Practice, Confidence, and the Myth of Stopping Power

As most people probably know the late Ted Williams was much more than the last .400 hitter.  He was a fighter pilot who missed some of his prime career years selflessly serving his country.  He was also a noted outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting and fishing.  I recall a story – but not where I read it – about Williams one night hearing a noise on the roof of his remote cabin.  He stepped outside armed with a baseball bat to find a lynx or bobcat eyeballing him from the eaves.  According to the story, the cat launched itself at Williams who, naturally, dispatched it as if driving a fastball to the Green Monster.  The story sounds apocryphal, and probably is, but the point remains that no one would be at all surprised to think that Ted Williams would meet any threat with a hickory bat as readily as with a 12 gauge. 

I get a lot of hits based on my posts about stopping power from the Greg Ellifritz study.  As can be seen from the popular posts list, the three most common inquiries are to the .380, the .38 Special, and the .22LR. 

The truth is, as we have said more or less directly, is that the very term “stopping power” is misleading.  It makes us think of the television shows and movies where bad guys are knocked to the ground with virtually any hit.  Do not confuse this with reality.  Even more or less realistic depictions of gunfights, such as Blackhawk Down, give the impression that most hits (at least, by the good guys) take out an enemy.  The truth is that shoulder-fired weapons, aside from RPGs, are often ineffective in stopping an attack.  At one point in the film version of Blackhawk Down, the Ranger captain tells one of his wounded men that he needs him to watch the door, and, if anyone tries to come through, put “two in his chest and one in his head.”  That statement reflects the real world.  During some of the more intense periods in Iraq, it was not uncommon for troops to expend 300 rounds each in a couple of hours of fighting.  This did not result in 300, or even 30 casualties among the attackers. 

While in a military situation much small-arms fire is suppressive rather than aimed at a particular enemy combatant, the fact remains that it often requires multiple hits from a rifle to take someone completely out of the fight.  Still, men and women who have carried the M16 and the M4 extensively often build confidence and trust in those weapons.  Those who have fired a 1911 or an 870 or an SKS or a Winchester 94 for a long time on a regular basis will likely have faith in those weapons.  I don’t mean this to sound mystical, but we tend to build a rapport with our tools whether it is a sword, an axe, a handgun, or a bat. 

My father was really good with a typical double-bit felling axe.  He was so attuned to one of those slim profile axes that he never used a maul to split wood – and he split a lot over his 97 years.  He would hit a section of oak with what he called a “boxing lick” and split it as pretty as you please ninety percent of the time.  I was never able to acquire the finesse needed and always resorted to a splitting maul.  If a felling axe is all I have, I can make do, but it requires a lot more effort on my part. 

Stopping power is, at best, only partly a function of the tool we use.  Accuracy in terms of shot placement is critical, and accuracy comes from confidence which is created by practice.  Notice the order.  A person does not become a good shot by being sure of himself or herself.  One becomes sure of oneself by practicing a skill until it is second nature.  I would much rather face an unpracticed person with the most advanced firearm available than an “old head” with a Peacemaker. 

Here is my advice – and it is worth exactly what it costs you:

1)      If you have a firearm and you are concerned about its “stopping power”, practice with it, a lot.  Practice.  

2)      If you are really unhappy with the weapon you have, and you can get a better one, by all means, do so.   PROVIDED the new weapon is one with which you will be able to practice.  A lot.  Practice.  

3)      If you have no firearm, and you are having trouble deciding which to get – all other things being equal – get the one with which you can practice the most.  Practice.  

4)      Quit worrying about what Alphonso H. Gunwriter or Rambo M. Blogger has to say about THE firearm to have.  Quit worrying about the Miami Shootout and the FBI penetration test, what Colonel Cooper (and he was one of the best) recommended or what Mel Tappan or Mel Blanc, for that matter, thought.  Get out and PRACTICE.

I ran across this site several years ago, and I found their firearms thinking to be quite in line with my own – despite the fact that the guys at USRSOG are obviously intelligent, experienced, and well-trained professionals. 

See the excerpts below for the basics, but by all means, follow the link if you are not familiar with what these folks have to say. 

Caliber Controversy

The .22 long rifle was chosen for one specific reason, the weight and space. What most civilians do not understand is how the U.S. military operates. The average paratrooper weighs 179 lbs. After loading up his base ammo load he is given a L.A.W. or AT-4, frag grenades, flashbangs, smoke grenades, claymore mines, C-4, and then told to load up on what ever extra he wants to carry. Most paratroopers jump into the night over a foreign land carrying a 100-lb. rucksack. Most active duty and prior service personnel are laughing as they read this because they know that they carried more than that. One hundred and fifty rounds of .22 LR weighs less than 50 rounds of 9mm and takes up far less room. Ammo choices in .22 are amazing for all of the different applications that it can be used for.

... And that firearm is a heavy barreled, match grade, .22 caliber pistol.  Barrel lengths vary from 5-10 inches, the longer the better.  These are not the types of pistols you buy at a pawnshop or at a farm sale.  They are tricked out, highly accurate weapons systems.  With or without optical sights the pistols have rifle like accuracy.  RUGER and Smith & Wesson make the two most common models carried. 

I am certainly not recommending a .22 pistol as a primary defense weapon.  The point is, if you read the whole piece, really about accuracy and ability with a given firearm.