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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