think you can talk about guns on the internet without debating caliber) at Marko’s and SayUncle.
As I previously quoted John Holschen:
No common defensive handgun cartridge will quickly and reliably stop a human being who is committed to causing serious bodily harm, unless the bullet from that cartridge is applied to the correct anatomy.
Handgun bullets move too slowly to do anything other than create wound channels the diameter of the (expanded) projectile. Adding another hundred feet per second of velocity or another 3mm of diameter doesn’t really make enough difference to matter. Until you get your handgun rounds moving at more than 2500-3000 fps they aren’t going to do anything different than destroy the tissue that they touch.
Consider that bullet travels through many different types of medium in a human body: bones, fluids, air space, elastic and inelastic tissues. The order in which the bullet encounters these different mediums is going to have a lot of influence on what the bullet does. While we can create some impressive looking numbers by doing some math with the velocity, diameter, and mass of the projectile we have completely ignored the variables of what it is we are shooting at. People are not made of uniform ballistic gelatin, and are highly resistant to damage in the short term.
A student recently asked about the terminal ballistics of different handgun calibers and the effectiveness of different bullet types.
From John Holschen:
Get a gun/cartridge combination that goes bang every time you pull the trigger and which you can shoot quickly and accurately.
Get a gun/cartridge combination that goes bang every time you pull the trigger and which you can shoot quickly and accurately. No common defensive handgun cartridge will quickly and reliably stop a human being who is committed to causing serious bodily harm, unless the bullet from that cartridge is applied to the correct anatomy. When the bullet is applied to the correct anatomy ANY of the 3 will serve equally well (9mm, .40, .45).
Handgun projectiles don’t have enough “energy” to damage tissue other than the tissue they directly touch (the drill bit analogy.) Therefore whether they come out the other side (energy remaining) or stop in the body (all energy transferred to the target) doesn’t really change the wound dynamics. In fact you could make an argument that passing all the way through the body gives you the best chance of damaging more tissue. Of course this could present a hazard to any innocents behind and beyond the threat (and to the shooter in legal liability.)
A good quality hollow point handgun bullet will expand and therefore create a bigger hole. If that hole is in the brain the larger size may not matter much at all (I’ve dropped fairly large animals in their tracks with single 22LR head shot.) When the hole is in the pump (heart) or pipes (blood vessels) the larger hole will usually result in greater leakage per unit of time (given the placement is identical.) How much faster leakage, and does it matter? Who knows?
Also hollow points often have fairly sharp “petals” when expanded. There is a chance these will cut vessels that round nosed bullets sometimes push out of the way and leave intact. If you can get hollow points use them, if you can’t then you have to use what you have.
In some of the on going discussion and commentary over at Joe’s blog I found a few more things I would like to address.
The Tueller drill is not obsolete, it is just that generally the drill is not set up to reflect reality. I would also say that many of the recomended theories and techniques aren’t very effective in practice.
Basically there is a target at 21 feet and an ‘attacker’ at 21 feet (perpendicular to the defender/target axis). On the buzzer the defender draws an shoot the target, while the attacker runs to tag the defender. The only thing special about 21 feet is that it takes the average defender about 1.5 seconds to get a shot on target from the holster and that the average person can move about 14 feet per second from a standing start.
In a real world encounter the attacker with the knife initiates the motion and the defender has to percieve and react.
One of the other issues with the basic drill is that an advancing target becomes easier to hit as it gets closer, and leaving the target at 21 feet doesn’t simulate this behavior.
So the Tueller drill models simultaneous, mutually assured, destruction. The defender gets stabbed and the attacker gets shot. It happens at roughly the same time and it is an open debate as to who will be incapciated first (my money is on the guy with the knife slicing up the guy with the gun.) This is not a “win,” this is a “draw.” In order for the defender to prevail he needs more than 21 feet of distance between him and the attacker, or he needs to do something different.
In a real world encounter the attacker with the knife initiates the motion and the defender has to percieve and react. This is an advantage for the attacker with the knife, so the defender needs more than 21′ to even achieve a tie, let alone a win.
Starting with a hand on the gun, or the gun at the ready position is an advantage to the defender, and he needs much less than 21 feet to shoot simltaneously as he is getting stabbed. Similarly, allowing the defender various forms of movement also changes the amount of distance required.
Recently on the email list, Jeff Mau wrote what I consider to be a very good explanation of the Universal Firearms Handling Rules, his post follows:
1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Never point your gun at anything you are not willing to shoot or destroy.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.
4. Be sure of your target and what is behind and beyond.
These rules are principle based and are for all places, all times, everywhere. They are not merely range safety rules. Unlike the NRA safety rules and various other mutated forms of these rules. The verbiage InSights uses is specific.
Frequently, people shoot themselves at gun schools because they don’t apply the UFHR to their gun handling.
My skills are driven by my tactics and these safety rules. If a particular skill forces me to violate these rules then I avoid it. One hand manipulation of the gun is a common area that people violate these rules. Frequently, people shoot themselves at gun schools because they don’t apply the UFHR to their gun handling.
Contact distance shooting is another area where rule number 2 is commonly violated and again people shoot themselves. I have even heard it said that in a middle of a gun fight it is OK to shoot yourself because you have more important things to worry about. The skills InSights teaches are specific. Not only do we teach skills that are more efficient, but they are also safer. Frequently in training, I hear colleagues stated that the UFHR don’t apply in the real world. This is patently false and a fundamental misunderstanding of the UNIVERSAL Firearms Handling Rules. Some of these people are the same ones have shot themselves in various appendages! Some people don’t even learn their lesson the hard way.
Rule number 4 is simply to know your target, what is beyond it and being willing to accept the consequences of what you shoot. It most certainly does not mean you can only point your gun at a berm or something else that will stop a bullet. If given the distance, I will likely not immediately shoot the crazy guy making threats with a knife standing in front of a school bus with little kids inside. If possible, I will maneuver to avoid the possibility of hitting an innocent. However, if that same crazy guy has a bomb strapped to his chest, then I have no issue taking the shot and possibly jeopardizing the kids.
We have been using the Advantage Arms .22LR Kits in our classes and training for a number of years. Most of the instructors now own their own kits and use them extensively, because you can get a lot of training value without the expense of shooting standard caliber rounds for all aspects of your training. There have been some questions about what brands of ammunition seem to work the best on the email list and so far the recommended ammo is: CCI Mini Mags, Remington Golden Bullets, and the Federal Bulk ammo you can sometimes find at wal-mart.