[MUD-Dev] Source data on Crossbow

[Malcolm Tester II]

From: Rudy Neeser [mailto:rneeser at cs.uct.ac.za]
> On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 daggers at iquest.net wrote:
>> On Fri Jul 18 01:04:17 1997 CUT clawrenc at cup.hp.com wrote:
  
>> The US Army studies of Thompson and LaGuardia in the 1920s, using
>> suspended corpses show a deflection of less than 2" from a .45.

> Um ... Suspended corpses really aren't standing people. They have
> a much more even weight distribution than a standing person
> necessarily has.
 
>> The recoil of the weapon equals the impact of the bullet,
>> energywise.  If it doesn't knock down the shooter, it won't knock
>> down the target.
 
> There are complications. The shooter can be (and, I suppose,
> probably often is) shooting from a well balanced and stable
> position, while the person being shot at is usually rather
> unbalanced, especially if he / she's moving around (since human
> movements like walking is a controlled unbalancing of your body).
 
> So if it doesn't knock down the shooter, something could still
> knock down the shootee.

I have fired a .45 and a .44.  I have also seen a .44 break the
shooter's nose because he wasn't prepared for the recoil and the gun
snapped up and *bam*.  I have seen a bat (sitting on the ground)
blown away by a .44, and only the itsy bit of a wing was left.  I
couldn't even find the (presuming they still existed in some form)
rest of the remains.  Now, a .44 is more powerful than a .45, but
the ideas behind daggers' Army studies remain.  Shooting a corpse is
like shooting a solid brick of mud.  There's much more resistance
involved.  Shooting someone alive, with fluids intact, soft flesh,
etc., you have much less resistance, and thus, the shootee is going
to be much more prone to being thrown back than the shooter, who if
prepared, won't move an inch.

As for TV, they do over-dramatize it.  But back to the note from JCL
that daggers was replying to, I agree.  You won't die if the bullet
doesn't penetrate the jacket.  But in most cases of existing "police
grade" equipment in use, you would easily be stunned, for lack of a
better word.  Bruised too, in most cases.  Think about it.  Someone
punches you in the gut, you crumple, bend over, maybe even fall
down.  And that doesn't even bruise you, generally.  Now, you get
hit by something traveling at high velocity, bruises you for
sure...It isn't likely you're still going to be standing.

Just my .02 worth.
Malcolm
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