Miscellaneous Questions

This section contains brief discussions of various ballistics and shooting related topics as requested by correspondents. If you have a question you have been trying to find an answer to (keep 'em ballistics and shooting related--see your minister for the mysteries of life) email me by clicking here and I'll do my best to find the answer for you and if it is of general interest, publish it here. If you can contribute additional input to one of the answers I'd would appreciate hearing from you too.

Q. What modification or "custom" features do I really need on my defensive pistol?

A. As with all things the best idea is to keep things simple. While you can spend thousands of dollars on a custom pistol what you really need are

Anything more than these is simply icing on the cake, and unless you impressed with glitz or are a world class championship shooter you will be better off spending the extra money for practice ammo or getting training. On 1911s I do admit an extreme liking for the old style "burr" Commander hammers which I tend to install, the old style Jim Hoag beavertail grip safeties that don't have the exaggerated upward sweep of the current crop, and the flat main spring housing with the lanyard loop. Other than these items my 1911s have always be basically stock.

And of course... don't bet your life on any firearm / ammo combination until you have put several hundred rounds through it and are sure it will work.

Two bad trends, IMHO, are the current fad of using Allen screws or Torx head screws, particularly on the 1911, the use of square profiled hammer struts on the 1911, and fitting bushings so tightly to the slide that you need a vise and wrench to remove them. With original spec'd parts no tools are needed to detail strip the 1911. The shaft of the safety can be used to push out the mainspring housing pin, the hammer strut can be used to drift out all remaining cross pins, and the lips on the sear spring can be used to remove the grip screws and magazine catch. While you shouldn't need one, if you are enamored with full length guide rods be sure you use one that does not require any tools to disassemble the pistol. Torx and Allen screws require special tools to remove and you are much more likely to find a conventional screwdriver out in the field than a specialty driver. Bushings can be fitted snuggly but there is no need to make them impossible to remove without shop tools. Save the cool looking Allen and Torx screws for scope rings and bases where their extra strength is needed.

If you want to return your commercial 1911 to JMB's original standards Brownells has the parts.

While it is all the rage, the use of MIM (metal injection molding) for small parts gives many people a queasy feeling. While a friend in the metalurgy business assures me that MIM parts CAN be just as good as forged/machined parts, the quality depends greatly on the alloy used and the care taken in the casting process and heat treatment. If you are "mission critical" you might want to consider replacing the MIM critical parts (hammer, sear, extractor, and disconnector in 1911s and whatever in other designs) with forged/machined parts as available.

A. The NRA tested this at H. P. White Laboratories some years ago. They found that rifle, pistol, .22RF, and shotgun shells needed to be heated to about 320 degrees F for about 20 minutes to induce a cook-off in an unconfined space. In no case was there an explosion . Rather the cartridge cases ruptured and in the case of the rifle and pistol rounds there was evidence that case fragments, the projectile, and the primer struck the sides of the oven but did not penetrate or cause any damage.

The powder being practically unconfined in these tests, very little pressure was developed. The projectile being heavy moved very little but fragments of the brass case did fly out and could cause skin or eye damage up to several feet.

It appears from several other tests that primers will cook off at about 350-400 degrees Fahrenheit, and single-base powder will ignite at about 600 degrees F, and double-base powders will ignite at about at about 320-350 degrees F.

If a cartridge cooks-off in a firearm it is a different matter. The effect is as if the cartridge was fired normally since the cartridge is contained and serious damage or injury could result. Remember Rule 2 - Don't let your muzzle point at anything you are not willing to destroy.

A. The following information is extracted from data on police gunfights as described in the document Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted - 2003, available from www.fbi.org, and is based upon totals from 1994 through 2003. The report is broken down into ridiculous detail and I have highlighted what I believe are the teaching parts.

While this data is based upon law enforcement encounters it probably holds true for members of the "Armed Civilian Defense Forces." Newer documents have effectively identical data with only minor differences.

2010 - 2014 combined data (385 incidents))
< 5' - 26%
6-10' - 18%
11-20' - 21%
21-50 - 14%
>50' - 8%
Unreported 13%

Lesson: More attention needs to be placed on very close range engagement training as close to 30% occur at about 3 yards or less, and about 65% occur under 7 yards--and they STILL miss. (However, the need to accurately engage targets at distance should not be overlooked in training--"just in case.") I didn't see any stats on the number of assailants but it seemed to be implied that there was usually only one. However, in training, potential multiple targets need to be stressed (especially a target off axis to the initial threat) to help prevent tunnel vision and improve situational awareness.

Lesson: The bad guys seem to be aware of body armor and are aiming high in an effort to defeat it. (Thank you liberal media folks for making the bad guys aware of this.)

VEST USAGE
Non vest penetrating fatalities
Head shots - 49%
Above vest (38% of hits)
Arm hole / shoulder area - (34% of hits)
Side-between front and rear panels - (20% of hits)
Below vest - 8%
Lower Body - 5%

Lesson: Of all fatalities 51% were wearing vests, but were not shot in the vest area. From the statistics presented it is plausible that an additional 200+ officers out of 616 could have been saved if they had been wearing vests. For some reason there were no statistics on the number of saves due to body armor--at least I could not find any. (Not politically correct?) After all, a dead cop gets budget increases while a live cop who caps a bad guy results in lawsuits and bad press.) No data presented about where on vest hits were made on "saves" but one would assume most were high chest. See "lesson" in previous section. In addition more attention needs to be given to designing comfortable vests with better side and arm hole protection.

Vest penetrating fatalities
Only kills by vest penetration were from rifle fire (19 out of 114 upper torso vest incidents). No handguns penetrated vests. The rifle calibers predominantly used were 7.62 x 39 mm and .223

Lesson: So much for the evil "cop killer" pistol rounds. As mentioned above, vest design needs to be improved in the shoulder and side coverage areas. Nine millimeter was by far the caliber of choice of assailants, with .40 S&W, .38, and .357 as runner ups.

TACTICAL DATA
It appears from the data presented that the vast majority of fatalities occurred from lack of situational awareness, and 6 percent of officers shot were shot with their own pistol that was taken from them and 11% were killed by some other weapon picked up at the scene.. Most dangerous time appears to be between 8 pm and 4 am. The months of April and August are the months with the most fatalities, and Friday the worst day. Over half (52%) of the officers NEVER attempted to use their own weapon before being killed and only 20% actually fired their weapon. Sixteen percent were killed from ambush..

Lesson: Teach the "color code" and situational awareness. If you are not awake and aware you will die. Condition White is always fatal. Also training needs to be such that confidence in the ability to successfully use one's firearm is instilled, and the "never give up" spirit needs to be developed (a possibly impossible task in the age of the whimp).

Some additional interesting statistics come from the New York City Police department.

In 2005 there were 123 shootings, involving 166 officers, firing a total of 616 rounds, giving an average of 17.3 rounds per incident.

The complete standards (NIJ Standard 0123.00) can be downloaded from the NIJ website at https://nij.ojp.gov/

Standard	Class	Caliber	Bul. Wt	Vmin	Vmax	Shots	Distance (ft)	Notes
Handgun
NIJ	I	.22 LR	40	1010	1090	5	16
HPW	A	.38 SPL	158	700	800	3	20	D
NIJ	I	.38SPL	158	800	900	5	16
NIJ	II-A	9 X 19 LV	124	1050	1130	5	16
DIN	C1-SF	9 X 19 HV	124	1166	1199	3	9.84
HPW	B	9 X 19 HV	124	1100	1180	3	20
NIJ	II	9 X 19 HV	124	1135	1215	5	16
UL	1	9 X 19 HV	124	1175	1293	3	15
ANSI/UL	M.P.S.A.	.38 Super	130	1152	1344	3	15
ASTM		.38 Super	130	1230	1330	3	25	E
NIJ	II-A	.38 Super LV	130	1200	1300	5	16
ANSI/UL	H.P.S.A.	.38 Super HV	130	1305	1523	3	15
BSI	G1	.38 Super HV	130	1378	1574	3	9.84
DIN	C2-SF	.38 Super HV	130	1363	1396	3	9.84
UL	2	.357 Mag	158	1250	1375	3	15
ANSI/UL	S.P.S.A.	.44 Mag	240	1323	1544	3	15
ASTM		.44 Mag	240	1400	1500	3	25	E
BSI	G2	.44 Mag	240	1451	1647	3	9.84
DIN	C3-SF	.44 Mag	240	1429	1461	3	9.84
HPW	C	.44 Mag	240	1350	1450	3	20	D
NIJ	III-A	.44 Mag	240	1350	1450	5	16
UL	3	.44 Mag	240	1350	1450	3	15
Submachine gun / carbine
ASTM	SMG	9 X 19	124	1350	1450	3	25
BSI	GO	9 X 19	115	1247	1443	3	9.84
NIJ	III-A	9 X 19	124	1350	1450	5	16
SD	minimum	9 X 19	115	1350	1450	3	30
UL	6	9 X 19	115	1350	1450	5	15
Rifle
ANSI/UL	H.P.R.	.30-06 SP	220	2169	2531	1	15
SD	Rifle	5.56 x 45 M193	55	3135	3235	3	30
UL	7	5.56 x 45	55	3080	3388	5	15
UL	5	7.62 x 51 SP	150	2750	3025	1	15
ASTM	Rifle	7.62 x 51	147	2750	2850	3	25
BSI	G3	7.62 x 51	147	2609	2805	3	32.81
DIN	C4-SF	7.62 x 51	147	2578	2611	3	32.81
HPW	D	7.62 x 51	147	2725	2825	3	20
NIJ	III	7.62 x 51	147	2700	2800	5	16
SD	Rifle	7.62 x 51	147	2700	2800	3	30
UL	8	7.62 x 51 SP	150	2750	3025	3	15
UL	Shotgun	12 ga Lead Slug	437	1585	1743	3	15
Rifle (Armor Piercing)
DIN	C5-SF	7.62 AP	150	2627	2660	3	82.02
SD	rifle	7.62 M61	150	2700	2800		3
ASTM	rifle	.30-06 M2	165	2725	2825	3	25	E
HPW	E	.30-06 M2	165	2725	2825	3	20	D
NIJ	IV	.30-06 M2	165	2800	2900	1	16
SD	rifle	.30-06 M2	165	2750	2850	3	30	F
Information listed for comparison ONLY, contact applicable standards and testing labs for current information or certifications. Standards: ASTM—American Society for Testing and Materials, Test Method for Security Glazing Materials and Systems, F 1233. NIJ—National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, Ballistic Resistant Protective Materials, NIJ Standard—0108.01, September 1985. ANSI/UL—American National Standards Institute/Underwriters Laboratories, Inc., Standard for Bullet-Resisting Equipment, ANSI/UL 752—1985, Rev. 13, May 1988. SD—U.S. Department of State, Ballistic Resistance of Structural Materials (Opaque and Transparent) Test Procedures and Acceptance Criteria, SD-STD-02.01, March, 1986. HPW—H.P. White Laboratory, Inc., Transparent Materials and Assemblies for Use in Entry or Containment Barriers, HPW-TP-0100.00, Rev. B, Dec. 10, 1983. BSI—British Standards Institution, Security Glazing, Part 1. Specification for Bullet-Resistant Glazing for Interior Use, BS 5051, October 1973. DIN—Deutches Institut for Normung e. V., Security Glazing, DIN 52 290, Part 2, May 1981. BThe various standards specify different locations to measure the bullet velocity. They are as follows: ASTM—15 ft from weapon muzzle; ANSI/UL—at muzzle; BSI—strike face of the target; DIN—8.20 ft from weapon muzzle; HPW—15 ft from weapon muzzle; NIJ—6.60 ft from weapon muzzle; and SD—10 ft from strike face of the target. For meeting the various velocity measurement requirements, the use of custom (special) powder loads may be required. NOTES D-Three shots required for the base materials and twelve shots required for assemblies. E-Minimum number of shots. F-Minimum of three shots required for the glazing and six shots required for other parts of the assembly.

A. Flechettes are very small dart like projectiles developed for anti-personnel use. They are fired in bunches (8500 from the 90 mm and 105 mm canon) at very high velocity (4000 f/s +)and can be fairly devastating when fired in large quantities at close range. They were also looked at as individual projectiles. Their light weight and high drag causes then to have poor penetration, and poor long range performance. They were used in the so-called "Bee Hive" rounds developed during the Vietnam conflict to deal with human wave charges and in experimental shotshells, but they met with only limited success and are now no longer used, being replaced by "canister" rounds--basically giant shotgun rounds-- containing lead or tungsten balls that provide a better terminal effect.

A. While the storage of end user quantities of ammunition, powder and primers is frequently governed by local regulations, the following are some common sense guidelines. Where ever they are stored, the temperature and humidity should be moderate and not fluctuate wildly. Click here for more information on ammunition storage.

Powder - Store powder in its original DOT approved containers in an insulated, but not sealed storage cabinet that will allow powder gases to escape should the powder be ignited. Most local regulations frown on more than 50 lbs of powder stored inside of a home. I have several friends who use an old refrigerator (with the magnetic seal stripped door, not a locking door) to store their powder.

Primers - Primers should be stored separately from powder, in their original containers, and should be separated into groups of 5,000 (case lot size) with space between them. A refrigerator, as described above can be used if desired. Most storage guidelines recommend no more than 50,000 primers in a residence.

A. Both are correct. The term "shottist" is the older variant (and being an old fart I prefer it in my writings) and "shootist" is the modern spelling. Take your pick.

A. In the west it is generally attributed to Sir Francis Bacon or Berthold Schwartz circa the 1200s, but they basically popularized what had been known for a long time and did not invent it. It was undoubtedly known to the early Chinese and Hindu people of India. Some early writings, circa 1300 BC, from these cultures speak of such a substance though it was used as an incendiary or a demolition device and not in "firearms." It is also clear that such a substance was known to the ancient Greeks. The earliest known use of it as propellant in firearms was by the Arabs circa 1150 in their war with the Iberians.

As far as I know all the information presented above is correct and I have attempted to ensure that it is. However, I am not responsible for any errors, omissions, or damages resulting from the use or misuse of this information, nor for you doing something stupid with it. (Don't you hate these disclaimers? So do I, but there are people out there who refuse to be responsible for their own actions and who will sue anybody to make a buck.)

NIJ Protection Levels and Associated Test Threats and Velocities
NIJ Protection Level	Test Threat	Ammunition Identifier	Reference Velocity
HG1 (Level II)	9mm FMJ 124gr .357 Mag JSP 158 gr	Rem #23558 Rem #22847	1395 fs 1430 fs
HG2 (Level IIIA)	9mm FMJ 124gr .44 Mag jsp 240 gr	Rem #23558 Speer OEM #74453	1470 fs 1430 fs
RF1 (Level III)	7.62 M80 Steel Jacket 147 gr 7.62 x 39 MSC Ball Type 56 5.56 mm M193 56 gr	NATO Spec Factory 31 US Military	2780 fs 2400 fs 3250 fs
RF2 (NA)	7.62 M80 Steel Jacket 147 gr 7.62 x 39 MSC Ball Type 56 5.56 mm M193 56 gr 5.56 M855 62 gr	NATO Spec Factory 31 US Military NATO Spec	2780 fs 2400 fs 3250 fs 3115 fs
RF3 (Level IV)	.30-06 M2 AP 165 gr	US Military	2880 fs

Miscellaneous Questions #15