Alright, I seem to see a lot of people talking about 'stopping' or 'knock-down power' all the time on here. Most of the time I choose to ignore it, and just allow people to believe what they want. I've read various articles over the years regarding the subject and have always found the subject of 'stopping power' quite laughable. It's as if people seem to think a person is going to get knocked off their feet when hit with certain rounds. Remember Issac Newton? For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction. How many people have you seen get knocked-off their feet when they pull the trigger? :dumb:
Anyways, here's an article to a pretty good research study that Greg Ellifritz did. He has multiple books that he has written through the years and is quite knowledgeable on the subject of shooting people.
First, here's the full article if you want to read it, which I think you should: http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/7866
Second, for the folks who say tl;dr, here's some cliff notes for you:
-Handguns suck. If you want to actually incapacitate someone with the most efficiency, shoot them with a rifle or shotgun. Imagine that.
-The .380 vs. 9mm vs. .40 vs. .45 debate is completely stupid. All are so close in results that not a single one of them can be definitively declared 'better'.
-Shot placement is key! Head shots = 75% immediate incapacitation. Torso shots = 41% immediate incapacitation. Extremity shots = 14% immediate incapacitation. In summary, pick a weapon you shoot well, and practice with it. Practice > bullet design > caliber. All day. Every day.
-Most people don't want to get shot. About 1/2 of all the people shot in this study stopped their attack after just 1 shot. This includes people who weren't incapacitated. Mr. Ellifritz refers to this as a 'psychological stop', meaning, no matter what they were shot with (including .25, .22, .32 calibers!) they stopped immediately because they decided they didn't want to be shot anymore. For those that didn't stop with 1 shot, the normal carry calibers shined above the mouse guns.
-On average, it takes around 2 shots to incapacitate a person, no matter the caliber.
Anyways, I just thought I'd share that. You can draw your own conclusions, but in the end, it doesn't really matter what you carry. It just matters that the gun you choose works when you need it to, and you can put the bullets where you need them.