This is the second part of primer for people who don’t know much about guns. In my previous entry, I went over gun basics. Now let’s discuss the almighty bullet.
As stated before, the cartridge (a.k.a. kill’n fuel) consists of three parts: the kill’n activator, the gunpowder, and roundy, pointy thing which flies fast does the killer’n. What determines the power of the cartridge is the amount of gunpowder and the size of the roundy, pointy thing which flies fast does the killer’n (slug, for short).
Now, I’m going to stick to mainly handgun calibers as that is what I know. Did you know the lower the shotgun gauge, the more powerful it is? That’s crazy. Anyway, handguns are the coolest, and their name refers to the width of the bullet, either in parts of an inch or indecipherable metrics. What about the length of the cartridge, you ask? That’s a secret.
.22: This is target ammo. It’s cheap and plentiful, but, for killer’n, it’s only good if you just want to injure a squirrel. It’s rimfire; you can hit it anywhere on the rim to start the kill’n activator. You don’t have to be exact or anything, it will fire.
.25 and .32: These start to look like baby versions of real bullets, being center fire (having a round little target on the back to start the kill’n activator). Some people want to ban certain types of ammo, and I say ban these. They’re only good for wounding someone, and that’s just mean.
.380 (or 9mm short as known by Nazis and Commies): With this bullet, you’re starting to get serious. This is what my Walther PPK fires. You really need something more that a regular FMJ to make it deadly though (more on this below).
9mm (or .380 long as known by me): A very popular bullet, especially after the high capacity craze started with Glock. Sure, you can fire 19 of these without reloading, but you’ll need it to take someone down with this little pansy cartridge. Also popular with submachine guns– except for my man, Tommy. It’s the bullet fired by the Beretta 92FS, the M9 sidearm of our troops. Poor troops only having a 9mm sidearm. I have a Walther P99 in 9mm myself, but, because of damn Clinton, I only have silly little 10-rd magazines for it. Bastard.
10mm: A high-powered semi-auto round made for the FBI. But it’s a damn metrics bullet and hasn’t really caught on.
.40: Smith & Wesson shortened the 10mm and gave it nice American caliber name. This quickly became the choice round of law enforcement, because it’s much more of a man-stopper than that pansy ass 9mm.
.45: My man, .45. There are two .45’s, both made popular by Colt. The first is known as the .45 Long Colt, and that’s the bullet fired by the old West Peacemakers. What we mainly know as .45 today is the .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) made popular by the ultimate semi-auto, the 1911 (that’s the year Ronald Reagan was born; coincidence, I think not). It is also the bullet of the Thompson submachine gun (the Tommy gun), made popular in WWII and made unpopular by gangsters. It’s a man’s bullet, a nice big chunky SOB which you could probably knock someone unconscious just by throwing it at him. Do not fire this bullet if you’re some girly man.
.38 Special: A popular bullet for backup revolvers. What does special mean? Think like “special classes” and the kids who rode the short bus. It’s not a very powerful cartridge.
.357 Magnum: Magnum is Latin for large or great, and this is a great bullet for blowing some punk away. You might need to get both hands on this one. Why isn’t it a .356 or a .358 you ask? Because some very scientifical people determined that .357 it should be. Any revolver that fires a .357 magnum can also fire a .38 special. Now isn’t that special?
.44 Magnum: “Are you feeling lucky? Well do ya, punk?” Dirty Harry caliber and that used by xXx. Actually, it might be a little too much for shooting a man unless you don’t care about also shooting anyone who might stand a mile behind him. My dad originally bought one for fishing in Alaska in case he got attacked by a bear. I have a Colt Anaconda myself which I keep around in case a Florida alligator looks at me funny. There is a .44 Special, i.e., a retarded version.
.454 Casull and .480 Ruger: Now we’re just getting ridiculous. Just get yourself a damn rifle.
.50 AE: AE if for Action Express. It’s made by those crazy Israelis just for the Desert Eagle because those Palestinians are so annoying they wanted something extra big to shoot them with.
500 S&W Magnum: After caving in the anti-gun nuts, Smith & Wesson had to win back the heart of their consumers. They did this by making a freaking huge handgun caliber. If someone is robbing the house four houses down from you, you can shoot through all the houses and hit him with this.
If all of these calibers are too weak for you, those crazy Israelis at Magnum Research can make revolvers for you chambered in rifle rounds like the venerable .30-.30. The only purpose of these is to freak out people at a gun range, and it takes a lot to freak out people at a gun range.
So, the question is, what’s good for killer’n? As I said, .380 is minimum, but you don’t want a regular slug. When I say regular slug, I mean a full metal jacket (FMJ), just like the name of that movie (“What’s your major malfunction, numbnuts?”). That’s when the slug is coated in metal. More stopping power is a hollow point, which has a hollow point. It collapses on impact leaving a regular entry wound and a big exit wound. The best are bullets that fragment on impact and spread throughout the perps body. If the bullet doesn’t go through, that means all power was transferred to the perp, and that’s what you want. Think stopping power, yo.
The next questions is what caliber do you want to use to kill a monkey. The proper caliber should reduce a monkey to nothing but a fine red mist. That means, for a regular size monkey, use a bullet big enough to kill a gorilla. To kill a gorilla (scientific name gorilla gorilla), use something big enough to kill King Kong. To kill King Kong… well, God help us all.
Next week we’ll talk about popular handgun choices. Remember: No problem is so complex it can’t be solved by proper firearm usage.
I’ve got a .44 Magnum revolver myself. That shit would put your ass to the ground faster than a speeding bullet (no pun intended)! Same as what Dirty Harry had. I feel special 🙂
How about range? Range is important when the perps are running away at a high rate of speed.
Go for the .45 ACP, minimum, I say.
By the way Frank, I am sure you already know this and were being sarcastic about the shotgun gauges, but think of shotgun gauges like wire gauges or earring gauges; the smaller the bigger.
give me a nice .40 pistol any day and I’ll be just fine, thank you.
Tim E
Do not underestimatethe .22; it is a great small game round…
Just my .02,
A .22 kills just fine if you shoot them in the head, the heart, the neck, or in the side near their stomach which busts a major artery and you bleed to death. Trust me, I know 😉
Magnum Research’s 30-30 offering is in the Lone Eagle which is a single shot breach loader w/ an artillery-style rotary action. But it is not what is known as a classic revolver. They’re also available in .308, .223, etc. They produce a muzzle flash that’ll light up a stadium.
Though there is nothing at all wrong with a nice firearm, you just can’t beat the feeling as the crack of the other guy’s bones travels up through your arms and into your ears.
Mmm, brings back memories…
Your article is similar to the History Channel’s show on fire arms. You should refference them as the source of you data.
A true fanatic gun nut would point out that the revolver “.45 Long Colt” is a fake name used by ordinary ignorant gun nuts. It’s just “.45 Colt”.
Potatoe guns are fun to shoot and fun to eat fried. We seem to have fogotten that.
mmmm…fried ammunition…
Frank, you did not mention frangible ammo! It’s a bullet that is very light and shatters when it hits a target (monkey for example). The pieces of bullet go all over the place inside the target(monkey), tearing up all its insides and kill’n it dead. Also good for stopping non-armored perps. Not good for use against SWAT team guys, their armor prevents any real penetration by frangible ammo. Good link for the stuff is http://www.RBCD.net . They even make ammo for that .380 of yours.
You left out of your discussion the lovely 38 Special “+P” which like a really mean big teenager. He might not be able to buy beer, but he needs a shave. A useful round: Firing at the same moment, you can kill the monkey before the guy next to you, who is only shooting a regular 38 Special, because your killer’n thing, er, slug, will travel faster. And still be special when it gets there.
But what caliber is Rumsfield’s “Ted Kennedy Gun”? I need to know in case any tax fattened hyenas invade my town. Come on Frank. Help me out.
You forgot the newest and most wonderful killer’n caliber, the .357 SIG. It hides in a .40 case, but the lower slug diameter mixed with the higher powder load makes for some badass muzzle velocity (good for the type of killer’n that knocks wormy hippies 10 feet back’ards before they hit the floor). And you can interchange the barrels with a .40. I’ve outfitted my .40 Beretta 96FS with a custom fitted Bar-Sto .357 SIG barrel. And it’s nuts-on accurate- like doing brain surgery with sledge hammer.
For killn’ monkeys. I use a Thompson encore, while single shot, you can get a custom pistol barrels in a 416 rigby, 35 whelen, or a 375-444 marlin. MMMM, a round capable of killn’ an elephant in an 8″ barrell. (http://www.bullberry.com/encore.html)
You can kill Commies and Hippies just by the sound.
Funny how everyone seems to be smarter then Frank, know more than Frank or be a bigger gun expert than Frank yet it is FRANK who has IMAO, FRANK who documents vital information about guns, killing monkeys and punching liberals and FRANK who has stood up for the American dream by becoming the arbiter of BLAR (blog-war, I made that up myself 😉 ). You all need to say “Thank you Frank.” and then sit down and zip it. IMO
War Correspondence
Okay, I’m only going to explain this one time, so listen up! While I am on Frank’s side to fight the good fight against the Insta PuppyBlender, I am also on JenLars’ side in her war against Frank, while at…
Why would you need to keep a gun at all when you know that ALL Chinese have mastered the art of Dodging bullet?
Martial Arts Rocks!! So is communism!!!
long live communism….
I’m working on a laser defense system to protect my home from bullet dodging communist martial arts masters.
Try dodging something moving at the speed of light motherf***ers.
Then you’d better be quick on you lazer system….
We are already beginning to Enlighten Canada and changing it into a communist state, the US will be defeated by Canadian communist armies!!
Muhahahaha…..
Our french allies will help us defend resistence in Europe and middle east. Resistance is futile.
Marx_rulez!!:
I believe it was the immortal philosopher Trinity that once said, “Dodge this.”
Could have been Socrates, though. I always get those two confused.
Went to the range with a friend to test out his Desert Eagle .50 AE. The kick was actually less than I was anticipating, but still substantial.
The effect in the range was rather noticable, though. Seven heads leaned back from their lanes to see who’d fired the salvo from the USS Missouri. A second or two after firing, the target wafted forward, then back. Later, we had one target catch on fire from the muzzle flash.
It was fun but for a regular carry gun my wife and I are going to stick with our .45’s. (She carries a Para-Ordnance P-10 and I usually go with a 1911.) The .50 AE is just too expensive for me to shoot regularly. I don’t need another gun. Really. I can stop any time I want to. Besides, the safe is full.
(Then again, if I cut back on my wardrobe, I could put another safe in my side of the closet. A person really doesn’t NEED more than two pairs of pants and two shirts…)
I really like the .357 Sig. It is basically a .40 S&W/10mm necked down to take the .357 slug. There are several built in advantages to the cartridge.
They include:
.357 premium bullets easy to obtain
ballistics similar to the .357 mag.
guns in this caliber are nearly jam proof due
to the fact that you are cramming a .357 cartridge
front end in a .40 cal hole. This allows the round to “self center” duing the cycling of the action.
When the NRA tested the new cartridge, they put 3000 rounds through 5 different NEW guns (not broken in yet) without a single jam.
The military standard for qualifying a pistol is no more that one jam every 195 rounds.
I have not bought a .357 Sig yet, but would like to.
MensaMan
You left out the best balanced caliber of them all! The .41 Magnum can put a man down but doesn’t beat up your hands the way a .44 does.
I’m a Magnum Research Lone Eagle shooter, fer huntin’ kritters. The Sig .40 is fer hippies and those yeler rat bastards. Here’s a pic of a kritter killer LE, I ain’t got no rigby .416 but I gots a .300 Win Magnum. Rigby? Sounds like a nancyboy from Soho.
416 rigby – 400 grain 2500 fps (available in a swift a-frame bullet – there are loads for larger bullets but they must be home cast)
300 win mag – 200 grain 2600 fps
MMM, 400 grains of lead at 2500 fps in a pistol, drool…..
While it was done by the brits, it was deseigned by the good brits that went to Africa to kill things – big things, and lots of them and then proudly bring thier heads back for display. You should get little monkey bits leftover.
Rigby smigby. After shooting the 375 JDJ(.444 Marlin necked down to .375)in my TC, I learned that there is an upper limit on loads. One has to actually hold onto the gun after it is shot. Shooting the JDJ was like placing your hand in a vise and hitting it with a fricking hammer. 400gr at 2500fps would damn near break one’s wrist, elbow and shoulder.
If you want to go for cool ways to take people down, load a potato gun with a wadded peice of paper soaked in gasoline and have a flame to light it upon exit… nothing like flames….
“When you use a 44 there is a lot of dry cleaning involved. We prefered to use a 22, pop in the back of the head and it just rattled around a bit. No mess.” ~Steve Martin in MY BLUE HEAVEN (from memory)
I gots me a .416 Rigby. It came from my uncle whats bought it before he went to Angola to hunt elephants with. I might even use it for hunting King Kong, were he to show his face in my neck of the woods. Rigby might sound like a nancy boy from Soho, but dude, talk about a way to build up a high threshold of pain. I am pretty confident that I could take a semi going 120 hitting my right sholder these days. I dont want to ever see a handgun chambered for that round. I can’t wait to take it to Africa.
Frank J. if you can help me overcome the twenty thousand little green reasons why I have not yet been on safari, I shall find a monkey and photodocument whether or not the .416 reduces it to a fine red mist for you.
By the way, have you ever read Unintended Consequences? The 20mm Solothurn sholder fired anti-tank cannon in the book (which is real) would be great for King Kong. With explosive shells you might even get a fine red mist out of his big old head.
Who the f*** told this guy that guns were for killing? Are all arrows for killing? How about all darts or blowguns?
Whatever jackass thinks this article is worth a f*** needs to shove his opinion squarely where it came from. The last thing I need as a gun owner and advocate is some jackoff describing cartridges with adjectives like “kill’n activator”.
Guns don’t kill with bullets any more than people kill with instruments. This asshat should stfu, he’s not helping educate anyone. I’ve got more problems defending my Title II ownership than I care to deal with, and I don’t need the dregs of society equating what I do with “kill’n”.
I’m anon because I’m not in the mood to answer illogical flames or trolls.
Oh, and .380 is a serious caliber ‘eh? Idiot. I could illustrate this with a wet Navy overcoat, but I digress. This post is to address the jackass who feeds the liberal media more tripe to show the soccermoms.
No, no…. All arrows are not for killing! I give you as a reference Oakenshott’s legendary and apocryphal “Parthian and Scythian Soft Headed Arrows” Bartfelt Publishing, London. Or the famed “Shooter’s Bible of Bullets that Don’t Hurt.”
Look, if you don’t wan’t a gun that kills, buy a softair. If you buy a gun, know what it was made to do. You may decide you don’t want it, but don’t act out of fear that someone else will decide it is unhealthy that you want it. That just gives them ground to stand on, ’cause they already want the gun you do have, no matter what it is or what it’s for.
When busybodies started whining that motorcycles were getting too powerful, the Euro-riders gave ground. Now they are limited to 100 ponies per bike, while we unapologetic, speed freaky Americans can buy 150 horse bikes and make the euros cry. And nitrous…oh, sweet juice!
God, I am inspired now. I’m going down to the gun shop to get a derringer chambered in 105 howitzer.
Dennymack
You forgot the worst round ever created. The .170 Hornady or whatever the hell it is.
It’s almost as big a bullet as a pellet fired from an air rifle.
Almost.
frank don’t know shit
Frank on Guns – Calibers!
Lesson Two, folks. In this edition, Frank J. enlightens us on the various calibers of bullets available. My favorite line: 500 S&W Magnum: After caving in the anti-gun nuts, Smith & Wesson had to win back the heart of their…
it there a standard speed of a bullet compared to the caliber?
Robin, you’re wrong. .45 Long Colt is not a fake name. The reason being is that there are two kinds of .45 Colt rounds, the standard rounds (Long Colt) and the short ones. Evidence:
“When the .45 Schofield revolver was brought out as a military sidearm in 1875 the government had to go to a shorter cartridge since the Smith & Wesson would not accept the longer cartridges in it’s short cylinder. The .45 military cartridge that was introduced was only 1.12″ long as compared to the 1.285” of the “Long” Colt shell. The shorter cartridge held but 28 gr. of blackpowder as compared to the 40 gr. of it’s longer brother, and the short round used a bullet of only 230 gr. weight compared to the 255 gr. heft of it’s larger kin. The short .45 Colt round was produced by the Army until 1892. Most all of the major ammunition producers made the short .45 rounds.”
From http://www.sixgunner.com
So there you have it, although the original manufacturer’s name for it was .45 Colt, people use the term Long Colt to distinguish it from it’s shorter counterpart.
I have a Glock in 9mm Luger and it only takes one bullet to kill if you can shoot; the other 17rds are for the other monkeys.
Frank what is your opinion of 44 caliber black podwer cap& ball ammunition? Conceding it is difficult to load
I have to agree with Don. I think Frank is in the state of confusion. He is confusing “Kill” with “Over Kill”. Other than that Frank Rocks!
A sportsman is a man who, every now and then, simply has to go out and kill something.
Stephen Leacock (1869 – 1944)
Frank is that you? Are you posing as a Lickity Slit again?
So it was a little harder for this Wack jobs to penetrate Franks hard drive than they had first antisapated
The gauge of a shotgun is determined as such: Melt one pound of lead. Make as many balls as possible in a given tube size. The number of resulting balls equals the gauge. e.g. 10 ga equals 10 equal balls adding up to 1 lb.; 16 ga equals 16 equal balls adding up to 1 lb, etc. I think I read this in one of the NRA magazines back in ’79 aboard the U.S.S. Constellation. We were in the Gulf of Aden waiting to pounce on Iran. However, Carter ran out of…
i was wondering how big a 7 mm is please send me an e mail on how big it is
If you are referring to the bullet diameter, then here is the conversion: There are 25.4 mm per inch. Therefore divide 7 by 25.4 and you get your theoretical diameter = .276 cal. The 7mm Rem. Mag is my favorite monkey killer! Mine is a Ruger M77. A friend of mine said that the U.S. Snipers in Nam used the 7mm Rem. Mag. Can anyone confirm this?
Is it rim fire or center fire?
I personaly own a Glock 22 40S&W and love it. I have never had a problem
My buddy is having a lot of jamming problems with his Ruger P95 (9mm)
Me and my wife were vacationing in New York without our kids and she was half drunk and I talked her into going to the range with me. How cool is that? Dreams do come true
Frank on Guns – Calibers!
Lesson Two, folks. In this edition, Frank J. enlightens us on the various calibers of bullets available. My favorite line: 500 S&W Magnum: After caving in the anti-gun nuts, Smith & Wesson had to win back the heart of their…
your site scares me