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Getting shot by a handgun

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Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#41
post #8

Speaking from years of experience working as an ER nurse in the Chicago ghetto... He drew a short straw on the weapon of choice. .22 caliber slugs tend to bounce around inside a person. Anything carrying more energy would likely have shattered his scapula, and gone clean through him. The energy of the slug wouldn't have been used up bouncing around his chest. I took care of a person shot in the ankle with a .22. The…

Aside from the ease of sound suppressing them, and the small size of the weapons, there is a reason some of the best hit squads in the world use the .22lr! Admittedly, a .22WMR is pretty much a different animal than the .22lr. Out of a rifle, it would have probably been a through and through, assuming a FMJ bullet -- you'd probably get 2000fps for a 40gr. A JSP might not have, and out of a Ruger Single Six, it's a lo…

Got any sources for that hit squads claim? Sounds fascinating. I'd read more.

Relatedly, the world doesn't have enough good spy movies.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#42

Maybe I'm missing something, but what kind of units are "foot pounds per square inch"? That's definitely not a pressure...

Energy per area? A foot-pound is a unit of energy, analogous to a Joule, defined as the amount of energy required to apply one pound of force over a distance of one foot.

I can see a use for such a unit; it's just not one I've ever encountered before.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#43
post #8

Speaking from years of experience working as an ER nurse in the Chicago ghetto... He drew a short straw on the weapon of choice. .22 caliber slugs tend to bounce around inside a person. Anything carrying more energy would likely have shattered his scapula, and gone clean through him. The energy of the slug wouldn't have been used up bouncing around his chest. I took care of a person shot in the ankle with a .22. The…

Aside from the ease of sound suppressing them, and the small size of the weapons, there is a reason some of the best hit squads in the world use the .22lr! Admittedly, a .22WMR is pretty much a different animal than the .22lr. Out of a rifle, it would have probably been a through and through, assuming a FMJ bullet -- you'd probably get 2000fps for a 40gr. A JSP might not have, and out of a Ruger Single Six, it's a lo…

Sound suppression is largely a function of relatively slowly bleeding off the gas that results from combustion. There is not much powder in a 22lr (22 long-rifle) round, which is why it is easily suppressible. I can make no particular comment as to the frequency of their use by the best hit squads in the world.

The subject of the article was shot with a 22WMR (Winchester Magnum Rimfire) round. This round can use the same bullet as the 22lr round but contains lots more powder.

The velocity of the bullet leaving the barrel of the firearm depends on how fast the charge contained in the casing wants to push it and how much the barrel wants to slow it down due to friction. Almost all rifles barrels are between 16.5" and 24". For a average 22WMR round shooting an 40-grain (unit of mass) bullet out of a mid-length rifle barrel one would expect the bullet to leave the barrel at around 2000 feet/sec. The deceleration caused by friction can be altered by changing the exterior-most material of the bullet: a full metal jacket (usually lead totally encased by copper) is potentially slicker than a jacketed soft-point (only partially encased, with the tip exposed).

A Ruger Single Six is a type of handgun. The story describes a single-action revolver, which the Single Six is not, but let's ignore that. It comes in barrel lengths of 2.75", 4", and 6". Out of a 4" or 6" barrel, the 22WMR has about 1400-1600 feet/sec of velocity. This is roughly comparable with the upper (or hot) range for a 22lr fired out of a rifle barrel.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I live in the UK where carrying deadly weapons isn't seen as a right." Whew! It's a good thing too ... stopping all that senseless accidental shootings from law abiding citizens. Many the criminal will take the hint. Oh wait ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573...

Total firearm-related death rate per 100'000 for the US: between 10.2 and 15.22. For the UK: 0.38 to 0.46 Source (and more sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-re...

The stats in this table are terribly out of date. I'm not criticizing your post, just pointing it out. Also odd the authors of this article chose to publish 2 numbers for the U.S. I interpret them for corresponding to 2004/1993, which means there was a significant difference between those two years, not the rate is between those numbers.

I've bemoaned the difficulty in finding reliable, research-quality statistical data like this for a long time. I've even tried to raise capital to for a start-up to do this. No luck.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#45
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Total firearm-related death rate per 100'000 for the US: between 10.2 and 15.22. For the UK: 0.38 to 0.46 Source (and more sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-re...

To be fair that's for England and Wales, not the UK. In Northern Ireland (where as far as I'm aware the gun law is the same) it's 6.82. It's interesting that England and Wales features in 7th lowest spot for death rate whereas Northern Ireland is 7th highest.

OK, but a) Northern Ireland has been in a state of at best hevy terrorist activity and at worst borderline civil war in some areas for a good part of the last 40 years, and b) Relative populations: England: 51.5m Wales: 3m Northern Ireland: 1.5m

So in NI we're talking about just over 1,000 deaths against E/W combined, about 200. Hence the separate treatment.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#46
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Total firearm-related death rate per 100'000 for the US: between 10.2 and 15.22. For the UK: 0.38 to 0.46 Source (and more sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-re...

To be fair that's for England and Wales, not the UK. In Northern Ireland (where as far as I'm aware the gun law is the same) it's 6.82. It's interesting that England and Wales features in 7th lowest spot for death rate whereas Northern Ireland is 7th highest.

> In Northern Ireland (where as far as I'm aware the gun law is the same)

It isn't, a lot more people in NI own firearms.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#47
post #8

Speaking from years of experience working as an ER nurse in the Chicago ghetto... He drew a short straw on the weapon of choice. .22 caliber slugs tend to bounce around inside a person. Anything carrying more energy would likely have shattered his scapula, and gone clean through him. The energy of the slug wouldn't have been used up bouncing around his chest. I took care of a person shot in the ankle with a .22. The…

Aside from the ease of sound suppressing them, and the small size of the weapons, there is a reason some of the best hit squads in the world use the .22lr! Admittedly, a .22WMR is pretty much a different animal than the .22lr. Out of a rifle, it would have probably been a through and through, assuming a FMJ bullet -- you'd probably get 2000fps for a 40gr. A JSP might not have, and out of a Ruger Single Six, it's a lo…

You must have a pretty sweet graphics card to get 2000 FPS.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#49
If you do a google search to find out who this guy is you'll discover that this story has been copied in a number of different answer sites and blogs for the last 5 years.

But no info on who this is or the backstory on the context of why he got shot.

Re: Getting shot by a handgun

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I live in the UK where carrying deadly weapons isn't seen as a right." Whew! It's a good thing too ... stopping all that senseless accidental shootings from law abiding citizens. Many the criminal will take the hint. Oh wait ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5712573...

Total firearm-related death rate per 100'000 for the US: between 10.2 and 15.22. For the UK: 0.38 to 0.46 Source (and more sources): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-re...

You'll find similar differences between the "feet and fists" death rate. What are the "feet" control laws?

And, the UK's low firearms death rates predate the firearms laws, which largely occurred post-WWI to stop a communist takeover.

Note the US' firearms death rate isn't uniform. For example, most of the peninsula's is better than the UK's best, but East Palo Alto, which has exactly the same laws (and lower firearms ownership than Palo Alto), is horrendously worse.

Parts of the US are third-world, with all that that entails. Gun control won't change that.

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