Lethality vs. Stopping Power

I recall an article by Jeff Cooper I read over 30 years ago. He told a true story about the host of a party who left his guests, went upstairs and shot himself in the temple with a .25 caliber handgun. The guests heard a little pop, but were not alarmed, as the host came downstairs with a band-aid covering the hole in the side of his head. After the guests left, he went to bed and died in his sleep.

That's lethality. Stopping power is another matter.

Studies have found that, in general, the likelihood of stopping a determined foe increases with bore diameter. That's a generalization, to be sure, because bullet placement, whether the attacker is on drugs, etc. are mitigating factors.

Any firearm can be lethal. Some are more likely to stop a determined attacker than others. For self defense, I recommend you carry the largest caliber that you can accurately shoot, under pressure. And for home defense, you can't do better than a 12 gauge shotgun.

That's for civilian self-defense. Warfare is another matter. Perhaps this calls for a followup post?