Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Would You Trust Your Life With A 380?

Ken Waters in "Pet Loads" talking about a .380 load consisting of a Hornady 115 grain HP over 3.5 grains of Unique fired into a row of water filled half gallon milk jugs.

"It zipped through a total of four feet of these jugs, blowing caps and water over a 15-foot circle and still had power remaining to penetrate one side of a 55-gallon steel drum set behind the water jugs."

Ken watters is one of my old guru's.
looking it up:
"it has penetrated up to 11 thicknesses of 1/2inch homosote boards in my pentration test box where boards are spaced 3/4inch apart. turned on a row of half gallon plastic jugs filled with water and capped, it zipped through a total of four feet of these jugs, blowing caps and water over a 15foot circle, and still had power enough remaining to penetrate one side of a 55gallon steel drum set behind the water jugs..

These tests were performed before witnesses and succeeded in impressing all observers including this writer. Last comment was "by contrast the most any 38special or 357magnum load penetrated was 14thicknesses of homosote.
He went on to say bullet expansion was disappointing, which partially accounts for the penetration. They expanded little or none at all, measuring anywhere from their unfired .355 diameters, to a maximum of .456 with an average of .380 to .385. He was using a star super-sm.

In the graphs above, why do you think the 22 scored so high for fatality?

That's the first graph in the article.

Probably so. I would think that a lot of the 22's were shot from ruger rifles..