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Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: You should try Midsommer. Wowzers that place is a hotbed of murder and intrigue!
Turning back to firearms, when it comes to ammo, is there anything, for want of a better term, seasonal about it? As in sometimes you can find certain calibres easily, only for supply to suddenly dry up?
Do calibres and that come and go out of fashion as new shooters are released to market?
Yes, quite a lot of ammo is made this way. Rather than a continuous production the mfg will make a batch of something and once it has all sold, it is gone until they make another batch, which could take months, years, or never happen. During periods of high demand, they won't put out near as much of the less common calibers and it can take quite a while for that to normalize. The supply and prices still have not quite reached the new normal from Covid 19. Also in the new normal, 7.62x39 and 5.56 prices are starting to converge and the price of 7.62x39 ammo may no longer be a factor when buying a new gun. Supplies of the really popular, really good stuff don't last too long when introduced. I've said this before but it is worth repeating that it really pays off to be a disciplined shopper in this hobby.
As far as ammo supplies being sensitive to new guns coming out, it happens a little. 5.7mm FN has been around a while but had only 2 guns that could shoot it, a handgun and the P-90 that looks rather goofy with a civilian legal 16" barrel on it. 2 new handguns and a carbine have come out recently and are all on the budget side, so interest has increased. The cartridge is interesting as it has capabilities other pistol rounds don't. It shoots a small pointy bullet really fast, in theory fast enough to do "rifle" damage. It has a longer effective range than other pistol rounds. And there is one other reason . If you want to actually shoot a gun in this caliber getting ammunition is a big challenge. For quite a while the only round available was a Federal plinking round at $1.30 per round. It has come down a bit and a few other ammo types are now available but they are still exorbitantly expensive for what they are. And many of them are deliberately loaded light, defeating the purpose of why you chose that gun in the first place (a lot of high caliber hollow point ammo falls into this category as well, which is another discussion worth having).
Most once popular calibers become less so as better options become available. They can hang around a long time (many of the "cowboy" calibers that were originally black powder from the 1800's still see decent use and remain effective for hunting) but don't really become popular again. 10mm might be an example of a "seasonal" cartridge that was initially popular, stagnated, and has become a lot more popular recently. 9mm has remained popular but lost a lot of its "market share" to .40 S&W for a few decades. With modern ammo .40 is only marginally different than 9mm so that cartridge is in decline and 9mm is by far the most popular pistol caliber.
Many new calibers are introduced and a lot of them don't catch on, so you can get stuck with a gun that initially had some good ammo availability and now has very little. A pile of alternate calibers for AR-15s have been introduced and I think most of them will fall into this category. 357 Sig is a good example of this, it has a small following but never really caught on and these days it is very difficult to maintain proficiency with. 300 Blackout and 6.5 Creedmore are here to stay I think, we'll see about 30 Super Carry and the other AR calibers (.350 Legend, .450 Bushmaster seem like they'll be ok, and 7.62x39 for obvious reasons).
.350 Legend and .450 Bushmaster are probably here to stay. They are straight-walled cartridges that meet deer hunting restrictions in several states. They are available in many budget friendly bolt-action rifles as well as ARs. Their supply can dry up just before and during hunting season and then be plentiful shortly after.
Turning back to firearms, when it comes to ammo, is there anything, for want of a better term, seasonal about it? As in sometimes you can find certain calibres easily, only for supply to suddenly dry up?
Do calibres and that come and go out of fashion as new shooters are released to market?
Target shooters are a funny bunch. If they find a batch of magic ammo they will try and get as much as possible to hoard.
Being bored at work once the topic came up about what gun to use. My answer? 45 LC revolver, using a chamber sleeve to fire a round other than 45LC, let's say 9mm or any other caliber you don't own a weapon in. Save a few 9mm casings from the shooting range floor. Plant those casings near the body.
I got some open mouthed "you've thought of this before" looks.
More thought than our 1* clearly, though that would have ruined his 'it's all an accident' training serial intent. We still however wished to prosecute for a range of reasons that revealed he knew little about hunting...
This is because by and large everybody has figured out what calibers people actually like or want to buy, so breaking into the market with a new gun that also shoots a new cartridge is a hard sell.
It will be interesting to see if a 'round' of innovation is kicked off by the new US army rifle round. Though switching to any type of non-metal case will make reloaders sad.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2023/05/02 17:32:01
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
.277 Fury is already on the market, you can buy semi-auto Sig Spears too. And there will just be Ar10 uppers chambered in it. Granted, none of the ammo is of the rediculous 80,000 PSI military ammo with the steel based brass or the composite casings, its just normal brass cased stuff.
The steel based brass would probably still be reloadable anyway, just the composite stuff wouldn't but I doubt that is going to gain much traction.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
As a 40K fan and an Ork fan? This might be the closest we have right now to something vaguely approximating “enuff Dakka”. Even though there is no such as enuff Dakka.
But…..it does sound like aircraft are doing particularly vicious farts. As an idiot, overgrown man child who still gets Viz, and has bought every issue since…erm…..1994? That’s just Brass Knobs on it.
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
For the first time since I started EDC'ing in 1998 I had a personal reason to draw my pistol two weeks ago.
As I stopped at a red light in a fairly bad part of town I couldn't avoid driving through (I work there) I was the victim of a smash and grab. Normally I can see them coming and have avoided it more than once, but this time I was distracted by the light being out. I wasn't stopping for a light change as everyone was going 1-1 through the light, like it was a stop street, so I was still rolling forwards to pull up to the light.
My wife in the passenger seat screamed as the window exploded in on her and someone leant into the car.
I'd already started reaching for it as I heard her scream and had a grip on it by the time he lent in the car and was pulling it out as my wife yelled "NO!" and punched him in the throat so hard he fell out the car without having got her bag. As he wasn't actually attacking her, was no longer in the car and a quick scan of my 6 showed it wasn't a hijacking I let go of the pistol and just peeled out of there, around the truck that was stopped at the light ahead of me.
How am I only seeing this today?
Anyway, kudos to your wife, my friend. Evidently she's no joke!
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/05/03 20:20:29
First, all means to conciliate; failing that, all means to crush.
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote: You should try Midsommer. Wowzers that place is a hotbed of murder and intrigue!
Do the Brits have anything like American police procedurals where an undermanned and demoralized urban dept. wages a desperate, forlorn battle to keep the streets safe? "Hill Street Blues" comes to mind, but I'm sure there have been others.
Turning back to firearms, when it comes to ammo, is there anything, for want of a better term, seasonal about it? As in sometimes you can find certain calibres easily, only for supply to suddenly dry up?
Do calibres and that come and go out of fashion as new shooters are released to market?
There are surges of certain ammo types when game seasons arrive. The manufacturers time their production and switch their lines.
The pandemic and rioting threw all these calculations off, so while some calibers (9mm, 5.56mm) have come back and are both affordable and plentiful, others continue to lag. This could be a function of demand shifts - .38 Special used to be as cheap as 9mm, but I think a lot of people bought revolvers and shifted the curve.
The ammo shortage also cause a "clear the shelves" mentality, which wiped out stocks of low-demand, low-production calibers. Most of these are not in continuous production - the manufacturers instead do a run of so many thousands rounds, the retailers stock up, and it sells bit by bit until a new run is justified.
This is particularly true of vintage/historical calibers like 7.63mm Mauser or 8x22mm Nambu. Even more modern ones like .327 Federal Magnum are only now coming back and are very expensive for what you get.
Shotgun shells were also affected. Boxes of 12 gauge never truly ran out, but finding 20 gauge or .410 gauge can be difficult - the latter because it's now a common pistol round thanks to the hideous Taurus Judge and its clones.
The upshot is that because of these wholesale shifts in demand (and firearms in production), the "seasons" are a bit messed up.
Shotgun shells were also affected. Boxes of 12 gauge never truly ran out, but finding 20 gauge or .410 gauge can be difficult - the latter because it's now a common pistol round thanks to the hideous Taurus Judge and its clones.
Hey, I've had my judge for about 5 years now and love it! Nothing hideous about it. It is my 'carry in the wet areas' while out on the property gun and has dispatched a few moccasins and a copperhead or two.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/05/06 14:27:57
Every time a terrorist dies a Paratrooper gets his wings.
As a 40K fan and an Ork fan? This might be the closest we have right now to something vaguely approximating “enuff Dakka”. Even though there is no such as enuff Dakka.
But…..it does sound like aircraft are doing particularly vicious farts. As an idiot, overgrown man child who still gets Viz, and has bought every issue since…erm…..1994? That’s just Brass Knobs on it.
"the key to this is the barrels, six of them"
"this also increases multi-hit probabilities when compared to a single barrel."
Do the Brits have anything like American police procedurals where an undermanned and demoralized urban dept. wages a desperate, forlorn battle to keep the streets safe? "Hill Street Blues" comes to mind, but I'm sure there have been others.
We have the middle class bumping each other off and getting caught (the majority). The rich doing the same (Poirot etc.). The poorer lot tend to be lumped into dealing with 'the underworld' which they are all someone very aware of (honestly they are more aware of the deals at the local supermarket), or as background cases to solve in long running police series in the vein of one of our misery soap operas. I think any attempt at the above would result in the writers describing a bunch of sullen cops not liking the locals and thinking screw 'em, and leaving them to their own devices...
Started off good, ran for far, far too long, and become the Mortuary For Once Successful Now Failed Acting Careers.
We also have stuff like Taggart - but any non-Scot would probably want to be watching with the subtitles on.
Do the cops in the precinct house eat porridge with their fingers? (Sorry, Waugh reference.)
Something I learned during the Great Shortage was that Americans generally hate .32 ACP and Europeans make lots of ammo for it. Not only that, there are plenty of vintage .32s that run great. Literary James Bond's weapon of choice and all that (movie Bond uses 9mm short).
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
.32 is a woefully underpowered cartridge. It was considered weak when it first came out, and that is saying something for early automatic pistol calibers.
A potential safety issue is that .32 pistols are capable of chambering some other calibers, like .380, but firing it will result in the pistol energetically disassembling itself in all directions. Particularly said vintage pistols where they were made for much weaker loads than are made today. Even some modern factory .32 might be too hot for a 100+ year-old revolver.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Grey Templar wrote: .32 is a woefully underpowered cartridge. It was considered weak when it first came out, and that is saying something for early automatic pistol calibers.
I'm curious as to the basis of this statement. The reception of .32 ACP was overwhelmingly positive - just about every police force in Europe chose equip their officers with autoloaders in this caliber (which most them called 7.65mm Browning).
A potential safety issue is that .32 pistols are capable of chambering some other calibers, like .380, but firing it will result in the pistol energetically disassembling itself in all directions.
I'm not sure I follow you here. The difference between .32 and .380 (or, if you like 7.65mm and 9mm) is considerable. You can feed a 7.65mm cartridge into a 9mm but it will just fall out the other end of the barrel. I'm not sure how you'd chamber a 9mm into a 7.65mm short of using a hammer to close the slide.
Particularly said vintage pistols where they were made for much weaker loads than are made today. Even some modern factory .32 might be too hot for a 100+ year-old revolver.
Now that is a very valid concern. Because it is "semi-rimmed," one can seat a .32 ACP cartridge into a revolver. (Since most autoloader cartridges are "rimless," they will just fall through unless they are in a moon clip or have some weird cylinder thingy.)
The .32 ACP has a fairly short cartridge length overall (shorter than .32 S&W Long, for example), so it could conceivably chamber in some revolvers designed for .32 Short (a mild round if there ever was one). That would likely not end well for either shooter or firearm.
The moral of that story: know your firearm, especially if it is an antique. Ammo that fits is not necessarily safe.
I felt compelled to check, and no, a .380 won't chamber in my wife's Mauser HSc (.32ACP/7.65 Browning).
.32ACP was one of the most successful autoloader cartridges of the early 20th century. Like Commissar said it was widely adopted by police and militaries in Europe, and was a more powerful cartridge than some of the standard police cartridges of the time (eg .32S&W Long, .38SC), comparable to the .38LC which was considered adequate against anyone that wasn't a Moro warrior.
Are you thinking of a different caliber, Templar? I'm not familiar with any revolvers chambered in .32ACP.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/05/11 00:56:38
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Maybe I am, but I am pretty sure I have heard this a lot regarding .32 revolvers and .380. Specifically regarding them feeding a different caliber and you not being able to tell till it goes kaboom in your hand.
The reason it was successful early on was precisely because it was wimpy. Early autoloaders were pretty flimsy so the early autoloading calibers were all small so it was easier on the parts. Which was why it took a while for revolvers to fall out of style, revolvers could be made with more powerful calibers, but autoloaders had ammo capacity and speed on their side. It took a while for manufacturing techniques to catch up and make reliable large caliber autoloaders.
I don't personally own either caliber, but it has turned me off vintage revolvers in general because ammo is a concern with some.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2023/05/11 03:30:44
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Grey Templar wrote: The reason it was successful early on was precisely because it was wimpy. Early autoloaders were pretty flimsy so the early autoloading calibers were all small so it was easier on the parts. Which was why it took a while for revolvers to fall out of style, revolvers could be made with more powerful calibers, but autoloaders had ammo capacity and speed on their side. It took a while for manufacturing techniques to catch up and make reliable large caliber autoloaders.
Its a bit of an odd discussion I always find about handguns and ammo. At the end of the day, they are hand guns. They have a very narrow niche, almost entirely within civilian individual and police usage (military handguns are always a bit of a weird fish). If your situation requires a gun, you probably don't want a pistol, it is more a case of that is what you have got to hand as it were. The difference in many calibres is very marginal given their optimum utilisation and outside of well practiced users and static targets practical engagement range is far shorter than the vast majority realise.
.32 ACP is considered a "mouse gun" caliber in the States. There were a few popular pistols in that caliber, notably the PPK, Seecamp, and Kel Tec up to the turn of the century. All of these have short barrels and there are many .380 and 9mm pistols in that size these days with higher capacity, much more power, and a nice price tag. So it is pretty much obsolete.
If you look at this, hollow points don't have enough energy (100ish foot pounds) to expand when fired from the pocket pistol, and they do when fired from the larger pistol (130 range). Still underpowered but "adequate" performance. So it makes some sense that the caliber would be more popular in Europe where there are probably a lot more of those 4" barrel police guns in circulation.
They also didn't have hollow point ammunition when these were introduced, which would narrow the gap between .32 ACP and the heavier stuff considerably.
Grey Templar wrote: The reason it was successful early on was precisely because it was wimpy. Early autoloaders were pretty flimsy so the early autoloading calibers were all small so it was easier on the parts. Which was why it took a while for revolvers to fall out of style, revolvers could be made with more powerful calibers, but autoloaders had ammo capacity and speed on their side. It took a while for manufacturing techniques to catch up and make reliable large caliber autoloaders.
Like I said, there were a variety of revolver calibers in common military/police use that were weaker (.32S&W Long, .38SC) or comparable (.38LC).
Some of the early autoloader cartridges were no slouches, either. 7.65 Borchardt (1893) was a slightly lighter rendition of 7.63 Mauser (1896), which was the highest-velocity handgun cartridge prior to .357 Magnum (1935) and had comparable energy to the most powerful revolver cartridges of the time. Both of those predated .32ACP (1899); and 9x19 came along just two years later, immediately more powerful than the vast majority of revolver cartridges in use. .45ACP was introduced in 1905 with comparable ballistics to the 'man-stopper' .45LC. There was no real gap between the introduction of autoloading handguns and the development of high-power (for the time) autoloaders.
Low-power cartridges like .32ACP saw popularity for their simplicity, being conducive to cheap straight-blowback designs. The Mausers and Lugers were certainly not flimsy by the standards of their day (the Mauser in particular is as reliable as any modern autoloader), but their complexity made them several times more expensive than contemporary revolvers. The big breakthrough of the Colt delayed-blowback design was simplifying the delay mechanism to a simple and inexpensive barrel/slide linkage.
Anyways, you should be checking your ammo regardless. You can stick to all modern guns and still load a 9x18 in a 9x19 or a .300BLK in a 5.56 and have a bad day.
Slowroll wrote: .32 ACP is considered a "mouse gun" caliber in the States.
In 2023. Perceptions have changed a lot over time; we're talking about first introduction.
Though you do bring up a good point about ammunition- not just hollowpoints, but wadcutter ammunition for a revolver cartridge will typically outperform FMJ in a comparable caliber. Still, that didn't stop Hague Convention signatories from adopting autoloaders.
Grey Templar wrote: Maybe I am, but I am pretty sure I have heard this a lot regarding .32 revolvers and .380. Specifically regarding them feeding a different caliber and you not being able to tell till it goes kaboom in your hand.
I've never encountered that. I assure you, .380 cartridges are far too wide to fit into a .32 chamber. As in: not even close.
The reason it was successful early on was precisely because it was wimpy. Early autoloaders were pretty flimsy so the early autoloading calibers were all small so it was easier on the parts. Which was why it took a while for revolvers to fall out of style, revolvers could be made with more powerful calibers, but autoloaders had ammo capacity and speed on their side. It took a while for manufacturing techniques to catch up and make reliable large caliber autoloaders.
No, it was popular because it was so stout. Remember that all revolvers in 1900 were built with black powder in mind. Very, very low pressures by today's standards, and many of them were top-break (think Webley).
What .32 ACP did was create a cartridge with the same bore diameter but far more hitting power.
You also have the power thing backwards - .32 ACP is loaded at much, much higher pressures than .32 short or .32 long. A Browning 1900 or Colt 1903 will happily take .32 ACP ammo and fire tens of thousands of rounds without a hint of failure (I've shot a Dreyse 1907 that's a BEAST of a gun), but load .32 ACP in a Colt Police Positive and you may well blow it up. Revolvers of that era were simply built to lower pressures, and many were top-break, so not a solid frame.
That being said, solid-frame revolvers could (and did) take the high-pressure loads, hence the 'wildcatting' that lead to .357 Magnum.
I don't personally own either caliber, but it has turned me off vintage revolvers in general because ammo is a concern with some.
Vintage arms have certain challenges. You have to know the calibers, understand the pressure differences and also get that a lot of people in the internet (he said unironically) have no idea what they are talking about. Don't trust, just verify.
The thing to do is look for ammunition that is specifically marked as being of a certain type of vintage caliber - and only use that stuff with the vintage firearm.
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catbarf wrote: Some of the early autoloader cartridges were no slouches, either. 7.65 Borchardt (1893) was a slightly lighter rendition of 7.63 Mauser (1896), which was the highest-velocity handgun cartridge prior to .357 Magnum (1935) and had comparable energy to the most powerful revolver cartridges of the time.
The Mauser c96 was called a "box cannon" by the Chinese, who imported them by the hundreds of thousands. Sykes and Fairbairn said of all the handgun wounds they saw in Shanghai, those inflicted by the c96 were the most horrific.
In 2023. Perceptions have changed a lot over time; we're talking about first introduction.
Americans have an obsession with MORE DAKKA. People over a certain age will recall when 9mm Para was regarded as a "puny, ineffective" cartridge. When making my first handgun purchase all those moons ago, I finally settled on a .357 Magnum because anything else simply didn't have enough "stopping power." I really believed that.
We're not as bad as we used to be, but the "mouse gun" label still lingers even though it is now beyond question that shot placement trumps all other factors.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2023/05/11 22:15:10
Commissar von Toussaint wrote: The Mauser c96 was called a "box cannon" by the Chinese, who imported them by the hundreds of thousands. Sykes and Fairbairn said of all the handgun wounds they saw in Shanghai, those inflicted by the c96 were the most horrific.
Yup! The history of the 'box cannon' is fascinating to me- European arms treaties forbid the export of long guns to China during the warlord era, but handguns were just fine, and the C96 (and copies, eg Astra) with shoulder stock worked quite well as a carbine.
My C96 is one such commercial gun that was manufactured in the 30s, sent to China, had some kind of history there, and then was cleaned up (reblued, relined to 9x19) and exported to the US.
Commissar von Toussaint wrote: Americans have an obsession with MORE DAKKA. People over a certain age will recall when 9mm Para was regarded as a "puny, ineffective" cartridge. When making my first handgun purchase all those moons ago, I finally settled on a .357 Magnum because anything else simply didn't have enough "stopping power." I really believed that.
We're not as bad as we used to be, but the "mouse gun" label still lingers even though it is now beyond question that shot placement trumps all other factors.
Yeah, it's funny to me to read the hot debates in old Soldier of Fortune mags from the 80s, where you've got the classic 'stopping power' arguments on one side and shot placement + ballistic gel + mag capacity on the other. Some things never change.
One thing I wonder about, though, is whether changes in perception have to do with 1. the increasing mass of the average person as diets have improved over the last hundred years, and 2. the much greater survivability of gunshot wounds due to modern medicine. I have to imagine .32ACP is a lot more threatening if you weigh 100lbs soaking wet and antibiotics don't exist.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2023/05/12 02:29:50
Having perused a few other firearms channels, I just can't understand why so many have more hits than Ian's. His output is frankly excellent, the firearms background is delivered brilliantly and he fesses up normally when mistakes are made.
Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios
Probably because other people do more jump cuts, action scenes, and snazz that makes the algorithm happy and probably keeps younger viewers on the video longer.
The people who just want to see Kentucky Ballistics blow up something may not be the ones to sit through a quiet but informative video on the fine inner workings of an obscure gun. Which is a shame of course, but that is Youtube for you.
Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines
Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.
Kentucjy Ballistics firing a 4 bore rifle does have the bonus perk of being good material to counter those arguments about boltguns ripping arms out of their socket, at least caliber wise, so it's got its uses.
Grey Templar wrote: Probably because other people do more jump cuts, action scenes, and snazz that makes the algorithm happy and probably keeps younger viewers on the video longer.
The people who just want to see Kentucky Ballistics blow up something may not be the ones to sit through a quiet but informative video on the fine inner workings of an obscure gun. Which is a shame of course, but that is Youtube for you.
Demolition Ranch has far more subscribers than Ian and it's...very silly.
I mean, I've watched it from time to time, but I can only handle it in small doses.
Getting back to "mouse guns," yes, I think medical knowledge/care has reached a point where gunshot wounds are much more survivable, I don't think a lot of people are going to say "Oh, that's only a .32, so go ahead and shoot."
Between Jeff Cooper and the FBI Miami-Dade fiasco, Americans have convinced themselves that MORE DAKKA is the answer. There was a post-Miami-Dade working paper that contained the terrifying phrase that "caliber is at least as important as shot placement."
No. A thousand times no. Pulp Fiction provided a wonderful illustration that missing with every shot in a .44 Magnum gets you nothing. Imagine that famous scene with the guy sweating in the bathroom coming out with a Colt 1903 and planting a .32 caliber slug through Jackson's and Travolta's brainboxes. Mild recoil, quick recovery, pinpoint accuracy. Remember Teddy Roosevelt pushed for NYPD to switch to .32 Long because they were missing too much with .38.
Grey Templar wrote: Probably because other people do more jump cuts, action scenes, and snazz that makes the algorithm happy and probably keeps younger viewers on the video longer.
The people who just want to see Kentucky Ballistics blow up something may not be the ones to sit through a quiet but informative video on the fine inner workings of an obscure gun. Which is a shame of course, but that is Youtube for you.
Best watched at about 200k frames per second
Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!
Having perused a few other firearms channels, I just can't understand why so many have more hits than Ian's. His output is frankly excellent, the firearms background is delivered brilliantly and he fesses up normally when mistakes are made.
As someone with a smidge more than a passing interest, Ian’s delivery is solid. But. It can veer into being a bit dry at times, which is more to do with me than him! I’ll take a bit dry but factual over HEY WOW ZOMG any day.
Fed up of Scalpers? But still want your Exclusives? Why not join us?
No. A thousand times no. Pulp Fiction provided a wonderful illustration that missing with every shot in a .44 Magnum gets you nothing. Imagine that famous scene with the guy sweating in the bathroom coming out with a Colt 1903 and planting a .32 caliber slug through Jackson's and Travolta's brainboxes. Mild recoil, quick recovery, pinpoint accuracy.
Sure, I agree there is no question accuracy is the number one factor.
Studies show that the NYPD has an 18% chance to hit their target (at all) with any given shot fired. At one point those officers had to qualify with their guns and you'd think they would do better than that, and didn't. It's easier to just say that shot placement trumps everything than it is to quantify the effects of extreme stress and the inherent accuracy of the gun/ammo have on the shooter's ability to actually place those shots, especially when shots are also coming at you. In your Pulp Fiction example the guy was terrified and likely would have missed no matter what gun he had.
I don't think it is unreasonable to want to use guns and ammunition that "work" (IMO, a combination that passes the FBI penetration test with reliable hollow point expansion). The FBI test isn't the word of god, but it is the best measuring stick available right now until something better comes along, at least that I'm aware of. The real world information available might not tell the whole story but I rather stick to that than talk myself into some fantasy.
The report of horrific wounds inflicted by Mauser pistols reminded me a bit of modern discourse. Without straying outside the boundaries of this forum, you might have recently heard high profile individuals saying 9mm can "blow lungs out" or that 5.56mm "vaporizes bone" and can "turn people to dust". I'm not disputing that C96 and other .32s were good guns in their day, or throwing shade on those guys, its just an observation.
Here's another real world study that is pretty interesting. We can see here that medium caliber guns were 2.3x more effective than the "mouse guns", and the heavy calibers were 4.5x more effective. They have .380 as a medium caliber and .40 as heavy there, it would be even worse if those were in the small and medium buckets instead. We also see that there were an average of 5.25 shots fired in each of these shootings and over 50% of the targets were only hit once.
The results are interesting in regards to the talk regarding medical advances as well. I remember reading that in Iraq the US was losing one man for every seven wounded, and historically you see close to a 2:1 number for war casualties. Here it is 1:1 in a city with some of the best hospitals on earth, with just handguns (and ONE rifle shooting in 5 years). I guess having IFAKs and trained medics handy makes all the difference.
In table 2 (probably best if we don't discuss table 1), .32 overperformed, greatly skewing the numbers, and that is interesting. Is it really that much better than .38 and .380 and "JUST AS POWERFUL" as 9mm? Physics says no, but there has to be a reason behind that. In fantasy land, that might be a gang of elite shooters all using vintage Mauser C96 and PPKs. In reality I expect one or more murder suicides is skewing the numbers, but in fairness I couldn't find any evidence of that.
. If you want to actually shoot a gun in this caliber getting ammunition is a big challenge. For quite a while the only round available was a Federal plinking round at $1.30 per round. It has come down a bit and a few other ammo types are now available but they are still exorbitantly expensive for what they are. And many of them are deliberately loaded light, defeating the purpose of why you chose that gun in the first place (a lot of high caliber hollow point ammo falls into this category as well, which is another discussion worth having).
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