This is well put, a valid concern, about the "morbidly obese."
I like the Remington lead SWC-HP for that reason, as well as penetrating clothing.
A three-inch barrel helps expansion, and penetration seems adequate in humans, even in bears. Ayoob has cited the case of a polar bear shot in the Staten Island zoo with this load, and it was a one-shot kill, in about the "sticking place", as I recall. The gun was a M-10 with four-inch bbl. Don't know the range, probably 50 feet to 25 yards.
Even in very large people, I doubt that the heart is more than 8-9 inches deep. Assuming that you can get a heart shot on your moving target...If you have to shoot cross-body to save someone else under attack, I think this load will reach any vital area.
Col. Rex Applegate once told me that a knife with a six-inch blade is quite adequate to kill any human. He had quite a bit of data from his OSS trainees when they went into the field, as well as from British colleagues. On the other hand, they probably weren't knifing too many really fat people, I guess.
I use the 158 grain lead HP or the Speer Short Barrel load or their 125 grain JHP, which often gives over 900 FPS, even in a snub. I feel about as well protected as I'll be with a gun that size. But I have a Ruger SP-101 that's in .357, and am considering using Magnum loads where large dogs may be a factor. My Smith .38's get the above recipe. Usually, so does the little Ruger.
T-Star
