Of course it will sell like gangbusters. This is, after all, a round marketed to people whose knowledge of terminal ballistics is so shaky that they’ve already bought a Taurus Judge for personal protection.
Tam
November 19, 2011
While, yes, it is technically a shotgun…
[I lifted my moratorium (no one else would have a chance if I didn’t put her in a special class) on Tam being my QOTD for this one.
When I first started getting into guns I would spend a lot of time reading magazine articles on terminal ballistics, the latest modern/high-performance/next-generation/whatever ammo. I fired various bullet styles in various weights into milk jugs filled with water. I bought and read various books. The various authors called each other names and said they were sloppy researchers, ignorant, and then got nasty with each other.
My conclusion from all of this was that the bullet MUST penetrate. Expansion is good but not required. The time spent reading and researching was better spent learning and practicing to put another bullet beside the first one in the minimum time possible.
Tam, in her post, nails it. This round only needs to be given a couple of seconds of consideration before totally rejecting it in favor of almost any other round unless you are defending yourself from anemic rabbits three feet away nibbling on your strawberries.—Joe]
So we now have a relatively popular handgun of dubious utility, supported by ammo of dubious utility.
I will note that the ammo maker was beaten to the punch by the holster makers, who have a wide variety of makes and models to choose from for your Taurus Judge.
At least the holsters seem well designed to perform their function.
Custom grips, anyone?
I don’t care what it is, I don’t want to get shot again.
All well and good, Publius, but it ain’t you I’m worried about. Some folks take an awful lot of shooting; I’d at least prefer to shoot them with something that will make it to the boiler room rather than coming to rest in the cargo hold.
Fair point
It’s all about deep penetration, and I don’t bother myself with worries about over-penetration. How many news stories do you read about gunfights where someone got killed by an over-penetrating round, versus where someone got killed by soaking up bullets face-to-face? If you reject gang drive-bys from that consideration, you’ll have to read a lot of fishwraps before you find any.
My go-to loads: .380 – a 95gr HPR solid. 9mm, 124gr NATO solid. .38 Special, either the 148 gr Jacketed Wadcutter (“NYPD Stakeout” load) +P+ load (5.0 to 5.5gr Unique, or the Nyclad Treasury load (125 +P+ HP), .357 Magnum – in a 2″, 130gr Speer JSP; in longer barrel and carbine, 158-gr JSP or 160 LFN. In .40 S&W, 180-gr FMJ. In .44 Special, 240-gr FMJ-FN & 6.5 gr Unique. In .44 Magnum, 300-gr LFN bear load, in .45 ACP, 230-gr FMJ ball or 200-gr FMJ-TC. There’s exactly ONE high-expansion load in that list, the Federal Nyclad “Treasury” load, and it’s there only because it’s the hottest thing I can fire from my strong Ruger .38s, and it penetrates as well as any solid-bullet load in that caliber (BTW, you can’t get it anymore, either).
I’ll stake MY life on deep penetration. I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six…
“It’s all about deep penetration, and I don’t bother myself with worries about over-penetration.”
That sounds like the military’s thinking when they adopted the SS109 bullet. It looks like a good idea, in theory and on paper. The complaints about the .223’s lack of stopping power (due to overpenetration) started as soon as our servicemen had to actually use that ammo in combat, and found that it didn’t drop the bad guys. The military has since learned from its mistake, and developed bullets that have better stopping power (M855A1, MK262), not just penetration.
I hope that you never have to go through a mistake like that, Rivrdog.