|
Erm, for those looking at .500 S&W mag, .44 Mag, etc, you should really refocus a tad. I realize that the original question said to ignore penetration, but what some of these answers have instead ignored is overpenetration. The various large magnums will completely penetrate a human torso in most situations, leaving an awful lot of wasted energy. Best case scenario is total energy dump on target with reasonable penetration.
By historical statistics, I believe it is .357 magnum. By the numbers, .357 Sig or 10mm, depending on load. And my choices here are ruling out those that overpenetrate in normal factory loads.
Caveat: I am assuming that we are limiting this discussion to wide production 'normal' loads, and also ignoring mutants pistols chambered in rifle cartidges (T/C Contender in .45-70 anyone?). I am also assuming that they original question is talking about stopping power on humans, as well. If we are talking about broad range of targets, then I would concur with debaser's statement of .500 S&W magnum. Smokin' round.
|