[NymphoGnome]

I have a couple of questions, I have a friend I hardly trust a word that comes out of his mouth. I would like to see what is true and what is made up.

1. .38 specials are very inaccurate firearms.

2. If you shot an intruder or somebody trying to harm you in the head with a .22, that person could still take 15 steps. ( doubt this is true, because when the .22 round enters the skull it doesn't exit, so it bounces off the back of the skull and does major damage to the brain.)

3. .40's are better than .9 mm because the round travels faster making it more accurate in a self defense situation.

[Mark F]

Originally Posted by NymphoGnome

I have a couple of questions, I have a friend I hardly trust a word that comes out of his mouth. I would like to see what is true and what is made up.

1. .38 specials are very inaccurate firearms. (WRONG)

2. If you shot an intruder or somebody trying to harm you in the head with a .22, that person could still take 15 steps.(WRONG)
( doubt this is true, because when the .22 round enters the skull it doesn't exit, so it bounces off the back of the skull and does major damage to the brain.)

3. .40's are better than .9 mm because the round travels faster making it more accurate in a self defense situation.(WRONG)

You need to re-think this...

[CA357]

Find another friend.

[Gojubrian]

Maybe he knows more about sports?

[JonM]

Originally Posted by NymphoGnome

I have a couple of questions, I have a friend I hardly trust a word that comes out of his mouth. I would like to see what is true and what is made up.

1. .38 specials are very inaccurate firearms.

2. If you shot an intruder or somebody trying to harm you in the head with a .22, that person could still take 15 steps. ( doubt this is true, because when the .22 round enters the skull it doesn't exit, so it bounces off the back of the skull and does major damage to the brain.)

3. .40's are better than .9 mm because the round travels faster making it more accurate in a self defense situation.

1. most pistol even shoddy makes tend to shoot better than their owners are capable of. most accuracy problems are more often caused by the monkey on the end of the stick.

2. there are rare cases of people being shot in the head with much larger rounds than a 22lr and surviving. the overwhelming occurances of head shots that enter the skull tends to be nearly instant incapacitation. bullets in general have a disturbing tendancy to glance off bone given the proper angle. that is why shooting center mass is so important in a self defense situation.

3. the 40sw is actually a little slower than 9mm in typical loadings. speed has little to do with accuracy. see answer to #1. bullet speed has everything to do with trajectory along with its cross section density. the practical effective range of most handguns is around 50yds. hits can be attained at much longer ranges. most self defense situations are seldom over 7 yards

i favour bullet weight and diameter over speed. in my book the .45ACP is far superior to either the 40sw or 9mm. if the .50GI was more common and readily available i would choose that over the 45acp. permanent wound channel is most important to me in self defense choice. .45 leaves a larger hole than .40 which leaves a larger hole than .357(9mm). choice is simple to me. the bigger the hole on failed to expand hollow point the faster the attacker leaks and stops hostile action. the bigger diameter allows bigger expansion of self defense ammo. in my opinion a person should choose the largest caliber defense gun they are capable of hitting quickly and accurately with. some folks can only handle a 380 or 32 others carry .357mag revolvers.

[danf_fl]

Congrats on seeking the correct info. I don't know where your friend got the inaccurate information from, but his sources suck.

[superc]

He is wrong on all 3.

The .38 Special was (and is still) very much considered an accurate target round. The whole sport of PPC revolver shooting started with those things. There were even .38 Special target autos developed.

Head shot or not, no caliber assures instant incapacitation. A head shot is generally incapacitating, but you can't always count on it. There is a skull in the Harvard Medical Museum of a construction worker who survived a wrecking bar being blown through his skull and who went back to work soon after. Besides, bullets sometimes bounce off skulls, even ones bigger than a .22.

9mms are faster than .40s. Not that the difference is enough to matter for anything.

[Jpyle]

Originally Posted by NymphoGnome

I have a couple of questions, I have a friend I hardly trust a word that comes out of his mouth. I would like to see what is true and what is made up.

1. .38 specials are very inaccurate firearms.

Not sure there is anything inherently inaccurate with the caliber. Certain snub nose .38 revolvers may be less accurate that a 6" or 8" "cowboy" barreled pistol but that's true of any caliber.

2. If you shot an intruder or somebody trying to harm you in the head with a .22, that person could still take 15 steps. ( doubt this is true, because when the .22 round enters the skull it doesn't exit, so it bounces off the back of the skull and does major damage to the brain.)

Is there an exact science to how many steps can be taken per pistol caliber? The time that elapses between a bullet impacting the body and death or incapacitation is 100% dependent on shot placement, the amount of damage, shock, blood loss and the destruction of vital organs, nerves or structures. A .22 to the brain stem can kill faster than a .45 ACP to the chest, if the shot is in the right place. Now, do you have a better chance of killing faster with a larger caliber, absolutely. Is it 100%, no.

3. .40's are better than .9 mm because the round travels faster making it more accurate in a self defense situation.

Why? Speed doesn't correlate to accuracy, especially in a short-range, high stress situation. Muzzle velocity and bullet weight determine the muzzle energy or the amount of force the round impacts with. Some would argue that the snappier recoil of the .40 actually reduces the chance of getting off an accurate 2nd shot. It all goes back to shot placement. Not to beat a dead horse but I would put my money on a Navy SEAL with a .22 snub nose over some Mall Ninja with a Desert Eagle any day of the week, but that's just me.

Your buddy needs to check his references

[DrumJunkie]

Well..A 38 can be a pretty accurate round. It will depend on the weapon, the shooter, and the rounds ballistics just how accurate.

Shooting an intruder with a 22 or anything else for that matter I guess could take the 15 steps. But that would have way too many variables to say. I have never heard of that before. I was in a bar in Cincinnati Ohio and seen a guy shot with a 25 ACP at around20 feet. It glanced off the guys head and into the ceiling. He took 15 more steps, a lot more I guess. There was a guy shot with a 22 in my neighborhood years ago (same city) that dropped where he stood. Others shot with other rounds that either lived or died. I have no idea how many steps they took. The news people never said. That reminds me. Man I'm glad I moved to Ky!

A .40 round does move a little faster than a 9mm. But that is not going to mean it's more accurate. That logic is flawed. With what the average self defense range being what it is (around 21 feet) I don't see where it can be more accurate because of bullet speed. Either can drop a target. It will have more to do with shot placement. A 22 can kill at average SD distances.

I think your friend need educated about this subject a little more. It sounds to me like they are thinking like the ninja and using some Hollywood examples to back up their logic.

Shot placement and the slugs ability to change and effect the wound channel will have a lot more to do with how a target reacts. You can use a 50 AE but if you cannot put the round where you want to that big bullet can be useless. It looks cool in movies though.

[NymphoGnome]

Originally Posted by Mark F

You need to re-think this...

These are quotes from my friend, needless to say I don't talk to him much anymore.