Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Welcome to the Leverguns.Com Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here ... politely.

Moderators: AmBraCol, Hobie

Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.

Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
Post Reply
Bill in Oregon
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 8850
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:05 am
Location: Sweetwater, TX

Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Had not seen this until today. Interesting.

http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/a ... ping-power
Pisgah
Senior Levergunner
Posts: 1797
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:01 pm
Location: SC

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by Pisgah »

Backs up what I have always thought about handgun self-defense -- whatever caliber you're shooting, hit the threat and keep on hitting it until you either run out of ammo or the threat stops.
User avatar
AJMD429
Posting leader...
Posts: 31936
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 10:03 am
Location: Hoosierland
Contact:

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by AJMD429 »

It looks like in general if you use a handgun, between 1/4 to 1/3 of shots will be fatal and it takes two shots of about anything to reliably a stop an attacker.

And...long guns are better.
Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws
"first do no harm" - gun control LAWS lead to far more deaths than 'easy access' ever could.


Want REAL change? . . . . . "Boortz/Nugent in 2012 . . . ! "
User avatar
gamekeeper
Spambot Zapper
Posts: 17325
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: Over the pond unfortunately.

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by gamekeeper »

From what I've read and a little experience with small calibre muzzle loading pistols, a lot of 19th century handguns that were carried for self-defence were not exactly powerful. Example .32 & .41short rimfire but they were obviously the right size to be carried in a pocket and probably worked because nobody wants to be shot with anything.
My Uberti copy of a pocket Colt .31 was not very effective on hardwood targets, even with the maximum load the tiny balls would bounce back, yet is was Colts best seller in the day. I suppose having a modern mouse gun is much more effective but still has the important " don't shoot that thing at me factor "
These two pocket sized revolvers are mine, only legal to own because there's no available ammo :roll:
IMG_20180425_000415.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
If more men loved and cherished their wives as much as I love bacon the world would be a much better place.
guido4198
Senior Levergunner
Posts: 1040
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:08 am
Location: S. E. Florida

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by guido4198 »

An older gentleman I know was confronted by 3 individuals demanding his wallet. They weren't brandishing any weapons...just depending upon their number (and size) to be sufficiently intimidating to make him hand it over. He pulled out a little North American 22 LR revolver and asked "which one of you wants the first one..??"
Turns out there were no volunteers. :D
Sometimes you get lucky, and find you have all the "Stopping Power" you need..without firing a shot.
User avatar
Ray
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 2823
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:45 am

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by Ray »

I am always sceptical at statistics and "they" say you should or should not. You could not pick up a gun magazine in those days without reading of sanow and marshal and their fans and their detractors.....

Ah ! those were the days.....Carry a 4" .357 revolver with federal 125gr. jhp and shoot 100 cretins and 96 would fall straight down as if their souls had been snatched out of them.

Need more ammo than six? Well corbon had a new 9mm luger load that used a sierra 115gr. jhp at 1300fps that could be counted on to do almost as well with 92 out of a 100 one shot stops. So what is the (my) problem? They had no and I mean no, zero, samples shootings with this load ! So we were back to theory and opinion posing as facts.

Several years after all of the "new" had worn-off of the surnames marshal and sanow.....sanow penned an article for a magazine where he wrote,

"The revolver has become obsolete though and should be replaced with a more up to date self-defense firearm."

This was about the time that most of us had discovered internet boards, chatrooms and forums. Poor guy got no end of grief over that statement but it was finally discovered that copy editing had taken the words out of context....Sanow said he had actually referred to the .32 long specifically and that had gotten lost in editing.

So what did I carry then? What do I carry now? Anything that happens to be in the gun at the time.
m.A.g.a. !
octagon
Senior Levergunner
Posts: 1902
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 4:56 pm
Location: TEXAS

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by octagon »

GK is that a bone grip?
User avatar
gamekeeper
Spambot Zapper
Posts: 17325
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: Over the pond unfortunately.

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by gamekeeper »

octagon wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 5:50 am GK is that a bone grip?
Yes I believe so. Crescent Arms .32 rimfire.
If more men loved and cherished their wives as much as I love bacon the world would be a much better place.
TWHBC
Levergunner 2.0
Posts: 199
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:45 am

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by TWHBC »

One factor you rarely hear mentioned directly is modern medicine, and available fast treatment of gunshot wounds.
In the olden days, even if one survived the initial encounter, the wound was often fatal, or involved the loss of a limb(s).
Back then the treatment was often as bad as the initial wound.
So, to me stopping power, as previously mentioned is what one is seeking.
Or as I read recently, making the assailant think about being somewhere else, or doing something else than what they originally were thinking, e. g. Stopping!
roughcreek
Levergunner 2.0
Posts: 121
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:51 pm
Location: WESTERN WA

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by roughcreek »

The Strasbourg goat tests in the early 90's addressed this issue.
If I remember correctly the 357 and the 45ACP were high on the list.
Of course ammo has improved greatly since then.
Roughcreek
User avatar
wvfarrier
Senior Levergunner
Posts: 1440
Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:27 am
Location: West (by GOD) Virginia

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by wvfarrier »

In this era of drug induced fugue......always have a reload ;-)
A bondservant of our Lord, Christ Jesus
User avatar
gamekeeper
Spambot Zapper
Posts: 17325
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: Over the pond unfortunately.

Re: Another look at "stopping power" in a defensive handgun

Post by gamekeeper »

wvfarrier wrote: Sat Jul 06, 2019 4:07 pm In this era of drug induced fugue......always have a reload ;-)
Good point, someone with no fear and immune to pain will take some stopping.
If more men loved and cherished their wives as much as I love bacon the world would be a much better place.
Post Reply