longbough

BTW, Ziadel, I noticed you quote Jeff Cooper in another thread.
As a matter of fact, all the principles I've described are fundamental to the modern defensive handgun as taught by Col Jeff Cooper at Gunsite.

I'm no advocate of the 9mm. I'd rather trust my life with my .45 USP Compact or my .40 Glock 23. The "stopping power" of the .45 is a function of its larger diameter which results is a greater degree of "shock" should the bullet remain in the target. That's the current rationale. The size of the cavity is not the primary factor.

Now, I wasn't saying that a .50AE won't stop a subject. A .50AE is potentially more effective provided it doesn't overpenetrate the target - but I'm not sure that's the case. That's all.

Remember the 10mm? That was a big bullet with a hot load. It was considered, in the 80s, to be the ultimate defensive round. Compared to, say, the .40S&W it certainly has superior penetration and kinetic energy and ballistics, but the statistics show (in real world LEO encounters) that the 10mm had poor "one shot stop" percentages (81-82% one shot stop for 10mm and 87-96% for the .40). The 10mm was even less effective in the "one shot stop" as compared to the 9mm (79-91%)! The FBI's initial rationale for considering the 10mm was their desire to optimize penetration through barriers, doors and vehicles.

The same database of LEO encounters show that the .44 magnum (76-90% one shot stop) is an inferior defense round than the .357 magnum (87-96%) due to its tendency to overpenetrate. I'm willing to bet the .50AE would do likewise.

So I stand by my earlier statement - "Shooting cinder blocks is one thing. Shooting live targets is another." Kinetic energy is only part of the equation when it comes to stopping power.