My main goal is to put a threat down as quickly as possible and put as much energy into the target without wasting energy by exiting the target... expansion and stopping and putting the energy where it needs to go. Hydrostatic would be the primary goal.
Lots of researchers in the field of ballistics feel that hydrostatic effect of pistol bullets is irrelevant, since they do not generate enough energy to cause permanent damage to most human tissue through temporary cavitation. Rifle bullets do cause this kind of damage, due to the much higher velocity and energy levels involved.
Even if there is a little bit of damage from hydrostatic shock, I'm not sure that the difference between 400 ft. lbs. of energy and 500 ft. lbs. of energy is enough to justify choosing a 5 shot .357 revolver with a crappy DA trigger, tiny sights and slow reload capability over a small 9mm with 8-11 shots, real sights and a fast reload via a spare magazine.
If a 9mm JHP to the chest doesn't stop him, neither will a .357 to the chest. The difference is, after 5 tries with the revolver, it has exactly zero ft. lbs. of energy. (Unless you hit him with it, which might be futile with an Airweight ) A Glock 26 would give you 6 more tries.
Any good, modern defensive JHP in a service caliber will get you 8-12 inches of penetration. Even the old .38 special put a lot of bad guys in the dirt back in the day, with 158 grain round nose bullets no less. The key is shot placement. After that, I would worry about shot placement. And as a final consideration......shot placement.
Get yourself a platform that you can shoot fast and accurately, and practice. Double the muzzle energy is not going to save you if you can't effectively make good hits. Quit focusing on the wrong part of the equation.
Like i said, i wouldn't want shot by a bb gun, let alone a 22LR. Shot placement is key, i don't argue that, but by your talk, a 380 is just as good as a .357 or .44 magnum if you hit the right spot.
I guess the real question is what can expand and deliver the most damage per round in a single round, be efficient, and with the plus of possibly having extra rounds to follow up with?
I can miss all day with a .500 magnum, or hit the heart and skull with a .22LR, but the question and topic is directed toward asking what is the best small packing option to deliver the most energy and effectiveness for an ankle or backup gun into a target/attacker, and why can a 9mm dump nearly 500 ft lbs of energy and a 38 special +P is less than half of that?
Like i said, i wouldn't want shot by a bb gun...
Given the fact that i would want to get shot by a bb gun...
No, I'm pretty sure you said that you would want to get shot by a bb gun.
Yep. I think you need to make up your mind on this issue.
Corbon .380 DPX will penetrate to around 7 inches and expand to 0.70 inch into gelatin through 4 layers of denim and 8 in with no denim. If you hit the right area, this will do the job.
StoppingPower.net Forums - Corbon .380 80 gr DPX
Thread revival....
I was looking for 44 special information and look what came up.
View attachment 238344
The 9mm is a High Caliber weapon that will completely blow a lung out of the body. 44 Magnum can not compete with that.Ask BiDUMB, he is the ballistic man
We will do this in steps. 9mm vs .357mag
.357mag vs .44mag
I'm working on a 124gr load that will eventually be my practice load to mimic my 124gr HP load.Great explaination. 1150fps/327me out performing 1450fps/583me just didn't pass the sniff test from the onset.