On 9/14/01 8:58 AM, "Mike Lorrey" <mlorrey@datamann.com> wrote:
>
> Don't forget the stance of the shooter versus the target. Energy
> released by the recoil is absorbed by the arms and the torsion against
> the forward leaning stance of the shooter.
If balance has everything to do with getting knocked on your ass, then why
do you need bullets at all? Balance does matter, but it is an issue
independent of bullets; one has to assume that the meager amount of energy
delivered by pistol bullets is insufficient to make a person lose balance.
We are talking about 300-400 ft-lbs of energy here. The only reason bullets
in this energy range work at all is because they focus all the energy behind
a very small cross section -- a mechanical ice pick. Many sporting
activities routinely deliver far more energy to the human body.
> Why does a punch to the sternum knock the victim on his ass but not the
> person throwing the punch?
Losing your balance is not the same thing as being knocked on your ass. Are
you saying that if I fired a 9mm pistol, with the butt placed firmly on my
sternum, that it would knock me on my ass? I don't think so, no matter how
I'm standing.
In Army basic training, the Drill Sergeants frequently demonstrate the lack
of recoil of the M16 rifle (1,200 ft-lbs) to the new recruits by placing the
butt of the rifle on their gonads when they shoot it. I guarantee that they
would *not* want you to punch them in the gonads.
Part of the problem is that you are confusing energy with power. A punch
doesn't have a lot of power but it does have lots of energy. A pistol
bullet has a moderate amount of power, but minimal energy. Energy is what
knocks you on your ass, power is how its delivered.
-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com
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