@mikejones
That was indeed an interesting report, and I thank you for sharing it with me. The details shared within are largely consistent with my own beliefs on the phenomenon colloquially referred to as "Hydrostatic Shock" based on similar reports and articles on the subject.
Unfortunately, "Hydrostatic Shock" is still widely regarded as an unproven theory rather than scientific fact, and it has been so thoroughly denigrated, criticized, and dismissed by authoritarian figures based on equally if not more unproven anecdotal evidence such as those proposed by Dr. Fackler.
I find it quite amusing that the FBI just so happens to use a level of ballistics performance in testing as a benchmark which also just so happens to be the threshold for Hydrostatic Shock, yet they continue to assert that any begotten advantage larger diameter bullets with more kinetic energy is marginal at best, while also neglecting to mention that the 9mm loads they used are an overpressure variant with energy levels well beyond that of standard pressure loads. So they say .40 S&W and .45 ACP are no more effective than 9mm Luger, yet don't bother to mention that they're using 9mm loads which are essentially poor-man's .357 SIG.
That all being said, it's important to note that one of the closing statements in said report is, and I quote...
With a handgun, no wounding mechanism can be relied on to produce incapacitation 100% of the time within the short span of most gunfights. Selecting a good self-defense load is only a small part of surviving a gunfight. You have to hit an attacker to hurt him, and you need a good plan for surviving until your hits take effect. Get good training, practice regularly, learn to use cover, and pray that you will never have a lethal force encounter armed only with a handgun.
The report itself concludes that Hydrostatic Shock is not a guaranteed method of incapacitation, that accurate/decisive hits are what ultimately decides the outcome of a gunfight, and most importantly that handguns are less than ideal for self-defense.
Ergo although Hydrostatic Shock may indeed be possible with more powerful handgun cartridges capable of consistently delivering 500ft-lbs or more kinetic energy, and the resulting Hydrostatic Shock may result in remote wounding of vitals under ideal circumstances, it's not guaranteed to result in incapacitation.
Furthermore, the closing statement stresses the importance of proper tactics/training, and full-power 10mm Auto loads tend to be uncommon as well as expensive, thus making training with 10mm more difficult than more common cartridges.
Last but not least, full-power 10mm Auto tends to overpenetrate, ergo Hydrostatic Shock most likely wouldn't occur at all since the energy isn't dumped into the attacker's body.
@wild cat mccane
Unfortunately, XTPs are known to overpenetrate in .40 S&W, so a hot loaded 10mm XTP would only penetrate worse, assuming the higher velocity didn't cause it to fragment inside the body of the attacker.
