shooting stats

There were several criteria for those "one-shot stop " percentage figures. Without going into detail, the criteria was rather broad in some aspects. As has been mentioned in several other threads; the only sure one-shot stop is a solid central nevous system (CNS) hit with a bullet of sufficient weight/velocity to disrupt the CNS to the extent that the target is, for practical purposes, totally incapacitated. That means brain/upper spine.

However, in the case of a headshot, a .45, 9mm and other bullets may sometimes be deflected by the skull. But most often in these cases there is, for practical purposes, a one-shot stop. In making headshots I would avoid aiming for the "forehead". Most any pistol bullet striking just alittle high will bounce off the curved upper skull, or a complete miss is more likely. Better to aim for the nose - center of the face. Any solid hit, with a .45 from the forehead down the face, mouth, center-neck, is going to very likely shut him down..... unless he is the "Terminator"

The Mozambique drill; two to center chest, next one to the head (if neccessary) is the way to go. If the threat is in motion, in your direction with a knife, up close - or is pulling a gun on you at very close range, I might reduce the chest shots to one, or none, and aim at the nose. Just depends on the circumstances. Practice your drills with smooth, deliberate, repetition as many times as you can. Once they are smooth and accurate - you can *slowly* work on speed.

I try not to worry too much about anectdotal stories such as, "some guy took x rounds and still didn't go down." If I had to guess, every pistol round that's been on the market for awhile probably has documented cases of failures to stop. Even the best pistol rounds are only marginally effective when compared to average rifle and shotgun cartridges. Add to this the psychological variables of the one being shot, and it's impossible to predict what effect your round will have on the target. Some people will drop to the floor unconscious after simply being grazed on the arm. Others will keep fighting after they've received non-survivable wounds or even taken shots to the head. The only thing predictable is that it's unpredictable. For every case you read where someone took multiple hits of .44 mag in the chest and kept fighting, you'll hear about another case where someone was dropped with a single shot of .22 LR. As was stated above by LAK, the only way to gaurantee instant incapacitation is to disrupt the central nervous system, which makes shot placement critical. However, if you can do this in one only shot you're either very good or very lucky, regardless of the bullet used. That's why most defensive pistol instructors teach students to keep firing until the attacker is no longer a threat and to aim for multiple target zones if it appears that your rounds aren't having the desired effect (the so-called "failure drill"). It might take 1 round to do the job, or it might take 20. There's no way to know for sure until it's over with and the coroner is finished with his report.

All that being said, most people want to tip the odds in their favor as much as possible by using a round that will tend to produce the widest and deepest permanent wound cavity in soft tissue, yet still be manageable to shoot. The bigger and heavier the better, IMO.