is .357 mag the best defense round?

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Originally Posted By: CT8
The muzzle energy seems to be a B.S. number.Figures lie and liars figure. Every action has a equal and opposite reaction ??? A bullet with 800 lb ft of energy should kncsk the shooter on his behind if the numbers were so.


Only cow! I came across this information for the .338 Lapua rifle. It can produce 2400+ ft ibs of muzzle energy! If 800 ft ibs can knock a person over, what would that do? Of course a rifle is put up to a person's shoulder. And a handgun is held in a person's hands.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
It depends who/what you are defending,maunder what,circumstance.

A SPAS 15 can be very effective in CQ, a AR or AK give you more range if the terrain dictactes is, but when subtlety asks for,your discretion, a walther ppk or glock 20 are quite easy to miss.

Its about picking the tool for the job


The Glock 20 is a full size service pistol holding 15 + 1 of 10mm.

It's quite HARD to miss. It's the biggest Glock frame.

But in your country, you can't own any of the firearms that you've listed, can you?
 
Originally Posted By: Mystic
Originally Posted By: CT8
The muzzle energy seems to be a B.S. number.Figures lie and liars figure. Every action has a equal and opposite reaction ??? A bullet with 800 lb ft of energy should kncsk the shooter on his behind if the numbers were so.


Only cow! I came across this information for the .338 Lapua rifle. It can produce 2400+ ft ibs of muzzle energy! If 800 ft ibs can knock a person over, what would that do? Of course a rifle is put up to a person's shoulder. And a handgun is held in a person's hands.

Rifles and handguns are in completely different categories in terms of power. And .338LM is one of the more powerful rifle cartridges.
 
Originally Posted By: Mystic


Only cow! I came across this information for the .338 Lapua rifle. It can produce 2400+ ft ibs of muzzle energy! If 800 ft ibs can knock a person over, what would that do? Of course a rifle is put up to a person's shoulder. And a handgun is held in a person's hands.
.338 Lapua energy is double that. Over 5000 in some loads.
 
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The key point with .338 Lapua, or other rounds used for long range shooting (like snipers would do) is the energy at range...muzzle energy is cool...if the target is at zero feet....but what's the energy at a thousand yards? That's where the bullet meets the target in some cases.
 
Originally Posted By: Mystic
Originally Posted By: CT8
The muzzle energy seems to be a B.S. number.Figures lie and liars figure. Every action has a equal and opposite reaction ??? A bullet with 800 lb ft of energy should kncsk the shooter on his behind if the numbers were so.


Only cow! I came across this information for the .338 Lapua rifle. It can produce 2400+ ft ibs of muzzle energy! If 800 ft ibs can knock a person over, what would that do? Of course a rifle is put up to a person's shoulder. And a handgun is held in a person's hands.

Also the mass of the firearm itself has a large effect on felt recoil, as does barrel length. I've shot slugs out of a regular 12g shot gun and sabots out of my 20g slug gun that have virtually the same muzzle energy(~2000 ftlbs), but my slug gun has a few more pounds of weight and so the felt recoil is much less.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
The key point with .338 Lapua, or other rounds used for long range shooting (like snipers would do) is the energy at range...muzzle energy is cool...if the target is at zero feet....but what's the energy at a thousand yards? That's where the bullet meets the target in some cases.


You can't have high energy way out at range if there isn't high energy to start with at the muzzle. Once the bullet leaves the muzzle, the ever decreasing energy is due to bullet aerodynamic resistance traveling through the air ... they all experience it based on their particular aerodynamic friction coefficient.
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Originally Posted By: Astro14
The key point with .338 Lapua, or other rounds used for long range shooting (like snipers would do) is the energy at range...muzzle energy is cool...if the target is at zero feet....but what's the energy at a thousand yards? That's where the bullet meets the target in some cases.


You can't have high energy way out at range if there isn't high energy to start with at the muzzle. Once the bullet leaves the muzzle, the ever decreasing energy is due to bullet aerodynamic resistance traveling through the air ... they all experience it based on their particular aerodynamic friction coefficient.


Precisely.

That's why Carlos Hathcock started using a .50 for his long range shots. That's why the .338 Lapua was developed - to deliver energy at range.

If you look at what regular rounds, like ,308, deliver at over 800 yard, it's surprisingly little...our snipers needed to upgrade to a round that would still work at extreme range.
 
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