The Best Handgun Caliber - A Real World Study

[Grmps]

The Best Handgun Caliber - A Real World Study

This video uses the data from Greg Ellifritz's 10-year stopping power study of real-world gunfights to shed the light of actual data on several common beliefs about handgun calibers including: 22 rifles are the best bug out guns, 45s have the best stopping power, 380s are too small to be effective, 410 guns are gimmicks, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nycYxb-zNwc








Fail rate basically the same rate – regardless 14% fight through pain/damage and keep on coming




Rifle & Shotgun 2 out of 3 times

[Grmps]

22 worst possible choice by far—fail to stop 1 in 3 attackers


45 lags behind pistol average for 1 shot stops


380 best handgun averages in lethality and 1 shot stops to the head or torso


Stay away from the mouse calibers their failure rate is just to high




357 mag slight advantage in 1 shot stops










380 best handgun averages in lethality and 1 shot stops to the head or torso

[Grmps]

Only rifle penetrate level 3 body armor

[skeettx]

And the winner is ??????

[Bohica793]

A whole lot of numbers that say very little in the way of a definitive answer. I still say the best handgun for self defense is the one in your hand when you need it.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

We all know that the 45 acp is best

[blackthorn]

The answer primarily resides in the TRUE meaning of "Gun Control"!

[Grmps]

And the winner is ??????

According to the video and data.

380 has the best handgun averages in lethality and 1 shot stops to the head or torso

You need to watch the video for a better understanding

[KenH]

It's really hard to comprehend my little Ruger LCP is a better defensive pistol than my old .357 mag Colt Trooper. I wonder if it has anything to do with lower recoil allows better shot placement?

I really have a hard time understanding how the .380 is fatal and has more 1 shot stops than the larger calibers. BUT - this study claims to study 1700+ incidents to get the statistics.

VERY INTERESTING for sure.

[bob208]

I will make it easy if you need anything more then the power levels of a .357 mag, and by the charts that includes the .45 ,44 spl. you need a rifle.

[Hickory]

How's that saying go?
There are lies,
There **** lies,
And there are statistics

[am44mag]

This study is interesting, but does have some flaws. It's too dependent on the skill and choices of the "participants". It does not take into account the ammo chosen and used. The chances are good that at least a few of the "participants" used ammo not very well suited for self defense such as FMJ or even some weights and profiles of cast bullets in certain calibers. That can skew the results. Shot placement is another issue. You can shoot somebody in the chest and it not be a debilitating/incapacitating shot. Shot placement is important beyond just certain areas of the body. That again can skew the results. The one shot stop thing doesn't mean much to me. If I'm in a defensive shoot, I'm probably not going to take a single shot. What are the results with 2 or 3 shots to the chest?

In a perfect scenario where the right bullet is chosen and the shot placement is perfect, I do not see how something like a .380 could compare to a .357 magnum, let alone beat it. That's not a knock on the .380 as it's a good defensive cartridge, but the .357 has a lot more energy that it can dump.

[sparkyv]

Here's some more data. Observations from a morgue.
http://www.gunthorp.com/Terminal Bal...n a morgue.htm

[xs11jack]

There are too many real world factors to figure out. Things like distance to target, the bullet, the load, where exactly in the head, the torso, and so forth. While the charts are helpful, they are not exact.
Ole Jack

[osteodoc08]

it again shows that the 45, 40, 9 are neither inferior nor superior to each other.

[MT Gianni]

Interesting but assumes all handguns are only used to kill people. That does all of us shooters a major disservice.

[Petrol & Powder]

The methodology seems a little off to me. I don't think it's false but I'd like to know more about the parameters.
Is the data from any shooting or just law enforcement and/or military shootings?
How about armed citizens in self defense or just criminals shooting each other? (I think some of those calibers may be over represented a bit)
If there was a fatality, who was the witness interviewed?
If there was an autopsy, was there also a toxicology report?
Were the fatalities in areas with level one trauma centers or in rural areas?
If the attack stopped was it by choice or was the attacker physically unable to continue the attack?

How big was the sample for each gun? I saw percentages but not raw numbers?

I'm not saying it's a bad study but I have questions.

[TXGunNut]

Very interesting and quite helpful BUT as others have noted the samples for some categories are likely too small to give accurate data. Shot placement will always be key but when using real shootings that's hard to take into consideration. Funny how the 32ACP is a hero on one chart and a poor choice on another. The effectiveness of the 32ACP has always been an enigma for me, my conclusion is that folks who pack the 32 are apparently above-average shooters. I was quite impressed with the effectiveness of the .380, I suspect the sample size was probably sufficient on that round as popular as it seems to be. One good point the charts make is that some combatants will simply continue the fight after being fatally shot because their mindset or physiology allows them to do so until their brain finally shuts down.
All in all, the charts above prove two principles of gun fighting. First, shoot until it's over. Second, keep a long gun handy and try to get it into action if possible.
Due to a data download rate reminiscent of AOL dial-up I wasn't willing to download the video so my apologies if he made those points there.

Mike

[KenH]

The methodology seems a little off to me.

While interesting read (or watch video), I kept wondering about the methodology myself. As mentioned before it's just plain hard to comprehend my little .380 being as effective as my .357 mag.

Sparkyv's link seems to fit more in line with my thinking.... but don't think I would ever have classed the .380 and 9mm together in same group.

[fast ronnie]

Here's some more data. Observations from a morgue.
http://www.gunthorp.com/Terminal Bal...n a morgue.htm

This is a real interesting read and well worth the time spent even though it is a fairly long article.
Not that it matters, but I kind of think the same way.