Hello. I posted this a short time ago at another site, but perhaps it would be of use here.
Jeff Cooper some years ago opined that no one person
could personally "see" enough combat to absolutely know what round is best for this or that and I agree.
I do not argue on "stopping power" issues. I merely report what I've personally seen in either the shooting of felons by officers or what I take to be true from sources and note the source rather than implying that I'd seen it firsthand.
The reports on animals are first-hand, shot by me, or witnessed by me, usually the former. I claim no "expert status" on any of this for I believe what Jeff Cooper said.
It's always been beyond my understanding why some folks do seem to take personal offense at the thought that the XYZ round is not instantly recognized and declared the ultimate "stopper" or how anyone can fail to see that this brand/type/action handgun is the very best!
In my view, ever since I worked on a "shooting case" where a subject instantly stopped and killed a knife-wielding attacker with a Raven .25 using FMJ bullets a short time after a felon outran several officers after being hit with a .357 Magnum (don't remember the load, but I THINK it was 158 gr LSWC, full-house load), .45ACP (230 gr FMJ), and a .38 Spec (S&W 125 gr JHP), my view has been that placement is the primary determinant in "stopping power." Is it more difficult under combat conditions? You bet. That doesn't make it any less true. Sorry, but it is what it is.
ALL commonly-used defensive handgun rounds are underpowered and that is certainly the view of many much more knowledgeable than I, but some do appear better than others in the event that our aim is a tad off. I'd certainly rather punch the aorta or heart with an expanding centerfire than a .22lr or .25ACP simply to blow a bigger hole or I'd just carry a .22 target pistol, after testing thousands of rounds as rimfire ammo, it simply is not as reliable as centerfire. It's quite good, but due to the way that the priming compounds spun in liquid form into the rim, there's no way to see if the compound's all the way around, etc. I have more failures to fire with rimfire ammo than centerfire.
My "armchair commando" view of how the high performance rounds "beat" traditional loads may be a bit different than some.
I believe that most will agree that people who are shot stop from either physiological reasons (they have to) or psychological reasons (they want to). I prefer to count on the former. I think that the "torso hit" as defined by Marshall and Sanow is far too large an area to count on for "stopping" determined aggressors. They had to do it to get enough information for stats, etc, but I truly think that the area we MUST hit to "stop" is about the size of a coffee cup saucer, high center chest toward the top half of the sternum. Too much either side of that and you pop but one lung and give "walking pneumonia" to the target, serious, but often not a "stop." A pinwheel center hit is probably going to do the trick whether it's .380, .38, 9mm, or
.45ACP. If it's a bit off but still in the general "saucer's" area, the high-performance stuff begins to make a
difference. I do not believe that a hit in the guts with a .44 Mag loaded with JHPs will be as physiologcially
damaging as a sternum hit with a .380ACP..........but I'd rather be using the .44 in a fight!
Of course, the expanding bullets do limit the overpenetration problems/concerns mentioned by many and
is a consideration in my view as well. I do think that it's worried about more than it happens, but I sure could be wrong in that I've not checked any stats or read up on that in years. I do know that in hostage situations, one wants low-penetration rounds so it follows that the same could be the round of choice in general face-to-face encounters that may or may not be in crowded areas.
One other example of "stopping power vs placement" that I've mentioned before: Back to the killer javelina! I witnessed a fellow who could not shoot, or at least didn't, shoot a javelina 4 times with a .45-70 rifle using JSP factory ammo.
I do not remember the weight, but I think the bullets were in the area of 270 gr to 300 grains. It did NOT stop. I finally got rather tired of this and figured the javelina was too, so I killed it with one shot from my Browning HP.
I'd cleanly dropped several that morning with the same HP and had seen others doing the same with .45ACPs. Does this mean that the forty-fives and my nine were more potent than the .45-70 rifle? Obviously not! The difference was simply the placement. The bird with the rifle was hitting guts, hips, lower front leg and such. He was shooting at the javelina and not a particular point on the javelina and he simply couldn't shoot under pressure!
An "armchair commando" officer that used to work for me was forced to "stop" a dope dealer who was trying to kill him. The officer shot the suspect one time, center chest, with a 9mm Beretta 92 loaded with Federal 124 gr Plus P factory ammo. The felon "stopped" and became "reformed" before he hit the ground! I saw the autopsy photos of the heart. The through-and-through heart wound was about an inch in diameter. Placement!
On the other hand, two officers that worked under my command were forced to shoot a burglar trying to do them harm when cornered. He took a full blast from a 12 ga Winchester pump at point blank range (WW #4 buck). The wound, also center chest, was the oft-described "rat hole" measuring about 3 - 4" in diameter! His heart was literally shredded. At the same instant, the other officer popped him in the neck (side to side) with a Remington 125 gr JHP (full-house load), but managed to miss the spine, major arteries, and the esophagus! Exit wound appeared about an inch in ragged diameter. Anyway, this dude, after being hit, looked at the officer with the shotgun and said, "I didn't think you would shoot me." He tried to say something else, but began gurgling too much. He slowly SAT down in a utility room near the washing machine and leaned back against the wall and died. Obviously, he could have fired instead of talking had
he chosen to do so. Thus, I reiterate that all handgun rounds normally used for self-defense purposes are
lacking in terms of raw power. We use them because they are convenient and can be with us much more than long arms.
So what of individual round's stopping power? Assuming similar or appropriate construction for caliber, I
believe that the .357 SIG, .357Magnum, .40S&W, and .45ACP all can be had in loads that will outperform my nines. I have practically no experience with the .357 SIG, but based on the numbers, I believe I have an idea of what it'll do. I also think that .38 Super can outshine the nine. Right now I'd likely choose either a Browning HP or CZ75 in 9mm or a Kimber 1911 in .45ACP with the loads of my choice if forced to use a pistol in a gunfight. Others would pick something from the other choices and that's fine, too. I believe that if I can stay in that "saucer," it makes not too much difference.
Sorry to go on so long, but thought you might find it interesting.
Boiled down, I guess this means that when we're doing so little damage-wise with a pistol, we have to do it in the right place.
Best to all.
