More on the omega fatal flesh-shredding RIP Radically Invasive Projectile. The only genuine one-shot-stop bullet out there is the Duo patented self-discarding evisceration-explosive omega turbulent fully lethal trocar sabot with optional armor piercing mercury hydrashok 4YJ tip (SDEEOTFLTSOAPMH, to use the convenient acronym). Anything else (including the RIP) is bullshit, no matter how cool looking it is, how fast it will drill into your flesh, how far it will scatter the bloody pieces left over or how many people it will kill with Just.One. Bullet! Today guest writer Pete Nealen is going to address this whole RIP thing. Mad Duo

Repeat After Me: “There Is No Magic Bullet.”

It’s rather amusing sometimes the myths that even gun people will cling to.  Sometimes most vehemently.  The repetition of any of the following is usually a sign that the speaker, for all his or her enthusiasm, has no idea what the hell they’re talking about:

“5.56 Green Tip blows limbs off because it tumbles.”

“A .50 BMG round will rip your face off if it passes within a foot of you.”

“One round of .45 is all you need.”

Unfortuantely, people don’t do their research and/or just get carried away by “that’s cool!” and so we get this sort of crap. (Warning – it’s 3 minutes of your life you won’t get back.)

Leaving aside the bargain-basement Batman voice, the buzzwords and the footage of guys (presumably) shooting this round through machine pistols, let’s look at the numbers.  Because ballistics ultimately is physics, which is math.

The round is given as a 96 grain projectile, with a muzzle velocity of 1256 fps.  Most .45 ACP has anywhere from a 185-230 grain projectile, at a muzzle velocity of anywhere from 1225-830 fps.  So, you’re looking at about half the weight with roughly the same muzzle velocity of your top performing .45.  The company’s site gives the muzzle energy as 370 ft/lb (though they apparently can’t be bothered to include the units; it’s just given as “370 muzzle energy”).  That’s just over half the energy of the 185 grain .45 at 1225 fps.

“Oh, but it’s about the geometries and the penetration!  It will defeat all known barriers such as sheet metal, sheet rock, windshields, plywood, and heavy winter clothing!”  Guess what?  So will all bullets of comparable mass and velocity.

Look, kinetic energy is kinetic energy.  KE=MV².  Magic geometry doesn’t change that.  The fact that the video shows the round fragmenting in a paint-filled balloon doesn’t bode well for its penetration, either.  If it fragments as soon as it hits any resistance, those “multiple wound channels” won’t be very deep.  It’d be like taking some frag, not getting shot.

Bullets do damage because of energy, not geometries.  Some hollow points can transfer that energy a little bit better than ball rounds, but the reason rifle bullets do so much more damage than handgun bullets is because of higher energy.  Let’s compare the top-performing .45 ACP I described above to you average .308 round.

.45 ACP: 185 grains, 1225 fps, 616 ft/lbs.

.308 Win: 165 grains, 2700 fps, 2671 ft/lbs.

Pretty substantial difference, isn’t it?  And you still can’t necessarily get a “one-shot stop” with a .308.  Now compare that energy level to this RIP round.  Starting to look pretty dinky, isn’t it?  Their claims of “massive kinetic impact” are starting to sound like hype.

And that’s all they are.  Hype.  “The last round you’ll ever need.”  Give me a break.  The only reliable “one-shot stop” is a CNS hit—right between the eyes to take out the central nervous system.  You certainly don’t need a CNC-machined copper fragmenting cut-rate Batman voiced magic bullet for that.  Jacketed lead does just fine.  The fact that they are CNC machined copper also means that you’re paying through the nose for that hype.  I saw a quote that somebody was paying $55 for a box of 20.  I can get rifle ammunition for less than that.

A pistol is a close range backup weapon.  If somebody starts telling you that they have some new superbullet that will allow you to blow basketball-sized holes in your opponent, don’t believe them.  There’s only so much a pistol bullet can do.

As Mike Kupari pointed out the other day, if you want a 9mm bullet with substantially more power and penetration, they make that.  It’s called a .357 Magnum.

So, to wrap this up, repeat after me: “There is no magic bullet.  There is only shot placement.”

Pete

Afterword – looky here. What a surprise.

(Note – 4YJ may be a small exaggeration on the SDEEOTTSOAPMH bullet we patented – it’s probably no more than 3.78 yottajoules at best unless you’re using the JATO/Jet Assisted Take Off version. Mad Duo)

Mad Duo, Breach-Bang& CLEAR!

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About the Author: Pete Nealen is a former Reconnaissance Marine, a combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan and the author of several books. A contributor here at Breach-Bang-Clear for many years now, Pete is a bad ass writer who continues to make the Duo’s efforts look pale and feeble (if less gritty and jaw-clenching-y) by comparison. You can follow Nealan on his own blog, American Praetorians. We encourage you to do so here. His author page on Facebook is at https://www.facebook.com/PeteNealenAuthor. If you’d like to read some of his books, you can start the American Praetorians series (about a PMC in a post Greater Depression dystopia now 4 books long) with Task Force Desperate. He has a standalone action novel called Kill Yuan, which you can find here. You could also do worse than to start reading the Jed Horn series (a supernatural shoot ’em up series now on its 3rd volume) with Nightmares, then proceed with Silver Cross and a Winchester and Walker on the Hills and . His fiction is widely claimed for the realism of its combat scenes — this is no doubt because he hangs around with us. It could also have something to do with his skill as a writer and his background (multiple deployments, qualifications as a Combatant Diver, Navy/Marine Corps Parachutist, Marine Scout/Sniper and S/S team leader, Combat Tracker, et al). Continue below to see the only picture of Nealen smiling

Ever.

Fortis cadere, cedere non potest.