Author Topic: Terminal Ballistics as viewed in a Morgue  (Read 1735 times)

Offline lazs2

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Terminal Ballistics as viewed in a Morgue
« Reply #30 on: November 12, 2007, 09:19:52 AM »
fun subject....  angus.. AMT made a 22 magnum semi auto that worked like a 1911 several revolvers come in 22 mag.   even a few derringers.

Lots of people have been hit by 22's and didn't even know it.    

lazs

Offline lazs2

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« Reply #31 on: November 12, 2007, 09:21:28 AM »
The "double tap"  it is really really over rated according to studies.. if you get two torso hits it only marginally increases the chance of stopping the fight over one good torso hit..  (see marshall)

Not kill... stop.. as in... make the bad man stop mommy.

lazs

Offline lazs2

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« Reply #32 on: November 12, 2007, 09:33:51 AM »
dago... I think that he did admit that the .357 was, and is, still king.

Penetration and reloading were brought up... I have done some odd things... I used to do the old hollow base wadcutter (a target bullet) upside down but in 38 spl cases and loaded to plus P levels for a tiny charter arms 38 I had.

Another load that was fun was I would drill out a cast 44 and put a 22 short blank upside down in the tip...   talk about a neat hole in stuff.

For penetration I had a friend lathe turn some copper to 0.430 with a pointed end..  The bullet weighed about 90 grains..  my guess was that it was going about 2,000 fps out of my superblackhawk.   I was not holding the gun..it was in a ransom rest but it was not that spectacular in the sound and recoil.. muzzle blast from a full case of blue dot was pretty nasty tho.

I like my 44.. it is a handy size to me.. It has controllable recoil to me and it is reliable and I know what it will do against almost anything at almost any range simply from shooting a couple hundred thousand rounds or so through it over the years at just about everything.

It is not fail proof.. it will fail to penetrate or even kill sometimes but... if a lesser round followed the same path... that round would fail too... and fail in a worse way.  

I have witnessed a +P 38 spl hit a guy in the forehead from less than four feet away and bounce off and hit the ceiling and the guy who was hit beat the shooter almost to death before he couldn't see from the blood in his eyes.   He had that scar till the day he died and it was a beaut..

That doesn't mean that I think a 38 is useless for head shooting.   It just means.. well.. weird stuff happens.

lazs

Offline GtoRA2

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« Reply #33 on: November 12, 2007, 12:45:41 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Maverick
Uh Laz,

If you shoot the gun in YOUR pocket it will set YOUR clothing on fire, not his. If he's deaf or not I don't care but you might want to rethink the benefits of being on fire yourself......

:p


At Laz's age the flames just help keep him moving fast!   That I think applies to this forum too.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2007, 12:49:25 PM by GtoRA2 »

Offline Airscrew

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« Reply #34 on: November 12, 2007, 01:31:33 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by lazs2
Lots of people have been hit by 22's and didn't even know it.    

lazs

Well I got hit once with a 22 doing something stupid and I definitely knew it.  It felt like someone hit my leg with a 2x4...

Offline Yeager

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« Reply #35 on: November 12, 2007, 01:43:40 PM »
Good reading -

I own a Glock 19 - 9mm.  Its always been my intent that if I ever needed to use the pistol again another human, I would pepper the center of mass with at least four shots as quickly as possible.   But given the choice I would do a head shot, preferrably via the frontal face.

Chances are it will never need to happen.  In twenty years of carry I have only once even thought that I might be in trouble, and that turned out to be nothing.
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Offline Dux

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« Reply #36 on: November 12, 2007, 03:42:35 PM »
I find it a bit odd that he says "I absolutely despise a 9mm for defensive situations... and a .380 as well."  while in the that very same sentence he notes that "These are probably the two calibers I see most often on the autopsy table."

Based on that, they would seem to be effective enough if they're sending more people to the morgue than other calibers... or what is his point exactly?
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Offline Airscrew

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« Reply #37 on: November 12, 2007, 03:46:46 PM »
I believe his point was that using a 9mm or 380 was ineffective to the point that it took mulitple rounds to stop the BG.   While you are trying to hit the BG with multiple shots he is shooting back at you.   Why waste time when you can stop the BG with one shot of a 44.   You knock him down and he aint shooting back...

Offline Charon

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« Reply #38 on: November 12, 2007, 04:13:49 PM »
Quote
Based on that, they would seem to be effective enough if they're sending more people to the morgue than other calibers... or what is his point exactly?


These are the most common rounds used by criminals to kill other criminals, which as he points out makes up most of his business. Criminals like smaller, easier to conceal and lower recoil weapons. They are, therefore, the most common rounds used to kill based on usage. If all criminals refused to use firearms in crime, then baseball bats would likely be the most common weapon used to send people to the morgue. That wouldn't make a baseball bat more effective than a .45 APC, however, just more common.

In his experience, however, the smaller rounds do not kill as quickly or easily as larger rounds from his examinations of cases where those rounds are used.

Charon

Offline Captain Virgil Hilts

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« Reply #39 on: November 12, 2007, 04:22:19 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Dux
I find it a bit odd that he says "I absolutely despise a 9mm for defensive situations... and a .380 as well."  while in the that very same sentence he notes that "These are probably the two calibers I see most often on the autopsy table."

Based on that, they would seem to be effective enough if they're sending more people to the morgue than other calibers... or what is his point exactly?


Read carefully, as he clarifies the point several times. His point is that during a fair number of autopsies he has found that both the 380 and the 9MM FAILED TO PENETRATE and remain intact in several instances. Both rounds were seen to have either hit bone and deflect, or hit bone and break up, rather than penetrate and wreck major organs. Yes, after enough 9MM or 380 bullets are put in the subjects, they do eventually die. And the reason he sees that many dead people with 9MM and 380 in them is those are by far the most common rounds used by criminals.

This is the same complaint that the FBI had after the "Miami Shootout". In that particular case, it was not true, as the 9MM Silvertip in question, fired by SA Jerry Dove, did actually penetrate about 9-12 inches, and did do fatal damage. It's just that the two perps were adrenaline junkies and late for their own funerals. Unfortunately late enough that one of them killed Dove and Grogan before he died.

In that case, much like the "North Hollywood Shootout" the good guys were WAY outgunned. Much like it does not pay to bring a knife to a gun fight, it does not pay to bring a hand gun to a rifle/shotgun fight. In neither case did the good guys have rifles, few had shotguns, and none had body armor capable of defeating rifles.

The "Miami Shootout" is what brought on the 40 Short & Weak. The FBI had intended to adopt the 10MM, but recoil was a problem, at least a perceived problem, as was size. So Smith and Wesson shortened the 10MM to about the length as 9MM and the 40 Short & Weak was born.
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Offline Dux

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« Reply #40 on: November 12, 2007, 04:35:44 PM »
Gotcha, he's talking about the instant kill rather than the slow kill. Thanks.
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Offline Rich46yo

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« Reply #41 on: November 12, 2007, 04:55:59 PM »
I remember one of my buddies got robbed one night by 2 gangsters. They were beating him on the head with a metal bar but he got to his duty piece, a .357 loaded with 125 grn JHPs. He put the barrel up against one BGs chest and pulled the trigger.

                    The bullet actually shot out 1/2 the BGs heart. I was one of the first on the scene and there was a little funnel of heart chunks on the ground leading away from the BGs back. Im talking dead before he even hit the ground.

                 For killing bad guys who are intent on killing you first there is no substitute for the .357 magnum loaded with 125 grn JHPs. Its in a class of its own.

                        E. Marshall is good people. No BS to him. I was in his forum for years once. Imagine all the shootings a big city Homicide dick gets to see in his career. Evan was a Detroit Homocide dick.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2007, 04:59:23 PM by Rich46yo »
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Offline bustr

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« Reply #42 on: November 12, 2007, 07:15:44 PM »
Over the years on different blogs threads like this spring up. In general everything from the .22 to .40 is pooh poohed and the .357 to .45 lionised. Everyone has a favorite load and stories of the destructive power including photos in some cases. But just like cars, women and alcohol, everyone is an expert.

So based on the strange stories and personal biases from you gents. My Glock 27 in .40S&W I keep next to the bed loaded with Federal Premium 165gr JHP. When I bet my families life on it at 3 in the morning from 7-12yd in the perps mid section with as many rounds as I can hit him. Have I just commited suicide and gotten my family killed, or will this round kill the perp?

The way some of you talk with bias about this round or that is surreal when so many of us out here are betting the farm on the rounds being cavalierly dismissed by the self appointed experts on this blog.

So all of you EXPERTS, will the .40 short&weak kill a human at 12yds? My wife would like to know......................... ....
bustr - POTW 1st Wing


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Offline Captain Virgil Hilts

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« Reply #43 on: November 12, 2007, 07:40:07 PM »
I'm no expert. I do not claim to be. I shoot, I carried as a LEO, I carry as a civilian, and I sometimes even shoot in a friendly match.

Is 40 short&weak better than 9MM? Yes, it is. Is it as good as .357 Magnum, 10MM, 44 Special, or 45 ACP? I do not think so.

Again, NO GUN, and NO CALIBER, is a magic panacea. Some ARE better than others.

Are you going to be okay with a 40 short&weak as a personal defense weapon? Probably.
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Offline FBBone

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« Reply #44 on: November 12, 2007, 07:57:11 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by Hornet33
......... Mussel loaders, bolt action, automatics, breach loaders...........

Mussel loaders are just that. .


I don't think I'd fear being shot with a mollusk.  They are quite delicious though.


Maybe you meant MUZZLE[/i]?:D