Re: [HOE] Handguns

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

> A 9mm pistol does 3d6 damage, a .38 revolver does 2d6, but .38 is just
> the same caliber, even a bit larger. Furthermore a cal. .45 Colt does
> only 3d6 damage, but I can remember this being a damn big gun and cal.
> .45 is a lot more than 9mm.

I think a .38 packs less gunpowder than a 9mm, for a reference look at
Lethal Weapon where Gibson dispariges Glover's .38 over his 9mm (of course
his also had about 3 times as many shots...) 

As for the .45 I know that when the USA switched it's standard caliber for
military sidearms from .45 to 9mm it was because the .45 was an "aging
cartrige that couldn't hold up against more modern calibers like the 9mm".

You can't judge damage by caliber:
Everyone knows that the .44 magnum is huge hand-cannon (made famous by
Dirty Harry) but 0.45 is bigger than 0.44, so wouldn't a 45-caliber be
more powerful? You'd think so, but...
9mm's bigger than 7.62mm, but which would you rather be shot by?
.38's bigger than .357, .50 pistol ammo isn't the same as .50 rifle ammo,
etc, etc, etc.

The point is that the number/size of a bullet doesn't describe everything
about it, just its diameter, there's also length, grain, powder charge (or
is that grain?), etc.

Theo McGuckin - SysAdmin, JLab, Safety Warden (Bldg. 85)


	"Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a nerf-ball." 
	  						- Homer Simpson