Must have been a crappy bedroom door for three .25s to go right through with enough force to do more than sting a little. Second only to exterior doors, bedroom doors should be the stoutest doors in your house. They are your most likely last line of defence if you are forced to retreat in your own home.
It all turned out fine in this case, but it could easily be the other way around the next time.
s
(gosh don't I sound like the arm chair quarterback today)
I am under no misapprehensions that modern molded fiber doors would stop a 22 Rimfire, much less any centerfire bullet. My biggest concern if I ever deploy a firearm defensively is OVER penetration. Does anybody make reinforced interior doors? For anything other than government buildings?
You can find surplus solid-wood doors at any used building material yard. A 2" thick laminated door still won't stop a truly energetic bullet (e.g. 44 mag), but is way better than the cheap hollow-core doors you get at Home Depot.
Don't forget good solid latch hardware, or it'll just get kicked open, too.
Impressive (lucky?) shooting with a .25 though -- the gene pool is a bit cleaner for it...
Like Tam says about the .22 as a defensive weapon. Everybody laughs about it but she hasn't found anyone willing to try and catch one yet.
The .25 may not be my first choice but that is a personal choice and circumstantial. It may have been all he could handle(and did a fine job of it apparently) or all he could afford(and the investment payed dividends!)
Nuff said.
In my early patrol days I carred a Budischowski .25ACP backup. The "Little Buddy" was a half-size Walther PPK.
I had all sorts of derision, but the little pistol was safe, carried 6+1, never misfired (I actually had to qualify annually with it!).
Eventually, I went with a bobbed S&W Mdl 60, which was also reliable, and punched harder. I put an elastic loop inside of my prowl jacket pocket to hold it.
BTW, if you're a stat freak, the .25ACP and the .22 Short Hi-speed are about the same in power, just under 100 #/ft of muzzle energy.
If any of these folks were truly serious about keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, you'd think that they wouldn't print the full address of the victim in these cases. Now every semi-literate dirtbag in town knows where to find another pistol.
By the way: a .22 Mag, .25 ACP and .32 ACP will all go through a standard hollow interior door like it wasn't there, 100% of the time. A .22 LR, about 95% of the time.
I may be a simpleton, really. But I'll admit this anyway.
This act by an old man in a bad situation makes me simply feel better. If he can resist oppression and real danger, and win, there is a chance we can as well, in the bigger picture.
Hope springs eternal, even from Blessed old men, with .25's even. I suppose no one really wants to do what it will take. But like him, we simply don't have a choice.
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
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If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>
JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2009/10/another-80-year-old-man-with.html (22 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
Three shots through a door with a .25?
No more jokes about my .380 Ruger LCP, right?
This blog entry was my moment of zen.
More shockingly, it wasn't a drunk scotsman!
Must have been a crappy bedroom door for three .25s to go right through with enough force to do more than sting a little. Second only to exterior doors, bedroom doors should be the stoutest doors in your house. They are your most likely last line of defence if you are forced to retreat in your own home.
It all turned out fine in this case, but it could easily be the other way around the next time.
s
(gosh don't I sound like the arm chair quarterback today)
I am under no misapprehensions that modern molded fiber doors would stop a 22 Rimfire, much less any centerfire bullet. My biggest concern if I ever deploy a firearm defensively is OVER penetration. Does anybody make reinforced interior doors? For anything other than government buildings?
You can find surplus solid-wood doors at any used building material yard. A 2" thick laminated door still won't stop a truly energetic bullet (e.g. 44 mag), but is way better than the cheap hollow-core doors you get at Home Depot.
Don't forget good solid latch hardware, or it'll just get kicked open, too.
Impressive (lucky?) shooting with a .25 though -- the gene pool is a bit cleaner for it...
At first glance, I thought it said the guy's name was "Hathcock." So of course he'd be deadly.
Three blind shots and they all landed on the target? Wow.
Like Tam says about the .22 as a defensive weapon. Everybody laughs about it but she hasn't found anyone willing to try and catch one yet.
The .25 may not be my first choice but that is a personal choice and circumstantial. It may have been all he could handle(and did a fine job of it apparently) or all he could afford(and the investment payed dividends!)
Nuff said.
In my early patrol days I carred a Budischowski .25ACP backup. The "Little Buddy" was a half-size Walther PPK.
I had all sorts of derision, but the little pistol was safe, carried 6+1, never misfired (I actually had to qualify annually with it!).
Eventually, I went with a bobbed S&W Mdl 60, which was also reliable, and punched harder. I put an elastic loop inside of my prowl jacket pocket to hold it.
BTW, if you're a stat freak, the .25ACP and the .22 Short Hi-speed are about the same in power, just under 100 #/ft of muzzle energy.
Don't have either one of them anymore, waaah!
And here I thought it was about muzzle rise. B-)
Remember the old adage:
Never bring a BB gun to a .25 fight....
If any of these folks were truly serious about keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, you'd think that they wouldn't print the full address of the victim in these cases. Now every semi-literate dirtbag in town knows where to find another pistol.
Jason,
would you go after an 80yr old with x-ray vision and a lethal .25? Hmmm, wait a min...isn't Superman about 80?
That has to qualify for "Luckiest Three Shots Ever Fired" -- two torso, one head shot, through a bedroom door?
By the way: a .22 Mag, .25 ACP and .32 ACP will all go through a standard hollow interior door like it wasn't there, 100% of the time. A .22 LR, about 95% of the time.
Personally tested and verified.
Or you could try psychological persuasion - take a look at this blog
http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/
for Sunday November 1st under "A good neighbor".
Rule No. 1 to avoid trouble - don't be there when it kicks off....
I may be a simpleton, really. But I'll admit this anyway.
This act by an old man in a bad situation makes me simply feel better. If he can resist oppression and real danger, and win, there is a chance we can as well, in the bigger picture.
Hope springs eternal, even from Blessed old men, with .25's even. I suppose no one really wants to do what it will take. But like him, we simply don't have a choice.
To repeat the obvious: ANY gun in hand in time of trouble beats something big and amazing that's not there.
The good part: One less weapon-toting smash-and-grab burglar around.
The not-so-good part; It took three shots to do the job.
Still, "two to center-mass, one to the head" is not a bad way to go...
Mozambique Drill through a door. Awsome!
DAve for the win! Mozambique indeed!
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>