Always been a 357 fan. My first purchase was a 6904 but when I got a 19-3 I fell in love. I carried a 627 for duty until they told me that I could no longer carry a 357 for work. Never had much of a desire for the 10MM but was very curious about the 400 CorBon but it never took off.
I know that there are very smart people at the FBI but never understood why shooting jello was the be all/end all with testing. They used to shoot sheep that closely resembled us but I understand why they stopped that. Who thinks that shooting a block of gelatin give you a good perspective on how a bullet will work on a 2 legged beast. Just like rolling the dice on a craps game, shooting a person is so much different than shooting gelatin.
I'll carry whatever they tell me and rely on location instead of caliber.
Yes!
Here I offer an explanation that satisfied my mind on this question.
The FBI took a sampling from their records of successful life or death combats. We have not been shown this raw data, but others have tried similar analysis.
The rounds identical to those that had behaved satisfactorily in shootings, were shot into the ballistic gelatin and provided the basis for the penetration and expansion requirements in gelatin.
No person involved at any level ever said or thought that the 11 inches to 18 inches of penetration in gelatin corresponded to any measurement of penetration in any real shooting of any criminal human whatsoever.
No one at the FBI ever said or thought for a moment that performance in ballistic gelatin would assure satisfactory performance in a fight.
That particular agency decided that for their purposes, under-penetration is a thing. Many experts disagree.
That particular agency decided that for their purposes, over-penetration is a thing. Many experts disagree.
If someone wants to agree with them, that is all well and good. However there is no reason to think that performance in clear gelatin, or in water jugs, or wet phone books or anything other than properly BB calibrated ballistic gelatin has anything to do with what the FBI did in their testing.
Please correct me with my thanks.
Kind Regards!
BrianD