What Has The Best Stopping Power?

[Reinz]

Here's an excellant read that shines new light on a subject that has been beat to death by virtually every forum on the net.

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/handgun-stopping-power

[T-Man]

Very interesting piece!  Thanks for posting it!

This kinda mirrors some of the wound channel size and penetration studies I've seen done between the popular self-defense handgun calibers firing JHP bullets.

[Z]

Excellent article Reinz.

[C0untZer0]

IMO Ellifritz is going over the same ground Marshall/Sanow tred, and making the same errors.

[billmc]

I find all these type of articles interesting, but like the author mentions, it can get confusing.  I've never studied statistics, so I don't know if he has a valid approach or not.  He does point out inconsistencies that make sense to me.  He talks about the psychological stops.  My understanding is that these can not be counted on.  He also points out that the target location that is most effective is the head.  Obviously, that's where the biggest component  of the central nervous system is located.

This all, to me anyway, sounds like the most important thing is shot placement; just as I've heard many times before.  He does point out, that if the central nervous system is not / can not be hit, then the stop is effected through blood loss.  Physics was one of my favorite subjects to study.  He points out some of the deficiencies of the smaller calibers.  So, I'm thinking, like I've been told in the past; use the largest caliber I can effectively shoot, then practice, practice, practice.

[Richard S]

Reinz:

Thank you for posting that article. It was an interesting and obviously time consuming piece of work.

Conclusions drawn from any study of wound ballitics must inevitably be drawn from anecdotal evidence.  This area simply cannot be analyzed by double-blind studies augmented by cross-over experiments and chi-square testing.  As Bill has noted, the important lesson appears to be "placement, placement, placement."  That translates to "practice, practice, practice."