joe817 wrote:I think I posted this article by Massad Ayoob one other time. It's on topic and a very good read. This article is but one valid reason to not discount the lowly .380 as an adequate self defense round. It's a good read.
Joe, please understand, I'm not discounting it. As I posted, I'm not exactly volunteering to step in front of one. I just think that there are better choices if one can accommodate them into one's lifestyle, that's all... ...and I suspect that Massad Ayoob would agree with that. In fact, his article all but so states that premise, noting that Elaine Wingren was a petite Asian woman who carried a .380 Sig because that is what fit in her hand and in her purse. His article also says that her 6'4" husband carried a full sized P226. At no point in the article is Ayoob advocating for her 6'4" husband to carry a small .380 designed to fit into a small woman's hand.
In this particular case, Elaine Wingren behaved admirably. She said and did all the right things, and I hope that I am able to act with her sang-froid if faced with the same terrible decision. That said, discarding what is essentially the "miss" which hit the BG in the arm, Elaine Wingren was extremely fortunate to have gotten a 1 shot stop with a .380. She had to have hit his aorta to cause instant incapacitation and nearly instant death like that. The aorta is maybe an inch in diameter in the average man, and she hit that on a moving target. Even from just a few feet away, that was a lucky hit (for her). Two inches to her left, and that bullet goes into the BG's right lung and doesn't even slow him down; and she doesn't have time to get a third shot off before he's on her.
If she had missed the aorta like that with a .40 or a .45 (or a +P 9mm, or a .357, etc., etc.), it is not unreasonable to expect that the sheer magnitude of the impact might cause him to pause, even if only for a second or two, giving her time for a followup shot to the vitals. Yes, her shot killed him, but it is equally true that she was very lucky to have escaped going to ground with this guy on top of her and grappling for the gun.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
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