NCJ Number
83458
Journal
Detective Volume: 5 Issue: 11 Dated: (Fall 1975) Pages: 32-36
Date Published
1975
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The effectiveness of handgun cartridges was tested to aid law enforcement agencies in choosing duty sidearms and loads.
Abstract
Commercially available handgun bullets of all types of conventional construction were tested. Under conditions of equal caliber, mass, velocity and placement, they ranked in incapacitation inefficiency from highest to lowest as follows: lead hollow point, jacketed hollow point, semiwadcutter, jacketed soft point, lead round nose, and full metal jacketed. A bullet of unconventional design called the Glaser Safety Slug was also tested with impressive results. This projectile, available only to law enforcement agencies, consists of a copper jacket filled with No. 12 shot and viscuous liquid, capped with a fiberglass-Teflon plug. To test the cartridges' ability to incapacitate human targets, target vulnerability was determined by analyzing a model of the human body for the relative sensitivity of all areas to instant incapacitation (defined as that which will render the assailant incapable of posing a threat to the officer's safety by use of a hand-held weapon). Hit distribution data were used to form a second model. These two models were played against each other in a computer, resulting in a curve which shows the vulnerability index with respect to penetration, a composite of all the shots fired, and the entire human body. Research results are detailed. A table, figures, and five references are supplied.