How Many Have Fired Their Weapon?

Lynn1130

Well-known member
You might take a look at the "Hatcher Rating Chart". It gives the person making a decision on caliber an idea of which will do the damage needed to stop the threat. It was developed a long time back but is still useful as it measures kinetic energy. While you hear the term "knock down power" it really is subjective and not a term used as much as stopping power or even more important, kinetic energy. While they might seem interchangeable they are not really.

The choice of a carry weapon is a very personal thing and depends upon the size of the person, the ability to control the weapon, the ability to quickly reload (which should be practiced alot) and most importantly the faith in that weapon. A 45 ACP many times does not work well for women but a 40 or 9 does. So firing a 45 ACP through a magazine creates more misses from a person with smaller wrists than a 9 will. More hits means the target should go down faster but then as we have seen in some police shootings a person on meth just keeps coming.

Choose what works best for you. Try different guns and different calibers.

Just a side note, my former agency has switched to the 45 GAP and it seems to be working well for both female and male officers.
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
You watch enough videos and what we see is magazines that are emptied with only 1 or 2 hits.

I can tell you from experience (several) it gets harder to hit the target when the stress level is up. Not like shooting at paper targets.
 

Grey Ghost

Well-known member
I've read a lot about which gun is best, 44, 40, 45, 9, 357, 38, 22, shotgun, what ever. It's not so much about the size of the weapon as it is about where the round strikes is placed. I was in the military and severed in 1967-1969, I will let you figure out where. Used a M-14, the M-16, the AK-47, a M-3, SW "Hush Puppy", M-3, Steven 77E, a shovel and a number of other weapons, Bouncing Betties are best! I found that if you hit the right spot with a club you are going to do some significant damage and if you hit someone just right they are not going to bother you again for some time to come. However, who ever said nerves come into play when you actually pull the trigger and are aiming at another human being knew what they were talking about. Buck fever when you first shoot at a deer is one thing in it self, however taking another life is something all together different. My advice, if you have never shot at someone else for real, leave the gun at home, it will just get you hurt. You might think you could pull the trigger, however pulling it is something all together different. We were taught that if you thought about firing, it was already to late, you were already dead! Hesitate and you lose!! Leave the guns to those that are trained and are willing to use them. PLEASE

- - - Updated - - -

If they keep on coming, that is the reason for always carrying a second and third clip, right? [QUOTE=Lynn1130;541407]You might take a look at the "Hatcher Rating Chart". It gives the person making a decision on caliber an idea of which will do the damage needed to stop the threat. It was developed a long time back but is still useful as it measures kinetic energy. While you hear the term "knock down power" it really is subjective and not a term used as much as stopping power or even more important, kinetic energy. While they might seem interchangeable they are not really.

The choice of a carry weapon is a very personal thing and depends upon the size of the person, the ability to control the weapon, the ability to quickly reload (which should be practiced alot) and most importantly the faith in that weapon. A 45 ACP many times does not work well for women but a 40 or 9 does. So firing a 45 ACP through a magazine creates more misses from a person with smaller wrists than a 9 will. More hits means the target should go down faster but then as we have seen in some police shootings a person on meth just keeps coming.

Choose what works best for you. Try different guns and different calibers.

Just a side note, my former agency has switched to the 45 GAP and it seems to be working well for both female and male officers.[/QUOTE]
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
Points well taken. There is a difference between all out "weapons free" conflict and law enforcement AND private citizens personal protection shooting. I won't go into the long dialog on that as I think I have covered it previously, in this thread someplace.

Just for clarification and proper nomenclature, there is a difference between magazines and clips. The handguns we talk about here have mags. An M1 Garand has a clip.
 

porthole

Retired
An M1 Garand has a clip.

Did you know that New York law has a maximum of 7 rounds for "storage"?
Makes the M1 Garand pretty much a single shot.
Although there are available aftermarket 1, 2 and 5 round clips. That was New York's attempt to cripple firearms somewhat, including America's most famous battle rifle.
 

Lynn1130

Well-known member
I guess correct grammar is A M1 Garand not An but A just doesn't sound right;)

I have some relatives in Up-State and they don't think much of the gun laws in NY. On the other hand we, in Arizona, are as far the other way as you can go and I am not sure that is good either. A bill in consideration currently will prevent any city, local government in the state from requiring background checks at gun shows, and any private sale of personal property. One extreme to another.
 
I don’t go anywhere without protection. Our 5th wheel has protection through out in various locations. Not paranoid at all. Just well protected.
 
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