The old army issue Colt model 1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol
would not knock me down when I fired it, but I once had to shoot a Viet
Cong . I missed his body, but hit his leg just above the knee. The round
damn near took his leg off as well as putting him on the ground. The
second round took him out.
In another case, a buddy shot a VC at something like 100M. The impact
from the .223 cal. round knocked Charlie off his feet. And the M-16 is a
weapon that can be fired one-handed, easily.
The "knockdown" isn't as much the initial impact of the round, but what
happens after it penetrates the skin. In the case of the .45, it
obviously hit bone, transfering the rounds energy directly to the VC's
body. As for the M-16 hit, when we turned the VC over, there was as hole
about 4 inches across. That much energy being expended WILL stop a human
body.
The TV version where the Bad Guy gets knocked back 10 feet is pure
Hollywood. I doubt any thing up to an including a double-barrel 12 bore
from 5 feet would evern come close. (well, now, on second thought, a
105mm Recoiless Rifle probably would)
Rick Morrison
72 MGBGT
74 Midget
On Tue, 10 Feb 1998 11:26:55 -0500 Trevor Boicey <tboicey@brit.ca>
writes:
>John J. Peloquin wrote:
>> Depends on the weapon. During the early years of the US colonization
>of
>> the Philipines, there was a problem with the side arms issued to US
>> military not being powerful enough to knock down machete wielding
>> guerrillas before the assailant could hack the soldiers to bits. The
>.45
>> was developed to provide knock-down capability.
>
> Please note that "knock-down power" is a product of television
>only, not of physics.
>
> In order for a bullet to be travelling fast enough to knock
>someone down, it would have to be accelerated to this speed
>using the firearm held in your hand, and would therefore
>have to knock you down as well (or require you at least
>to be SERIOUSLY well braced).
>
> This simply doesn't happen, as even the most heavily
>recoiling small arms far from knock you across the room.
>
>--
>Trevor Boicey
>Ottawa, Canada
>tboicey@brit.ca
>http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
>
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