Re: [DL] Re: Wound Ballistics

["Daniel Gwyn" <dgwyn@colba.net>]

Hi,
    Perhaps I should qualify what I mean by obsolete.  The meaning I give
the term is basically militarily obsolete, i.e. the Armies aren't very
interested in using the cartridge.  The .45 ACP easily qualifies for that
title.  Even the U.S. Army no longer uses it (except in particular
circumstances which I will ignore).  Furthermore, the concept behind the
cartridge is very old and revolves around a relatively slow and heavy bullet
able to stop a charging native.  While this concept still appeals to the
more combat oriented police departments (substituting "alledged criminal"
for "native") ;-), that is a relatively specialized niche.
    While the .45 ACP is still popular in the States among shooters and
others, I do not believe they truly represent a reliable judgement as they
either well practiced with the guns they shoot or have inflated egos. ;-)
(I'm sure that all the people on the listserv who shoot are in the first
category. ;-) )  In either case, their judgement may not be 100%.  In
particular, the experts can be led astray by their own expertise in using
weapons, loosing sight of the real world issues.  A case in point would be
before WWI when all the armies of the world decided that a good weapon to
arm conscript armies would be bolt-action rifles firing the high-powered
long range (good out to nearly a 1 km) cartridges recommended to them by the
shooting experts, such as the British .303.  The problem was that while the
idea of long range rifle fights appealed to the expert shooters, once
engaged in a major conflict, it was found that the vast majority of fighting
occured at a shorter range.  It was only in WWII that the Germans invented
the lower powered assault rifle cartridge.  Perhaps, shooting experts aren't
necessarily the best judge?  Another example of this was the Canadian Ross
rifle.  This WWI rifle was an accurate, delightful to shoot piece of work
that the Canadian Army's "experts" selected to arm the Canadian Army with as
it went over to France.  Unfortnately, in actual battle conditions, the
thing probably killed more Canadians than Germans as it jammed very easily
in the mud of Flanders and the weapon, if improperly assembled (which was
easy to do) could explode.  (i.e. reliabity 15 or so). ;-)
    Additionally, the U.S. is one of the few places in the world that has a
large "consumer handgun" market.  As such, market forces will cater to those
shooters able to handle .45 ACP.  That does not alter the fact that the
cartridge is militarily obsolete.  P-51 Mustangs are obsolete, yet many are
still flown for pleasure.
    I will confess that I have never fired a shot in my whole life, and thus
I am only an "armchair expert" on the matter.  And I will agree that getting
shot by anything is bad.
           Daniel Gwyn
"No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!"
From "The Mary Ellen Carter" by Stan Rogers (1949-1983)

P.S.  To set the record straight, I did write that .45 ACP was relatively
rare *outside* the States.  I never denied that the cartridge was popular in
the U.S., merely that it wasn't in the rest of the world.