Stopping Power (again?)

I was going to have a long, drawn out post on stopping power, but this summarizes my point in its entirety:

Get a gun/cartridge combination that goes bang every time you pull the trigger and which you can shoot quickly and accurately. No common defensive handgun cartridge will quickly and reliably stop a human being who is committed to causing serious bodily harm, unless the bullet from that cartridge is applied to the correct anatomy. When the bullet is applied to the correct anatomy ANY of the 3 will serve equally well (9mm, .40, .45).

Get gun in a caliber of 9mm/.38 or larger.  Shoot gun lots and lots.  Problem solved.

6 Comments

  1. Hell just talk to a hunter. How many stories of a guy hitting a Deer with a .30-06 or similar soft-point and then having to follow a blood trail have you heard?

    Remember what’s worth shooting once is worth shooting twice ect ect.

  2. Well when I got back in to guns after a considerable period without having any, I went with nine millimeter because of the price factor. Surplus Star BM’s were dirt cheap at the time.
    Any shortcomings 9mm may have compared to other calibers was insignifigant to me at that point, because that old Star was a serious upgrade over curse words, left hooks, and a baseball bat.

  3. “ANY of the 3 will serve equally well (9mm, .40, .45).”

    Unnnh! That’s no fun.

    “9” “.45” “9!” “.45!” “neandertal!” “pansy!”

    What would the Internet gunforum world do without that?

  4. No, it’s the handgun you can get your hands on the fastest should be the “best” gun for defending yourself. 🙂

    I say “best” as in Most Effective. More is not always better. That’s why more people carry 45’s than 44 magnums.

    And remember, “Stopping power” is how well the bullet does, “Shot placement” is how well the shooter does, and neither is worth anything without the other.

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