I heard something like this... they would charge at the US soldiers, and
they were usually doped up on morphine or something. I think the soldiers
were using .38s at the time, and the bullets would just go through them, and
not really phase the doped up, charging guerrillas. I believe the .45 was
used not really to "knock them down," but to have a better chance of killing
them with one shot, or at least incapacitate them (which in turn makes a
person fall down...not really knocked back). I think that makes sense. :)
Blake Wylie
1970 MGB
At 11:26 AM 2/10/98 -0500, Trevor Boicey wrote:
>John J. Peloquin wrote:
>> Depends on the weapon. During the early years of the US colonization of
>> the Philipines, there was a problem with the side arms issued to US
>> military not being powerful enough to knock down machete wielding
>> guerrillas before the assailant could hack the soldiers to bits. The .45
>> was developed to provide knock-down capability.
>
> Please note that "knock-down power" is a product of television
>only, not of physics.
>
> In order for a bullet to be travelling fast enough to knock
>someone down, it would have to be accelerated to this speed
>using the firearm held in your hand, and would therefore
>have to knock you down as well (or require you at least
>to be SERIOUSLY well braced).
>
> This simply doesn't happen, as even the most heavily
>recoiling small arms far from knock you across the room.
>
>--
>Trevor Boicey
>Ottawa, Canada
>tboicey@brit.ca
>http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
>
>
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