swathdiver said:
the Meth head like the Moro tribesman who were also high are best brought down by a large caliber gun.
Based on actual experiences of many police and an private citizens, in addition to more current information, it isn't the caliber as much as it is quantity of hits that stops a bad guy.
swathdiver said:
Some years ago I read an article somewhere that gave the average time it took for a bullet to "take affect" once hitting a bad guy. The small calibers took 20+ seconds before incapacitating the bad guy while the .45 was measured in mere seconds.
Hit a crack head in the boiler room with a .44 round ball and the fight's going to be over real quick. It's what I'd need as I'm too old and feeble to fight some nut on speed.
I wouldn't count on that, as all pistol calibers considered to be effective self defense rounds only generate roughly 400 foot pounds of terminal energy. That is roughly the same energy of a baseball striking the pavement from being dropped from six feet. Those calibers include 38 special through 45 acp, BTW.
If you can stop a crackhead in his tracks by hitting him with a thrown baseball, then maybe that 44 cal round ball will do the same. :idunno:
Even head shots, as Claude suggests aren't guaranteed to be DRT man stoppers, as rounds sometimes bounce off of thick skulls.
There are a number of documented instances where major caliber bullets penetrated the skin, but "skittered" around the skull to exit the skin in the back of the head without creating significant damage to the skull. Something like that will definitely ring someone's bell, it isn't guaranteed to stop a determined attacker.
While I am not an expert is armed defense, my purpose in this thread is to attempt to educate folks who have learned about self defense firearms and practices from poorly researched magazines articles and by watching too much TV.
I suggest everyone who plans to use a BP revolver for self defense to research what actually happens in those lethal force situations before you are forced to use a primitive weapon to save your life and the lives of your loved ones.
One example of simple research available are youtube videos of ballistic gel tests of various rifle and pistol calibers. The best of these are from tnoutdoors9 and Brass Fetcher.
I seriously doubt that a 44 RB will expand as well as a 124 gr 9mm HP. Penetration without significant expansion is nearly worthless in a self defense caliber, as the effectiveness of a pistol bullet is measured in how well it damages blood vessels and interrupts the central nervous system. IMHO, a 44 cal RB will act like a full jacked bullet, merely poking a hole and little more.
