On Fri, 2 Jan 2004 10:00:03 +0100 (CET), in a fit of unbridled digital
verbosity, once again proving the problem is located between the seat and the
keyboard, Nomen Nescio ] two-fingered
to all:

|-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
|
|From: Little John
|
|While I like the Glasers and my wife swears by them for her .38 snubby, the
US
|Sky Marshalls are not using them in airliners. They are now using the .357
Sig round in
|FMJ.
|
|That's not what my sources say. Where'd you hear this?
|
|- From a discussion on this very subject that I had with a friend in the FBI.
I've known
|him for over 25 years and went to College with him. So I tend to think the
info is
|credible. None of this is "classified" info. either, or he wouldn't have told
me.
|
|The reason that I've heard is that it's very effective for shooting through
a hostage and
|still having enough energy to drop a terrorist. It makes sense, but I
wouldn't want to be the
|hostage.
|
|If that's the "reasoning", it will also go through on a clean shot and damage
|the airliner or an innocent passenger, something that is entirely contrary to
|the mission.
|
|As in everything with the gvt., there's the "official" mission and then there
is the "real"
|mission.

Flashbacks to military days.

|The mission, first and foremost is to keep the terrorist from gaining control
of the plane.
|To this end, sacrificing a hostage, or a couple of passengers is acceptable.
Not
|desirable, but acceptable.
| They are trained in careful shot placement, however.

As everyone should be. Why use $7 worth of ammo when you can do the job with 70
cents worth? :-)

But, if they're trained that way, they won't need to shoot through a passenger.
There's always a target.

| My understanding is that they are being outfitted with Sig Sauer P226's in
the .357 sig
|caliber w/12 rd. mag. And not real happy about it 'cause it's not real
comfortable to
|carry on an airline. They're pushing for the Sig Sauer P239 w/7 rd. mag, also
in .357 sig.
|It's smaller and more comfortable to carry.

The Sigs are nice, but I still prefer the Berettas.

| The rationale behind the FMJ round, besides penetration, is that tests have
shown that
|if it hits a wire or hydraulic line, it's more likely to deflect or dent it
where a hollow point
|is more likely to cause a fracture, as is a pre-frag. like the Glaser.

The manufacturer might disagree with that. It was one of the design parameters,
and one of the tests performed before the Glasers were approved way back when.

| As far as puncturing the skin, it's just a small hole. The explosive
decompression that
|you see in the movies is a myth.

I'm aware of that. Anyone that's ever seen a shot up military plane knows
damned good and well that "explosive" decompression is a myth.

A hole in the skin wouldn't even result in a noticable
|pressure drop.
| A window hit would be troublesome, but not catastrophic. And again, a FMJ
would be
|more likely to punch a clean hole, but even if the window shatters, everything
is not going
|to suddenly get sucked out. You're only looking at a 6 - 8 psi difference
inside to out.

I stated in another post that the pressure difference wouldn't even give a
passenger a good hickey if they stuck their neck to the hole.

| If you think about it, it does make sense. Especially is you absolutly must
stop someone
|from detonating a bomb, NOW!!!!
| But I'm not involved with the Sky Marshall program, so I cannot personally
assure you
|that this info. is accurate. But I tend to believe it.

Ok. My info came from various sources, including a couple of airline captains
that are buddies. They might be using both.


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