Stopping power
Stopping power is the supposed ability of a weapon — typically a ranged weapon such as a firearm — to incapacitate or immobilize a target. Stopping power contrasts with lethality in that it pertains only to a weapon's ability to make the target cease action, regardless of whether or not death ultimately occurs. Which ammunition cartridges have the greatest stopping power is a much-debated topic.
Stopping power is related to the physical properties and terminal behavior of the projectile, the biology of the target, and the wound location, but the issue is complicated and not easily studied. Although higher-caliber ammunitions usually have greater muzzle energy and momentum and thus traditionally been widely associated with higher stopping power, the physics involved are multifactorial, with caliber, muzzle velocity, bullet mass, bullet shape and bullet material all contributing to the ballistics.
Despite much disagreement, the most popular theory of stopping power is that it is usually caused not by the force of the bullet but by the wounding effects of the bullet, which are typically a rapid loss of blood causing a circulatory failure, which leads to impaired motor function and/or unconsciousness. The "Big Hole School" and the principles of penetration and permanent tissue damage are in line with this way of thinking. The other prevailing theories focus more on the energy of the bullet and its effects on the nervous system, including hydrostatic shock and energy transfer, which is similar to kinetic energy deposit.
History
The concept of stopping power appeared in the late 19th century when colonial troops at close quarters found that their pistols were not able to stop charging native tribesmen. This led to the introduction or reintroduction of larger caliber weapons capable of stopping opponents with a single round.During the Seymour Expedition in China, at one of the battles at Langfang, Chinese Boxers, armed with swords and spears, conducted a massed infantry charge against the forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance, who were equipped with rifles. At point-blank range, a British soldier had to fire four.303 Lee-Metford bullets into a Boxer before he stopped charging. U.S. Army officer Bowman McCalla reported that single rifle shots were not enough: multiple rifle shots were needed to halt a Boxer. Only machine guns were effective in immediately stopping the Boxers.
In the Moro Rebellion, Moro Muslim Juramentados in suicide attacks continued to charge against American soldiers even after being shot. Panglima Hassan in the Hassan uprising had to be shot dozens of times before he died. This forced the Americans to phase out.38 Long Colt revolvers and start using.45 Colt against the Moros.
British troops used expanding bullets during various conflicts in the Northwest Frontier in India, and the Mahdist War in Sudan. The British government voted against a prohibition on their use at the Hague Convention of 1899, although the prohibition only applied to international warfare.
In response to addressing stopping power issues, the Mozambique drill was developed to maximize the likelihood of a target's quick incapacitation.
"Manstopper" is an informal term used to refer to any combination of firearm and ammunition that can reliably incapacitate, or "stop", a human target immediately. For example, the.45 ACP round and the.357 Magnum round both have firm reputations as "manstoppers". Historically, one type of ammunition has had the specific tradename "Manstopper". Officially known as the Mk III cartridge, these were made to suit the British Webley.455 service revolver in the early 20th century. The ammunition used a cylindrical bullet with hemispherical depressions at both ends. The front acted as a hollow point deforming on impact while the base opened to seal the round in the barrel. It was introduced in 1898 for use against "savage foes", but fell quickly from favor due to concerns of breaching the Hague Convention's international laws on military ammunition, and was replaced in 1900 by re-issued Mk II pointed-bullet ammunition.
Some sporting arms are also referred to as "stoppers" or "stopping rifles". These powerful arms are often used by game hunters for stopping a suddenly charging animal, like a buffalo or an elephant.
Dynamics of bullets
A bullet will destroy or damage any tissues which it penetrates, creating a wound channel. It will also cause nearby tissue to stretch and expand as it passes through tissue. These two effects are typically referred to as permanent cavity and temporary cavity, which, as the name implies, is the temporary displacement caused as the bullet travels through flesh, and is many times larger than the actual diameter of the bullet. These phenomena are unrelated to low-pressure cavitation in liquids.The degree to which permanent and temporary cavitation occurs is dependent on the mass, diameter, material, design and velocity of the bullet. This is because bullets crush tissue, and do not cut it. A bullet constructed with a half-diameter ogive designed meplat and hard, solid copper alloy material may crush only the tissue directly in front of the bullet. This type of bullet is conducive to causing more temporary cavitation as the tissue flows around the bullet, resulting in a deep and narrow wound channel. A bullet constructed with a two diameter, hollow point ogive designed meplat and low-antimony lead-alloy core with a thin gilding metal jacket material will crush tissue in front and to the sides as the bullet expands. Due to the energy expended in bullet expansion, velocity is lost more quickly. This type of bullet is conducive to causing more permanent cavitation as the tissue is crushed and accelerated into other tissues by the bullet, causing a shorter and wider wound channel. The exception to this general rule is non-expanding bullets which are long relative to their diameter. These tend to destabilize and yaw soon after impact, increasing both temporary and permanent cavitation.
Bullets are constructed to behave in different ways, depending on the intended target. Different bullets are constructed variously to: not expand upon impact, expand upon impact at high velocity, expand upon impact, expand across a broad range of velocities, expand upon impact at low velocity, tumble upon impact, fragment upon impact, or disintegrate upon impact.
To control the expansion of a bullet, meplat design and materials are engineered. The meplat designs are: flat; round to pointed depending on the ogive; hollow pointed which can be large in diameter and shallow or narrow in diameter and deep and truncated which is a long narrow punched hole in the end of a monolithic-solid type bullet. The materials used to make bullets are: pure lead; alloyed lead for hardness; gilding metal jacket which is a copper alloy of nickel and zinc to promote higher velocities; pure copper; copper alloy of bronze with tungsten steel alloy inserts to promote weight.
Some bullets are constructed by bonding the lead core to the jacket to promote higher weight retention upon impact, causing a larger and deeper wound channel. Some bullets have a web in the center of the bullet to limit the expansion of the bullet while promoting penetration. Some bullets have dual cores to promote penetration.
Bullets that might be considered to have stopping power for dangerous large game animals are usually 11.63 mm and larger, including 12-gauge shotgun slugs. These bullets are monolithic-solids; full metal jacketed and tungsten steel insert. They are constructed to hold up during close range, high velocity impacts. These bullets are expected to impact and penetrate, and transfer energy to the surrounding tissues and vital organs through the entire length of a game animal's body if need be.
The stopping power of firearms when used against humans is a more complex subject, in part because many persons voluntarily cease hostile actions when shot; they either flee, surrender, or fall immediately. This is sometimes referred to as "psychological incapacitation".
Physical incapacitation is primarily a matter of shot location; most persons who are shot in the head are immediately incapacitated, and most who are shot in the extremities are not, regardless of the firearm or ammunition involved. Shotguns will usually incapacitate with one shot to the torso, but rifles and especially handguns are less reliable, particularly those which do not meet the FBI's penetration standard, such as.25ACP,.32 S&W, and rimfire models. More powerful handguns may or may not meet the standard, or may even overpenetrate, depending on what ammunition is used.
Fully jacketed bullets penetrate deeply without much expansion, while soft or hollow point bullets create a wider, shallower wound channel. Pre-fragmented bullets such as Glaser Safety Slugs and MagSafe ammunition are designed to fragment into birdshot on impact with the target. This fragmentation is intended to create more trauma to the target, and also to reduce collateral damage caused from ricocheting or overpenetrating of the target and the surrounding environments such as walls. Fragmenting rounds have been shown to be unlikely to obtain deep penetration necessary to disrupt vital organs located at the back of a hostile human.
Wounding effects
Physical
Permanent and temporary cavitation cause very different biological effects. A hole through the heart will cause loss of pumping efficiency, loss of blood, and eventual cardiac arrest. A hole through the liver or lung will be similar, with the lung shot having the added effect of reducing blood oxygenation; these effects however are generally slower to arise than damage to the heart. A hole through the brain can cause instant unconsciousness and will likely kill the recipient. A hole through the spinal cord will instantly interrupt the nerve signals to and from some or all extremities, disabling the target and in many cases also resulting in death. By contrast, a hole through an arm or leg which hits only muscle will cause a great deal of pain but is unlikely to be fatal, unless one of the large blood vessels is also severed in the process.The effects of temporary cavitation are less well understood, due to a lack of a test material identical to living tissue. Studies on the effects of bullets typically are based on experiments using ballistic gelatin, in which temporary cavitation causes radial tears where the gelatin was stretched. Although such tears are visually engaging, some animal tissues are more elastic than gelatin. In most cases, temporary cavitation is unlikely to cause anything more than a bruise. Some speculation states that nerve bundles can be damaged by temporary cavitation, creating a stun effect, but this has not been confirmed.
One exception to this is when a very powerful temporary cavity intersects with the spine. In this case, the resulting blunt trauma can slam the vertebrae together hard enough to either sever the spinal cord, or damage it enough to knock out, stun, or paralyze the target. For instance, in the shootout between eight FBI agents and two bank robbers in the 1986 FBI Miami shootout, Special Agent Gordon McNeill was struck in the neck by a high-velocity.223 bullet fired by Michael Platt. While the bullet did not directly contact the spine, and the wound incurred was not ultimately fatal, the temporary cavitation was sufficient to render SA McNeill paralyzed for several hours. Temporary cavitation may similarly fracture the femur if it is narrowly missed by a bullet.
Temporary cavitation can also cause the tearing of tissues if a very large amount of force is involved. The tensile strength of muscle ranges roughly from 1 to 4 MPa, and minimal damage will result if the pressure exerted by the temporary cavitation is below this. Gelatin and other less elastic media have much lower tensile strengths, thus they exhibit more damage after being struck with the same amount of force. At typical handgun velocities, bullets will create temporary cavities with much less than 1 MPa of pressure, and thus are incapable of causing damage to elastic tissues that they do not directly contact.
Rifle bullets that strike a major bone can expend their entire energy into the surrounding tissue. The struck bone is commonly shattered at the point of impact.
High velocity fragmentation can also increase the effect of temporary cavitation. The fragments sheared from the bullet cause many small permanent cavities around the main entry point. The main mass of the bullet can then cause a truly massive amount of tearing as the perforated tissue is stretched.
Whether a person or animal will be incapacitated when shot, depends on a large number of factors, including physical, physiological, and psychological effects.