NCJ Number
135776
Date Published
1992
Length
235 pages
Annotation
Based on case studies of actual shootings combined with scientifically controlled test firings into 10-percent ordnance gelatin, this book provides accurate wound ballistics and ammunition information that police officers and civilians can use to survive lethal confrontations on the street.
Abstract
The book first analyzes the physiological aspects of incapacitating a person with a firearm. "Incapacitation" is defined as "the inability to perform hostile acts, whether unarmed or armed with a firearm or contact weapon." This analysis encompasses mechanisms of collapse, a neurologist's view of "stopping power," Hatcher's theory of relative stopping power, and the Relative Incapacitation Index. The book then describes the state-of-the-art methodology used by the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences to test the stopping power of a new or proposed round of ammunition. The Federal Bureau of Investigation methodology is then assessed. The core of the book presents the results of the authors' analyses of ammunition performance in actual street shootouts combined with gelatin tests. The results predict the stopping power of specific loads in calibers from .380 Auto to .45 ACP as well as such specialty rounds as the Glaser Safety Slug, Federal Hydra-Shok, MagSafe, and others. Illustrative photographs, figures, and appended supplementary data and information