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Old 12-13-2012, 11:14 AM
AveragEd AveragEd is offline
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One very important factor that no one has, to my knowledge, mentioned so far is penetration. I have never had to, hope I never have to and never expect to have to shoot another human being. But I think that for most of us, if/when that situation presents itself, the last thing we would want to do is injure or kill an innocent bystander in the course of defending ourselves. High-penetration rounds like magnums can do that.

Imagine you have an intruder in your home who has given you reason to fear for your life or the lives of your family. With a high-velocity magnum round, you will have one chance to subdue that intruder because in a dark, closed-in environment, one shot with a .357 or .44 Magnum will leave you deafened and blinded by its muzzle blast and flash. And if that bullet did not hit something very solid in that intruder, it will have passed through him/her and into and perhaps through whatever is behind him/her.

Roll that image around in your head for a moment.

A chronograph is a valuable tool for handloaders - I cannot begin the count the benefits I gain from mine. But they are also valuable to gun owners who do not handload because chronographs cannot be swept up by the romance, emotion and excitement surrounding magnum cartridges. Running high-performance handgun cartridges fired in a short-barreled firearm like the typical handgun, particularly the snub-nosed ones so much in vogue today, over a chrono will leave you feeling quite vulnerable and used when you see how short they fall of their advertised muzzle velocity.

More practical handgun rounds like the .38 Special and .45ACP live up their ratings and in actuality, some can come pretty close to the magnums in barrels of four inches or less. And they do it without nearly as much chance of over-penetration in the longer handgun barrels and with far less muzzle blast and flash, thus allowing better follow-up shots if needed.

Let's face it, there probably aren't many of us without a law enforcement background who could enter into such a confrontation without a huge case of the jitters and yips. Under such conditions, placing one shot perfectly likely isn't going to happen. Accordingly, placing all your eggs in that one over-penetrating basket may not be a wise move.

Ed
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