The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Could the Desert Eagle in 50 AE Hollowpoint constitute true stopping power?

Aqeous · February 16, 2008, 06:12 PM

Hey Socrates. Good to hear from you again. You may or may not recall our exchanges on a thread a while back regarding the comparisons of modern JHP calibers. It was those discussions that set me off on a totally new direction of thinking and research.

I have since literally lost all and I mean ALL faith in my service calibers. Stopping power is in fact ONLY a constituent of the individuals disposition and accurately placed shots impacting upon the nervousystem. Even a perfect shot through the heart from time to time will not result in an instantaneous "stop", and often enough a lung shot will give a determined human being not much more than a bad case of walking pneumoina. A mountain of research has revealed that everyone and anyone who knows anything about ballistics ALL agree that the guarantee of stopping power with service calibers is a complete and utter myth. People just don't know . . . I didn't know . . . I think deep down inside people really don't want to know.

Perfect shots center mass is the key: in the middle of the night, at a moving target, who is possibly firing back, while your half asleep, while ignoring the muzzle blasts. . . you get the point. This is why people strongly advocate shotguns for home defense, even a real pro would have trouble accomplishing "perfect center mass" shots under these conditions. And then people say double tap----well its amazing how much you can learn from the Internet if you are really paying attention. Videos are abound with man and beast soaking up service rounds like a sponge with ZERO "knockdown" power. I've heard a recent story (on another forum) from a solder who fired several rounds center mass into a charging enemy combatant before being forced to take cover, a few seconds later he peaked out his head only to see that the man he had shot MULTIPLE TIMES quite literally had gotten up and walked away. Whether he died a short time afterward is not really the point is it??

I am now exploring (as I recall you suggesting) bullets that behave more like rifle rounds. I am still in the process of doing so, but I am now pretty content that I have absorbed much of the best info regarding service rounds that is available at this time. I now feel that the old saying, "your hand gun is what you use to fight your way back to your rifle . . . that you should not have dropped in the first place" is actually very true. I may get blasted for this on this thread but I now know with a measure of certainty that if I am defending my life or the life of my family I do not want to count on the marginal effectiveness of a service caliber unless their is no other choice.

February 16, 2008, 06:12 PM	#10
Aqeous Senior Member Join Date: December 24, 2007 Posts: 646	Response to Socrates. Hey Socrates. Good to hear from you again. You may or may not recall our exchanges on a thread a while back regarding the comparisons of modern JHP calibers. It was those discussions that set me off on a totally new direction of thinking and research. I have since literally lost all and I mean ALL faith in my service calibers. Stopping power is in fact ONLY a constituent of the individuals disposition and accurately placed shots impacting upon the nervousystem. Even a perfect shot through the heart from time to time will not result in an instantaneous "stop", and often enough a lung shot will give a determined human being not much more than a bad case of walking pneumoina. A mountain of research has revealed that everyone and anyone who knows anything about ballistics ALL agree that the guarantee of stopping power with service calibers is a complete and utter myth. People just don't know . . . I didn't know . . . I think deep down inside people really don't want to know. Perfect shots center mass is the key: in the middle of the night, at a moving target, who is possibly firing back, while your half asleep, while ignoring the muzzle blasts. . . you get the point. This is why people strongly advocate shotguns for home defense, even a real pro would have trouble accomplishing "perfect center mass" shots under these conditions. And then people say double tap----well its amazing how much you can learn from the Internet if you are really paying attention. Videos are abound with man and beast soaking up service rounds like a sponge with ZERO "knockdown" power. I've heard a recent story (on another forum) from a solder who fired several rounds center mass into a charging enemy combatant before being forced to take cover, a few seconds later he peaked out his head only to see that the man he had shot MULTIPLE TIMES quite literally had gotten up and walked away. Whether he died a short time afterward is not really the point is it?? I am now exploring (as I recall you suggesting) bullets that behave more like rifle rounds. I am still in the process of doing so, but I am now pretty content that I have absorbed much of the best info regarding service rounds that is available at this time. I now feel that the old saying, "your hand gun is what you use to fight your way back to your rifle . . . that you should not have dropped in the first place" is actually very true. I may get blasted for this on this thread but I now know with a measure of certainty that if I am defending my life or the life of my family I do not want to count on the marginal effectiveness of a service caliber unless their is no other choice.