I got my first badge in 76. 32 of the following 39 years have been full time, as in 'primary source of income' LE. About 4 years of that was in a major metro area. 12 of it was as the investigator for a prosecuting attorney. I have talked to Dr. Fackler and had him review some work I did on a murder case relevant to terminal ballistics. I am not unfamiliar with the courts, rules of evidence and 'expert witnesses' most of whom I consider overpaid hookers in a suit. I started reading Ayoob back when Jimmah Cahtah was pretending to be president. I wouldn't walk across the street for free admission to one of his seminars, if that tells you anything.
I've dissected somewhere north of 50 shootings and attended a few. What I have done, seen and learned is relevant to those incidents; but you can draw some logical conclusions about what is most likely to get the job done. The problem, gentlemen, is that you never know who or what you might need to shoot with your pistol. It might be a 140 pound crackhead, or a 250 pound muscle-bound product of the prison weight room with his arms up in front of him. Hell it might be a pair of 100+ pound attack dogs coming in like torpedoes from 11 O'Clock.
You cannot cover all those bases with a round that won't shoot through the 140 pound addict, 100% of the time. You have to shoot well and there is no substitute for that. Based on what I've seen and done, I will always err on the side of using 'enough gun' and ample penetration. The .40 with good 165's or 180's is about as small as I'll go. I prefer and carry a 45 auto with 230's, usually JHP's. It doesn't bother me in the least to carry it with hardball.
Sarge you hit the nail squarely on the head! Great post!
Anyone that has enough experience in lethal confrontations or taken enough game of varing sizes with a handgun will come to the same conclusion. If one is obversvant they realize that penetration is never a bad thing.
I got banned on another web site for a debate that happened on this site. That's a first
