My point to bringing this up wasn’t what went wrong, it was the fact that Matix was hit twice early in the fight in the head and neck by a 357 mag revolver to only be knocked unconscious, Platt had an initial hit with 9mm that punctured a lung and stopped just short of his heart which is credited with being the fatal (or should have been) shot. Matix would survive and rejoin the fight till 2 9mm rounds 1 hitting the spine one just missing. Platt continued until eventually succumbing to the initial wound or the 10 others. To this day the FBI still can’t explain how both were able to continue the fight after the initial wounds.
So the argument of which is better 10mm, 9mm, 45acp or 357 mag and 38+P is moot is it not?
I believe all the ballistic arguments aside, everyone is missing the main point. These were two trained, and highly determined soldiers that were hellbent on causing as much damage before they went down......you just can't quantify that factor!
You absolutely can quantify that factor. We called them dead-enders but names hardly matter. They don't give two shiiizs about dying and even less about being mortally wounded. They won't hesitate to open fire with the heaviest hitters they can lay hands on, to inflict maximum damage on the way out. People like this are precisely why you train and equip for the worst case scenario.
They're going to be hard to hit while this is going on. Whatever hits you to make had better be hard.
The FBI isn't stupid. They realized the Miami debacle occurred precisely because their first good hits didn't settle accounts. They correctly recognized it as a hardware problem and set about correcting that. Their initial solution was to increase caliber and bullet weight. They overdid it and had to water it down so the lowest common denominator could qualify with it.
The Bureau's return to the 9mm makes sense from a logistics and budget standpoint. Any agency that fields a lot of SMGs would prefer to have their service pistol using the same ammunition . Additionally, the AR-15 is being deployed far more that was in 1986.
When your troops are basically bookworms and lawyers you end up with a bunch of soft-handed non shooters. The FBI qualification is not a cakewalk so if a 9 millimeter helps them qualify, I get that. I trained cops for 25 years. I had very little trouble teaching women and smaller men to handle the 40 S&W, but we did allow the 9mm as an option for those who needed it.
As I have mentioned before, when the FBI changes service cartridges a whole lot of state and local agencies are going to change right along with them. So will a lot of civilian defensive shooters. Just don't kid yourself about what it is; essentially the modern version of that 38 + P lead hollow point load.
I have no backup, no SMG and my carry gun is also my woods/chore gun. Where I live a 12 shot 45 ACP handles that real well.
