Chapotraphouse

Additional notes regarding ballistics and combat.

We were trained in the military to do "failure to stop" drills. Two to the chest, one to the pelvic area. The idea is that the adrenaline of an enemy combatant can keep them upright and attacking with holes in their chest, so shattering the pelvis drops the attacker because they cannot mechanically stand.

This has further application in military combat where attackers can be wearing armor plates covering their chest and vitals. 9mm is useless against all common armor, including soft armor - but abs are squishy and don't protect the pelvis. It's also a bigger target than the head; and you will not shoot well in combat. It also somewhat incapacitates them from pain and a wounded combatant also requires further man power to extract them.

5.56 NATO will go right through soft armor and specific ammo will overcome some hard plates. The major factor of overcoming hard armor is velocity, 3000fps is the magic number. The longer the barrel the higher the velocity, lighter bullets will also go faster, but will transfer less energy into the target.

In combat there's no time to calculate this out, so again shooting the pelvis allows you more time to align a kill shot if necessary. This is because the combatant will not be able to line up an accurate shot of return fire before you.

Either way, taking a hit to a hard plate with a low power 9mm will ruin your day, you will be in a lot of pain, much more so with 5.56. There's also all kinds of calibers and situations where a round won't overcome a plate, but it can still be fatal. The energy transfer can stop the heart and cause tissue damage. In short, body armor is not an invincibility cheat... And it is heavy and cumbersome. There's a reason US forces have lost to insurgent forces that rarely wear armor.

Conversely, a lot of single pistol caliber hits are survived. So professional trainers for concealed carry encourage essentially mag dumping into center mass to "stop the threat" (legal phrasing is key in self defense shootings).

Pistols also require more training, they are harder to shoot, you're not John Wick, that level is legit expensive to train to that level. The next best thing is shooting competitions.

Another note on war fighting: typically the force that gets the most rounds down range are the ones that win, so keep in mind the largest caliber is not something you should be seeking out.

Also, get a good tourniquet and take a stop the bleed course.

Edit: Maiming people is not ethical or good. Nothing in a war is good, it's fucking hell. Avoid it if you can.