Quote:
Originally Posted by AKAOV1MAN
Couple of things:
1. Lost Lake, bad news for you, there is not a .380 made that will penetrate a bear skull. Or get through all that muscle/fat to the spine.
2. The good news, a .380 WILL stop just about any 2 legged varmint, you just need a central nervous system hit.
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Well I'm not taking a .380 bear hunting...
I was trying to get people thinking about the difference in caliber effectiveness.
The more I study bullet energy the more I find there is to know. None of us can use two different calibers in the same exact SD shooting and hit the same exact spot under the same exact circumstances so we have to rely on science and testing to show us the difference in bullet effectiveness.
We've all seen the FBI ballistics report that indicated the smallest round that could be considered effective for stopping humans is the 9mm, but the report doesn't get into the science of the reason why.
I believe (and I'm no physicist) that the 'energy' numbers you see on charts and bullet boxes expressed in ft/lbs of energy are extremely misleading. This is due to a number of factors, all which tend to muddy the equations and field results we observe.
For the sake of brevity, I will cut to the chase and throw this out there: A bullet's momentum is a much better indicator of its stopping power than its calculated energy.
Energy and Momentum are not the same. (For more on this you can cruise the physics blogs and really rattle your brain..)
And once we look at why momentum is so important and effective we begin to understand why
a low weight projectile is much less effective than a heavier projectile, even if their 'energy' in ft/lbs is similar. (By the way that whole ft/lbs number is extremely aggravating to a physicist discussing bullet effectiveness
)
You've heard the old timers, street cops, long time shooters tell us the .38 special is a good round. I used to poo-poo the thought because the .380 posts very similar ft/lbs of
energy. But after a lot of digging and scientific reading, I think the old pros really know what they are talking about.
I'll take a 158gr .38 over a 90gr .380 any day because it has a lot more momentum and thus a lot more effectiveness.
I do not wish to argue this at all. My intent is not to disrespect anyone or the .380. I'm just sharing a tiny bit of what I have learned and offering you the opportunity to do your own research.