kel

So firing quality ammunition without concern for penetration, what is the pistol cartridge with the most stopping power?

I shoot .357 sig, which was a difficult at first, but I am getting better at it. It falls somewhere in between the recoil of 9MM and .45. Although nowhere near as bad as the .45

The kicker for me at least was that
.357 sig has 510 ft lbs of force compared to only 410 ft lbs. with .45 and 345 ft lbs. with 9MM.

The force I am quoting is based on Federal's Premium ammunition tables.

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Exodus

Honestly I would have to say .45 ACP or .44 Mag. I dont know the ballistics or stopping power of the .50 though.

Plan9Senior

Correct me if I am wrong, but stopping power has little to do with bullet speed and mostly to do with the diameter the slug expands to as it hits its target.

kel

I didn't quote speed, I quoted force, if a bullet doesn't exit it means all the force is absorbed by the body during the impact. So a well designed cartridge is one which transfers the largest amount of energy in the most destructive manner. .357 sig has more potential energy then 9MM or .45 ACP according to Federal's tables. (A very very hot load of 9MM could have more potential energy, but it would penetrate and exit and the energy wouldn't be absorbed)

Force is a factor of mass/velocity.

I didn't suggest a round to be king of the hill.

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debaser

Pistol cartridge with the most stopping power? .500 S&W Mag.

Hands down, no competition.

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Moonduck

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.

Slims

You mean energy, not force. Pure energy isn't the only measure of 'stopping power' and neither is bore diameter or bullet weight.

Stopping power depends on a couple of factors: Energy transfer to the target, depth of penetration, size of the wound channel (permanent and temporary?), and also, transfer of momentum from the bullet to the bad guy.

Ideally, you want your round to punch the biggest possible hole in someone with the most energy transfer while just barely not over penetrating.

Again, energy transfer is not everything. If it were, number 9 birdshot would be a truly effective self defense round. Since it typically has more than an ounce of shot moving well over 1200 fps. The problem is that it won't penetrate deep enough to reliably kill a bad guy quickly.

The over penetration issue is why ball ammunition is not as effective as modern hollow point ammo in medium to large caliber handguns. The ball ammunition will punch a small hole all the way through someone, and keep going, while the hollowpoint will use that extra energy to make a bigger hole.

I chose .40 s&w over .357 sig because I felt the larger bullet would be better suited to personal defense situations where I might have to shoot a regular, unarmored person. The advantage of.357 sig is that it is better able to punch a nice small hole though barriers such as windshields/car doors. The trade off is that the smaller round just can't expand as much as the .40. When you think about it, they both have close to the same 'oomph' since both cartridges start with a .40 case.

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zampolit

What about hydroshock rounds or Glaser safety slugs? The hydroshock in .38 special makes the same size hole a car door as a .44 magnum standard hollow. If you're talking about stopping without penetration then Glaser would be a good choice.

dudemac

the problem with the question is when would you not worry about over penetration? maybe war time combat, but in any practical setting you need to worry about what is behind the target.

A .500, .50, .44 mag, .454, .480 will fly through an avg 6'1" male 230 pounds. I have used a .44mag deer hunting and have in and outs all the time (within 100yards)

A .45 in hollow point is less likely to go through a person but does happen, talk to a police officer they are very careful about shooting anything, for this same reason. I would but 10mm in this same area.

.40,.357sig, .38, 9mm all have very controled delivery of force and penetration.

everything above also depends on ammo type. as zampolit said hyrdoshocks are a hard hitting round. and Glasers will make almost anyone drop to a knee.

If you just want to put holes in stuff, i would say .44 or .50 would be your caliber of choice, they both come in revolver and semi auto, both are easy to find in a varity of loads and both (if shot right) will drop almost any human on the planet in one shot. If the person happens to be on PCP, a shot to the chest will blow out most of thier vital organs and then they are stopped.

But i have to admit shooting a .500 would be cool, nothing like shooting through a car antoher car and then the person and then the car behind him.

all above is personal experiance with these differant calibers and personal opinion on thier stopping power.

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Fire

what do people know about the glazer safety slugs- I have heard everything from mondo stopping power to wont penetrate beyond skin surface if the target is wearing heavy clothes... anybody used em- what do they realy do?

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