Originally Posted by
Molon
The FBI didn’t just pull the 12”-18” penetration requirement out of their a$$. While the anteroposterior diameter of the thorax of an average adult American male is approximately 9.5”, gun fights tend to be rather unpredictable by nature, so you might just need more penetration than that 9.5”. You can’t always count on the bad guy to be squarely facing you, with his hands at his side and holding perfectly still while allowing you to shoot at him (and all the while the bad guy not shooting back at you.)
If a bullet has to penetrate the bad guys right arm before continuing to travel into the thorax of the bad guy, (say from a lateral shot while the bad guy is trying to exit a vehicle in order to kill you) you’re going to need, on average, 12” of penetration to perforate the heart; more penetration of you want the bullet to pass through the left ventricle.
During the infamous 1986 FBI Miami Shootout, one of the opening shots in the gunfight (fired by FBI Special Agent Dove) hit Platt in the right arm, continued into Platt's thorax, but stopped just short of Platt’s heart; due to the limited penetration of the 9mm Winchester SilverTip ammunition that was issued at the time. Had the bullet penetrated just a few more inches, it would have perforated Platt’s heart. How many lives might have been saved that day if the 9mm ammunition used by the FBI agents that day had met a penetration requirement of 12”-18”?
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Did they justify ditching the 9mm just based on Platt or more of the shooters? Either way, their overreaction is interesting based on the WST and a couple of inches.
If they would have went to the drawing board and gotten the bullet design to penetrate the gel further it would be interesting to see if the 10mm and 40S&W would have ever come to be.
Do you even get down innagrass, bro?
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