[unsunghero]

Originally Posted by Danth [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That's how I was trained, too. A .22LR can be nearly as lethal as some larger rounds because head shots and the like are going to drop someone regardless, but--hollywood lies be damned--most shootings aren't fatal, and if that .22 doesn't actually kill the target, odds are the target is still attacking. Consequently you really want to avoid the very small cartridges unless you have no choice. Once you get to about .380, all of the popular pistol rounds--.380, 9mm, .38 special, .40, .45--offer basically similar success rates at stopping an aggressor and there's not much of a jump up until you get to stuff like .357 and .44 magnums.

Back then very small rounds, .22 range or below, could be a special threat because they would sometimes separate through the kevlar weave in ballistic vests when a nominally more powerful but physically larger round would be stopped. That made the Five-Seven a unique and special threat, albeit a very rarely encountered one. I've been told that more modern vests do a better job at stopping those types of rounds.

A lot of the trouble with firearms in this country stems from the reality that too many folks base most of their gun knowledge on hollywood productions, which are almost entirely lies even down to the sound effects uses. There are people who've been shot at and didn't realize it because they expect it to sound like the cannon fire guns are usually dubbed with in movies and not the little firecracker pop-pop-pop sounds that auto pistols actually make.

Note that there is a very, very large difference between a .22LR and a .223. Calibers only tell you more or less the diameter of the bullet, not even its mass and certainly not the amount of force behind it.

Danth

Ah k this is good to know. I didn’t even remember the term for the amount of gunpowder in the bullet, shows how much I know about guns :/