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Originally Posted by LiveUninhibited
I've had more experience with low-calibur rifles than handguns or anything else. I'm alright with rifles, but I shot a semi-automatic pistol once and was terrible with it. (:
I guess I should have said that an untrained person with an uzi, but perhaps not an assault rifle (unless in a crowded, open area) could cause more collateral damage. Somebody with poor aim may just spray from the hip to hit their target, and potentially people beyond and around their target. But Ummwhat's point on M4 rounds is interesting. I would say that perhaps people should have the right to own M4 weapons in their home. They should be able to carry uzi's as well, but that a special permit should be required that certifies they received training for uzi-like weapons. Otherwise, there should be no permit required as laws against weapons mostly keep them out of the hands of those who obey the law.
One concept I wanted clarification on is "stopping power," which is probably what you would want in any weapon. That's not exactly the same as how lethal a weapon is, right?
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I personally do not see a need to carry a weapon like an UZI or something else on the street, but that is just me.
As a civilian carrying a firearm. They are obviously carrying it for protection. But say you come upon a mugger, and you are unable to de-escalate the situation without firing. You are not going to be punching dozens of rounds into the bad guy. Fire off just enough well aimed shots to end the attack, and beat feet to the nearest cop.
But that is my take on things. When I carry off duty, I am not carrying to go into combat.
About the whole stopping power or the term some people use incorrectly “knock down” power.
All stopping power is, is how much damage it does to the target. We may be getting into some terms regarding terminal ballistics that may go over some people’s heads, so if you have a question, please ask.
Some people think of stopping power as how many foot pounds of force the projectile imparts on the target. But this is not exactly true.
For example. A .357 mag will impart more force on the target than a .45 ACP. But the .45 ACP will create a larger wound channel.
Pistol rounds only damage tissue via a crushing force. Meaning the only damage done to the target is through the final wound cavity (which is slightly smaller than the round is). As pistol rounds are fairly low velocity, they do not cause damage in the temporary channel (also called stretch cavity). Rifle rounds can cause damage to surrounding tissue as the high pressures formed in the body during the temporary cavity can tear tissue not directly inline with the final cavity.
Now one thing you have to remember. Pistol Ball rounds do not expand when they hit. So we can say that the final cavity is roughly the same size if not smaller than the projectile regardless of velocity. The only real change is depth of penetration.
When talking hollow points in pistol rounds. A 9mm HP at 1200 fps will create a larger wound channel than a 9mm HP at 1100 fps. But as the faster HP will have more “drag” in the body, it may actually penetrate less. Which can be good and bad. Good because it may be less likely to punch all the way through the body But at the same time, it may not have sufficient penetration to reach vital organs if impacting the body at odd angles (like a side hit instead of a frontal hit).
A 9mm HP will not make as large a wound channel as a .45 HP will. But the differences are very minimal.
There is no such thing as knock down power. If a projectile can knock the target down, the shooter would also be knocked down while firing it. You know the whole equal and opposite reaction deal.
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