To be fair, they do pay attention to penetration tests, which seem to be a reasonable way to compare apples to apples.

But I had a gun shop tell me that a 2" .357 would yield 1350 fps. Um, no.

Buffalo Bore is advertising their .38 Special +P ammo as having a "low velocity" Speer bullet, 125g.

That's not *quite* true. The Speer bullet does expand at the given velocities, but Speer's actual "short barrel" bullet is 135g, and expands even more. You could argue that Buffalo Bore is getting 4" velocities out of a 2" gun, but that's not the same thing.

I tried to get clarification, but the dude didn't seem to understand the question.

"the bullet is what I say it is."

Um, ok.

FWIW, I think the Buffalo Bore stuff could be dynomite with the 135g Speer bullet.

Meanwhile, I'll buy the Speer ammo.

</technical rant>

some guys are more into it than others, just like anything else.

These are not part time, inexperienced salesmen.

The data of which I speak is available in brochures.

WTF would you trust some dude to make ammo...especially after he demonstrates his ignorance?

Seriously, that's how I picked mine. It's poor man's ballistic gelatin. Look at how many phone books the round goes through, and how well it expanded. If you're really anal, you can measure expansion and retained weight.

Practice, practice, practice...That's what makes a handgun lethal in SHTF scenarios, not the type of ammo. Shot placement is everything.

The 2nd to last column <a href="http://www.chuckhawks.com/handgun_power_chart.htm">Here</a> is a very brief summary of thousands of actual police shootings. The source of the data, Evan Marshalls' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stopping-Power-Practical-Analysis-Ammunition/dp/158160128X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213456106&sr=1-2">Handgun Stopping Power</a>, is definitely worth a read.

Results of the 1993 Strasbourg tests (on life goats) are also interesting, but the ammunition improvement since then is not insignificant.

The bullet/ballistics and shot placement are both very important. Police didn't abandon the .38 Special RNL because they wanted to spend more money on ammunition.

A .38 through the eye will kill you just as dead a .44MAG will.

If the bad guy's holding perfectly still on a sunny day, a .22 is fine. Unfortunately, no one could count on hitting that target in the stress of a fast-moving, self defense situation that occurs at night ... where you might want a .44 mag for the center of mass chest shot.

I'm certainly not saying that practice isn't necessary, or to not bother with an aimed shot. I am saying that if you ever have the misfortune to need to use a handgun in self defense, you'll also want to have the most potent caliber that you can reasonably handle and carry (or concealed carry).

Never even crossed my mind to get all bothered about the different velocities between various hollow points.

Most of the time, I've got Standard Reliable ball ammo in the clips cause thats what I have on hand and Id like to be able to shoot through stuff.

Im more focused on having a gun when I need it. My father in law is a pathologist and most of the bodies that come across his table are done in by shot placement, not the bullet. And most of those bodies are done in by standard rounds with multiple hits. One actor has or had the upper hand and bullets didn't matter. Cover and fragmentation plays into things more than people think.

Tougher to defend why you shot him with "Badass Killer Bullets" than "The safest ammunition I could find".....

attempting to use his taser on one of the kids, he missed. : )

His partner followed up successfully though.