# A single Shot



## shaolin (Dec 31, 2012)

I was driving down a county road and I saw a man on his knees with blood all over his face. I put him in the back of the pickup truck thinking he fell out of a deer stand and it took over 15 minutes to get to a phone. I found a bar and the guy wouldn't let me use the phone stating I should take him else where because they didn't want cops there. I went outside and gave a man a quarter to call his girl back so I could dial 911. It took another 5 minutes for help to arrive and a nurse came out from the bar and said the man had a puncture wounds in the front and back of his head that he had been shot. He told me who did it and when the cops got there I told them what he said. Turns out he got shot in the cheek with a .22lr over a dime bag of weed. It must have been 30 minutes from the time he got shot to the time help arrived. He lost so much blood and I didn't think he would make it but he did. His brother in law got 8 years for the shooting.
My point is a single bullet wound even to the head may not stop a person so if you have made up your mind that a head shot or a single chest shot will do the trick then think again. The human body wants to survive and will function with a great amount of injury. Handguns are very poor man stoppers compared to rifles and shotguns. Practice with a suitable caliber and a load that can get proper penetration and this will give you a better chance of survival.

This is not a complete list but a good start for someone looking for a good SD round that has been tested.
.380 acp / use Hydra Shocks or Hornady XTP "a 380acp just doesn't have the power to get to the 12" mark in most JHP loads but here are 2 that do" This is why you hear of people using a FMJ in the .380acp.
9mm / use 124 grain HST , +p Gold Dots / 115 DPX / 147 HST
.40 S&W / use 165 Gold Dots / 180 HST
.45 acp / use any 230 JHP but I like the Gold Dots and Hydra Shoks and of course the HST


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Useful, instructive story!
Thanks.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

In another career, electrical wholesale, I used to work with a man who served three years in state prison for burglary. He was in his twenties when I knew him and still had a bit of a wild side. He met a nice girl to whom he became engaged, then left the company to work as an apprentice electrician for his uncle. So I did continue to see him on a frequent basis when he would come in to pick up supplies for a job site. Then he did something stupid.

He stole a gun from a friend who at the time was my assistant manager in the residential lighting department, I was the manager, and met up with some kid in a drug deal where he shot the kid in the face four times. Obviously the kid didn't make it. So for one stupid incident, he messed up his life. You just never know.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Electric Wholesalers? Where? Birmingham, maybe?
Jean's relatives own Mayer Electric Supply, headquartered in Birmingham, but with branches all over the deep south.
Was that it?


BTW, SB, your PM box is full.


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## GCBHM (Mar 24, 2014)

Sometimes, multiple shots don't get it done immediately.

http://concealedcarryholsters.org/wp-content/files/FBI-Analysis-on-PA-Police-Shootout.pdf


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

Steve M1911A1 said:


> Electric Wholesalers? Where? Birmingham, maybe?
> Jean's relatives own Mayer Electric Supply, headquartered in Birmingham, but with branches all over the deep south.
> Was that it?
> 
> BTW, SB, your PM box is full.


It was a family owned independent store in Falls Church, VA.

Thanks for the heads up about my PM's. I don't check it unless there is a new message and I now see that the queue is rather small so I's better be more aware in the future... I'll probably slip up anyway.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

GCBHM said:


> Sometimes, multiple shots don't get it done immediately.
> 
> http://concealedcarryholsters.org/wp-content/files/FBI-Analysis-on-PA-Police-Shootout.pdf


An inch of penetration with a .40S&W 180gr Gold Dot? And even in the throat?? That's really hard to imagine. I don't know how many of you have fired the .40S&W cartridge from a quality semi-auto pistol but I can tell you that it is a powerful round. A one inch penetration of the soft tissue of the throat..... well let's just say, I don't swallow that one. Something is dreadfully wrong there. Maybe there was no powder in the cartridge case and the only thing that propelled the bullet out of the muzzle was the primer.

Just doesn't wash. I have heard stories about all sorts of anomalies with bullets failing to do this or that, but soft naked throat tissue???


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## GCBHM (Mar 24, 2014)

SouthernBoy said:


> An inch of penetration with a .40S&W 180gr Gold Dot? And even in the throat?? That's really hard to imagine. I don't know how many of you have fired the .40S&W cartridge from a quality semi-auto pistol but I can tell you that it is a powerful round. A one inch penetration of the soft tissue of the throat..... well let's just say, I don't swallow that one. Something is dreadfully wrong there. Maybe there was no powder in the cartridge case and the only thing that propelled the bullet out of the muzzle was the primer.
> 
> Just doesn't wash. I have heard stories about all sorts of anomalies with bullets failing to do this or that, but soft naked throat tissue???


Well, we don't really know it was naked skin. It could have gone through something like the jacket, but I also admit this is hard to swallow. Interesting nonetheless.


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## shaolin (Dec 31, 2012)

Southernboy I think you are right. This had to be an error of some kind. maybe he was shot through the back and the bullet went through him and stopped 1" for going out the other side. If you read further down it says the Gold Dots performed their job. This guy was not hit in a vital area and continued to fight until someone placed the correct shot in the correct place or he died from his wounds. Hell he was hit 17 times with 11 exiting the body. On any given day I only carry 8 rds. I guess I would have to retreat and live to fight another day if I were in a shootout with a guy like this. Maybe I should go back to carrying a double stack pistol.


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## GCBHM (Mar 24, 2014)

shaolin said:


> Southernboy I think you are right. This had to be an error of some kind. maybe he was shot through the back and the bullet went through him and stopped 1" for going out the other side. If you read further down it says the Gold Dots performed their job. This guy was not hit in a vital area and continued to fight until someone placed the correct shot in the correct place or he died from his wounds. Hell he was hit 17 times with 11 exiting the body. On any given day I only carry 8 rds. I guess I would have to retreat and live to fight another day if I were in a shootout with a guy like this. Maybe I should go back to carrying a double stack pistol.


Well, this was a LE encounter, not a civilian defense encounter. Truth be known, most will never face this situation. Also, I think I recall somewhere this report stating the coroner was wrong. Either way, it took 17 shot to stop him, with only trace amounts of THC in his blood.


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## SouthernBoy (Jun 27, 2007)

shaolin said:


> Southernboy I think you are right. This had to be an error of some kind. maybe he was shot through the back and the bullet went through him and stopped 1" for going out the other side. *If you read further down it says the Gold Dots performed their job.* This guy was not hit in a vital area and continued to fight until someone placed the correct shot in the correct place or he died from his wounds. Hell he was hit 17 times with 11 exiting the body. On any given day I only carry 8 rds. I guess I would have to retreat and live to fight another day if I were in a shootout with a guy like this. Maybe I should go back to carrying a double stack pistol.


Yes I saw that, too. Seems that there are some contradictions in the story that just don't add up. While it certainly is true that handgun and rifle bullets can do some very strange things when they enter the human body, some stories defy logic. But what the hey. I suppose anything can happen and Murphy is probably laughing his butt off.


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