Introduction
Over the past years, there have been ongoing debates about the 9mm and .45 ACP and their effectiveness. The 9mm caliber firearms have higher muzzle velocity unlike the .45 ACP firearms because of its lighter bullets. As a result of the named characteristics, there have been questions about whether the fast and light cartridge or the heavy and slow one is better. Gun users seek reliable calibers that are fast and which can cause massive impacts on the targets. Some will prefer the .45 ACP because of its power since gun enthusiasts believe that a bigger gun is better. As a result, most people use the .45 ACP at home for their protection and self-defense since it can cause massive impacts on the target. This type of gun has revolutionized in the twentieth century since the federal bureau of investigation abandoned it in the late nineteenth century.
On the other hand, average shooters would prefer the 9mm caliber gun because of the bullets’ affordability. The advantage with the 9mm is that it is smaller; hence travels faster and hits the target without disintegrating. Those who prefer the 9mm argue that it has massive penetration and can shoot through obstacles such as walls and automobiles. As a result, the gun is essential in the battlefield because of its significant speed and higher penetration power. Over the past years, the art of ballistics has been changing. Ammunition designers and manufacturers have become creative in making firearms with larger caliber and higher velocity. Research considers the penetration of a shot and the magnitude of the impact depending on the transferred energy. As a result, there is a need to understand the nature and shell of bullets to understand the effects that they create. Thus, the research will look into velocity and mass as determining factors of the effectiveness of .45 APC and 9mm calibers.
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Literature Review
Wounds ballistic literature suggests that there are three ways through which bullets produce tissue damage. The first one is through laceration and crushing, which take place along the path where a bullet produces fragments. In the case of laceration and crushing, the crush injury's diameter in the tissue is equal to that of a bullet or fragment. The second way through which a bullet damages the body tissue is through cavitation. Here, the path of a bullet itself could cause a “permanent” cavity. Alternatively, radial stretching that results from the prolonged acceleration of either the air or tissue due to the bullet will cause a “temporary” cavity. The “temporary” cavity occurs when a wound cavity is stretched outward (Maiden, 2014). A bullet that travels at a low velocity causes almost similar permanent and temporary cavities. However, if the bullet travels at a high velocity, then the temporary cavity tends to be larger than the permanent cavity.
The third way through which bullets cause tissue damage is through shock waves that squeeze the medium and go ahead of the bullet. The waves last for microseconds and do not cause significant damage if the bullet travels at a low velocity. However, if the bullet travels at a high velocity, it could generate massive pressure that will last longer (Maiden, 2014). In cavitation, a bone fracture is rare. However, the ballistic wave resulting from distant bullet effects can lead to a concussive-like impact in humans that will result in acute neurological symptoms. In the case where there is a similar bullet path, there will be larger wounding effects and a higher probability of rapid incapacitation. Newton’s third law provides that the force that a bullet has on tissue is equal and opposite in the tissue’s direction on the bullet (Gaylord, Blair, Courtney & Courtney, 2014). Thus, the extent of the damage that bullets cause depends on their velocity and ballistic impacts.
According to Wang (2018), a 9mm bullet that weighs 115 grams is faster than the .45 ACP that weighs 250 grams. Given that the .45 ACP bullets are heavy, they have a massive and severe impact on their target, unlike the 9mm bullets. The question that arises is whether the kinetic energy of a heavier and larger caliber bullet can damage a target enormously when compared to a smaller one. The determining factor of the effects of a bullet is on the round of ammunition. The velocity of a bullet determines the strength through which a bullet penetrates a target. The kinetic energy of a round determines the extent of damage that a bullet will have on its target. The reason a 9mm bullet has massive damage is because of its high velocity when leaving the nozzle of a gun. The light weight means that the 9mm bullet can travel faster and have a high impact on the target.
Gaylord, Blair, Courtney & Courtney (2014) conducted research to determine the extent of damage that bullets cause. The researchers followed the FBI’s protocol in preparing ballistic gelatin to a ten percent concentration and calibrating them. They recorded the trials in an IDT Motion Pro X4 high-speed camera and analyzed videos that the camera recorded. According to the experiment that Gaylord, Blair, Courtney & Courtney (2014) did, they found out that some 9mm bullets can incapacitate severely unlike other bullets. The 9mm NATO bullet does not disintegrate or expand in soft tissue and has the potential of forming temporary and permanent cavities. The speed through which the gun penetrates is faster and can cause a huge impact on the target. Hence, the 9mm bullet can cause significant ballistic effects on its target, unlike other bullets.
One challenge is that there has been a lack of data establishing the relationship between ballistics and injury. Manley, Croce, Fischer, Crowe, Goines, Sharpe, & Magnotti, (2019) conducted a research in conjunction with the law enforcement to explain clinical results from specific firearms. The researchers randomly sampled patients who had had gunshot wounds for over twenty years as of the year 2015. Manley et al. (2019) collected data about the situations leading to gunshots, firearm type, and the caliber that the police reported. The results of the study indicated that there had been an increase in bullets with larger caliber and higher velocity. These types of guns have increased severity of injuries and hospital days (Manley et al., 2019). On the other hand, smaller caliber and low-velocity guns have decreased in the past twenty years.
Researchers in ballistics have been interested in knowing the effects of large and small caliber bullets. According to Doctor Rhee, a trauma expert surgeon, huge projectiles have severe impacts on the target. The doctor further argued that one would succumb to a .22 even though it is not strong enough to blow a head apart (Manley et al., 2019). According to Jones, Barnes-Warden & Fielden (2018), bullets that are bigger than .22 result in bigger holes or can tear the head apart. The paper describes how the velocity of bullets affects the extent of damage they will cause. Even though .22 weighs lesser (at 45grains) than the .223 (at 55 grains), it has severe impacts due to its high velocity (Curry, 2019). Higher velocity makes the bullet to overwhelm its target and cause significant damage. The surface area is also a determining factor in the impacts of a bullet. Mass and velocity of a round, as well as penetration, are essential in generating the needed energy that will destroy a target.
A bullet should have more contact with the target for it to transfer potential energy that will damage the target. Designers have opted to develop oblong shaped and elongated bullets that increase their surface area. The bullets also rotate fast when they hit the target; hence causing severe impact. Some cartridges are designed in such a way that they can expand to generate and transfer force that will increase the impact on the target (Manley et al., 2019). Technicians strive to attain the unique feature of expansion to increase the effectiveness of guns. When a round penetrates a target, the force applied determines the extent of the hollow cavity made on the tissues. A severe impact will cause the tissues to collapse; hence leading to acute neurological symptoms and probably trauma. The muscles that do not succumb to the path of the bullets will experience shockwaves that are dependent upon the velocity of a bullet. Shockwaves can deliver slow but high magnitude shock after a bullet penetration (Maiden, 2014). Hence, the velocity and mass of a bullet, and the energy it has when a round has when it hits a target determine the severity of an impact.
Methodology
Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies will be appropriate for this research about the ballistic effects of 45 ACP Vs. a 9MM round on the target. The researcher will analyze reports and testing documentation that were done previously. Some of the studies that the research will consider include terminal ballistic testing and FBI specification ballistics gelatin that were used in simulating human tissue. The researcher will also use .45 ACP and 9mm ball and hollow-point handgun firearms types used in personal defense. Past research that will be considered are those where the researchers used high-speed cameras to capture wound cavity expansion that bullets with different calibers caused. The instruments used to evaluate the impacts of bullets are calipers used in measuring bullet expansion and a ruler or tape measure to assess the distance that the bullet penetrated. Finally, I will report results that deviate from the industry data collected on the ballistics topic.
Rationale
The reason for choosing the topic is the existing gap in the ballistics of guns. Testing and research conducted on the topic are old and outdated. Previously, there has been a rapid evolvement of handgun ammunition, and muzzles' calibers have been modified to increase guns' effectiveness. Professionals tasked with creating more accurate and more lethal bullets have been on the rise in recent years. Bullet manufacturers release new and improved bullets that have increased ballistic coefficients, strengthened penetration, and the ability to contain larger bullets. The bullets should accommodate massive projectile in the target to attain better results. Much focus has been on whether the .45ACP Vs. 9mm for decades as gun and bullet manufacturers focus on advancing them. Designers choose to increase the metal at the exterior of rounds to ensure that the bullets have higher velocity despite their masses. Thus, the research will focus on attaining up-to-date, balanced, and accurate results about the two types of bullets.
Conclusion
Generally, the ballistics of the .45 APC and 9mm have caused unending debates about which one of the two is better. The two bullets differ in their weight and velocity; hence having different impacts on the target. The three ways through which bullets produce damage to body tissue are laceration and crushing, cavitation (could be temporary or permanent), and shockwaves. The instruments used in testing the effects of bullets on guns are high-speed cameras, calipers, and a ruler or a tape measure. Qualitative and quantitative methods are essential in establishing which of the .45 APC or 9mm caliber rounds is better. Over the past years, there has been an increase in larger caliber and higher velocity guns because they cause severe damage to their targets. Designers and manufacturers of bullets have considered incorporating some aspects to ensure that the ammunitions provide the best result. Ballistic engineers recommend that velocity, mass, and surface area determine the damage that bullets will cause on their target.
References
Gaylord, S., Blair, R., Courtney, M., & Courtney, A. (2013). Bullet retarding forces in ballistic gelatin by analysis of high speed video. arXiv preprint arXiv:1305.5215 .
Jones, A. H., Barnes-Warden, J., & Fielden, I. (2018, May). Determination of the Cause of the Differing Ballistic Performance of 9mm DM11 Bullets from Two Manufacturers.
Manley, N. R., Croce, M. A., Fischer, P. E., Crowe, D. E., Goines, J. H., Sharpe, J. P., ... & Magnotti, L. J. (2019). Evolution of firearm violence over 20 years: integrating law enforcement and clinical data. Journal of the American College of Surgeons , 228 (4), 427-434.
Maiden, N. R. (2014). The assessment of bullet wound trauma dynamics and the potential role of anatomical models (Doctoral dissertation).
O'clair, S., & Curry, B. (2019). U.S. Patent Application No. 29/610,135 .
Sahu, K. I., Kennao, P., Gupta, A., Saran, V., & Waghmare, N. (2018). Study of 9 mm improvised pistol pattern & gunshot residue with respect to different range. Int. J. Comput. Sci. Eng. , 6 , 155-160.
Wang, J. Z. (2018). Calculating the Number of Rifling On Highly Deformed Bullets: A Digital Measurement and Mathematical Formula Approach. Journal of Advanced Forensic Sciences , 1 (1), 1.
