RE: FBI re-evaluation of issue weapons ->Re: Armored cars

["Eric Benson" <ebenson@xxxxxxxx>]

> Hmmm... What was that?  I'm interested.

A full version of the shooting is available from the FBI:
http://foia.fbi.gov/shooting.htm

It's safe to say that there were mistakes made and people lost their lives
as a result.

It's easy to look back today, with the benefit of additional information and
say, "they should have been issued X or Y".  The reality was at the time,
revolvers outnumbered automatics in the law enforcement community.  The US
military had only adopted the Beretta 92 (M9) the year before.

The case caused the FBI to question the required characteristics of
ammunition and firearms for law enforcement.  The FBI responded creating
standardized ammunition tests that (hopefully) provided better, more
realistic information about how the ammunition would do on the street.  You
have to consider that there are still departments that issue lead round nose
or full metal jacket bullets.

In a nut shell, the FBI studies showed "issue something that begins with 4"
and issue effective ammunition.

As a result of the shooting (and the subsequent tests), the FBI switched to
the 10 mm round (in the Smith and Wesson M1076).  The FBI ended up issuing a
downgraded loading, the 10 mm FBI load (or 10 mm Lite).  Most 10 mm weapons
are built on the same frame as 45 ACP (ex. Glock 20/1),  which meant that
the pistols for the 10 mm FBI loads were bigger than they needed to be.

The 40 S&W is basically the down graded 10 mm FBI load in a smaller case.
One of the advantages of the 40 S&W over the 10 mm is the 40 is typically
built on the same (smaller) frame as the 9 mm versions (ex. Sig 226 9/40,
Glock 17/19,22/23).  The 40's typically have a smaller magazine capacity,
but remain the same in other outside dimensions.

More recently, the 357 Sig is an attempt to combine 357 Magnum ballistics in
a combat style automatic pistol.

9 mm tries to be fast and light (~350 J).  45 ACP tends to be big and slow
(~350 J).  The 40 S&W model is almost as fast and almost big (~450 J).  10
mm theory was fast and big (~575 J).  223 (5.56 MM) is about 2000 J, just
for comparison.  Obviously, you can find loads that are different within
each category, but overall, that was the trend.

The indirect result of the shootout was the development of 40 S&W and 10 mm
MP-5's and a host of new pistol designs.

- Eric