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I am not a gun expert, but isn't raw physical impulse stopping power mostly not that important and it is way more about what you hit? A bigger projectile will j

I am not a gun expert, but isn't raw physical impulse stopping power mostly not that important and it is way more about what you hit? A bigger projectile will just do more damage and hurt more, so that is what will effectivly stop the attacker. Quick calculation with wikipedia data: Impulse Bear: 15 m/s * 410 kg = 6377.7 Ns Impulse 10 mm bullet: 390 m/s * 0.01 kg = 3.9 Ns 6377 - 3.9 = 6373 -> seems not that great of an impact, barely slows him down. But if you hit a leg and the bear will fall - then he is stopped.

mindcrime 3y ago
Yeah, raw ballistic power is just a ballpark number, usually thrown around in "all other things being equal" discussions. Shot placement and other factors absolutely matter as much, or more, when it comes to choosing what firearm to carry for a given situation. But there is usually a "floor" to the amount of ballistic power you want, based on empirical observations over time. Eg, people have noticed that .22LR doesn't tend to work very well for bear defense, so they prefer a larger cartridge, etc. Note too that there are other factors (penetration depth, projectile expansion / fragmentation, etc) that come into play. And with many of those things, there's a lot of folklore around, some science which may or may not carry over (for example, the question of how projectiles fragment in ballistic gel, versus in actual flesh), and no small amount of controversy and debate. If you want to amuse yourself sometime, find a couple of friends who are avid shooters and ask them "which round is the best round for self-defense, vis-a-vis stopping power?" Most likely they'll still be arguing about it 2 or 3 hours later when you quietly slip away to go do something else...
COGlory 3y ago
There's so many considerations to killing an animal that it's impossible to simplify to one thing. That said, if I was forced to, the #1 thing you want a bullet to do is transfer as much energy to the animal as possible. All else being equal, big bullets carry more energy. Therefore, they transfer lots of energy. Yes, some smaller rounds expand upon impact and tramsfer lots of energy, more efficiently as well, but the problem is that they may expand in fat or bone, before hitting vital organs. So they might not work as well. In a bear charging scenario, you aren't precisely aiming. You are praying your bullets make it past the extremely dense bones and wipe out vital organs. The best way to do this is big bullet travelimg fast. P.S. - when people say stopping power, they usually mean stopping the animal's heart. This is basically the ability to transfer energy to vital organs, which is a combination of penetration and energy transfer.

mindcrime 3y ago

Yeah, raw ballistic power is just a ballpark number, usually thrown around in "all other things being equal" discussions. Shot placement and other factors absolutely matter as much, or more, when it comes to choosing what firearm to carry for a given situation. But there is usually a "floor" to the amount of ballistic power you want, based on empirical observations over time. Eg, people have noticed that .22LR doesn't tend to work very well for bear defense, so they prefer a larger cartridge, etc. Note too that there are other factors (penetration depth, projectile expansion / fragmentation, etc) that come into play. And with many of those things, there's a lot of folklore around, some science which may or may not carry over (for example, the question of how projectiles fragment in ballistic gel, versus in actual flesh), and no small amount of controversy and debate. If you want to amuse yourself sometime, find a couple of friends who are avid shooters and ask them "which round is the best round for self-defense, vis-a-vis stopping power?" Most likely they'll still be arguing about it 2 or 3 hours later when you quietly slip away to go do something else...

COGlory 3y ago

There's so many considerations to killing an animal that it's impossible to simplify to one thing. That said, if I was forced to, the #1 thing you want a bullet to do is transfer as much energy to the animal as possible. All else being equal, big bullets carry more energy. Therefore, they transfer lots of energy. Yes, some smaller rounds expand upon impact and tramsfer lots of energy, more efficiently as well, but the problem is that they may expand in fat or bone, before hitting vital organs. So they might not work as well. In a bear charging scenario, you aren't precisely aiming. You are praying your bullets make it past the extremely dense bones and wipe out vital organs. The best way to do this is big bullet travelimg fast. P.S. - when people say stopping power, they usually mean stopping the animal's heart. This is basically the ability to transfer energy to vital organs, which is a combination of penetration and energy transfer.