Originally posted by NattyIced
All in the know, did the following happen according to this story?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811
This one we've all seen photos of :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Flight_243
One results in rows being sucked out, one doesn't.
NEITHER of those is even REMOTELY similar to a bullet hole, or multiple bullet holes, in the fuselage.
The first was an improperly latched CARGO DOOR. When you can get my 44 Magnum to open a hole in the side of a Boeing airliner the size of a cargo door, let me know, because I'm going to go hunt Bradley APC's and Abrahms M1 tanks with my Dan Wesson 44 Magnum. I'll put it to you like this, I shoot the hottest loads any revolver would take, and they'll make a hole about 0.430" in diameter when shot into the skin of an airliner. MAYBE about 0.600" IF it hits a brace or a gusset. And we're talking a 180 grain jacketed hollow cavity 0.430" diameter bullet with a muzzle velocity of
1800 FPS . Even the 300 grain bullets, hard cast lead or jacketed, at a velocity of 1350 FPS, which will penetrate 3/16" steel, will only make holes less than 0.600" in diameter when shot through the skin of an airliner.
The second incident you cite was a major stress crack failure in the structure of the cabin. Meaning the framework fatigued until a large crack formed. Again, FAR more damage than ANY handgun could do, even the new S&W 500, or a 500 Linebaugh Maximum. Handgun bullets punch neat little holes in aluminum skin, even when passing through two layers.
You simply cannot create explosive decompression with anything you can fire out of a handgun, and most rifles won't do it either. I don't know if any handgun, rifle, or shotgun could cause explosive decompression.