Moro and narcotics

[Vaarok]

Well, two things of note. One, as was mentioned, a .38 caliber blackpowder or primitive smokeless cartridge like .38 Long Colt is far and away from a certain killer. It barely delivers 270J of energy at the muzzle. The idea of a sidearm is generally to be a backup for a primary weapon like a rifle, and a bolt-action rifle with a high-velocity jacketed bullet is much more likely to punch clean through than cause tremendous harm. This was a huge reason for the reissue of the Single Action Army in .45 Colt, which created about 650J of muzzle energy, and troops favoring the single shot Trapdoor Springfield in .45-70 over the .30-40 Krag magazine-fed smokeless rifle.

So you've got psychologically hyped up, adrenalized, possibly drugged opponents swarming people with bolt-action rifles and backup revolvers in relatively mixed cover. Chances of clean misses increase, fleshwounds are not severe because of slow velocity ball projectiles, nothing but a CNS hit really can be relied upon to put an opponent down regardless...

I suppose it all devolves into Tueller Drill (the theory that within forty feet a knife beats a gun for first-critical-wound-delivered) versus fire discipline.

It's also why the Thompson-LaGarde Tests were demanded in 1904, and subsequently the adoption of the .45 ACP.

The British, however, ended up with the Mark III cartridge after facing definitely drugged Zulus with Martinis, Beaumont-Adams, Webley-Green, and Webley-Pryse revolvers, and the 220-grain .455 hollowpoint derived from their experiences definitely earned the title of The Manstopper largely because of use on chemically enhanced opponents.

[t_c]

Another interesting thing to consider is the psychological effects of being shot.
I saw on TV a home movie some teenagers made of shooting people with their paintball gun (drive-by style). One person got shot about 4 times, which I'm sure hurt, but fell down screaming bloody murder thinking that the weapon had been a real firearm. It's all in the mind.

The FBI got in depth on all this - here's some excerpts below. I recommend reading the full section "The Human Target". I don't think that the Moro's really needed drugs. I think their fighting spirit alone could have been enough to keep them going after taking a few rounds.

FBI Report: HANDGUN WOUNDING FACTORS AND EFFECTIVENESS

The Human Target

Physiologically, a determined adversary can be stopped reliably and immediately only by a shot that disrupts the brain or upper spinal cord. Failing a hit to the central nervous system, massive bleeding from holes in the heart or major blood vessels of the torso causing circulatory collapse is the only other way to force incapacitation upon an adversary, and this takes time. For example, there is sufficient oxygen within the brain to support full, voluntary action for 10-15 seconds after the heart has been destroyed.(28)


The Allure of Shooting Incident Analyses

Further, it appears that many people are predisposed to fall down when shot. This phenomenon is independent of caliber, bullet, or hit location, and is beyond the control of the shooter. It can only be proven in the act, not predicted. It requires only two factors to be effected: a shot and cognition of being shot by the target. Lacking either one, people are not at all predisposed to fall down and don't. Given this predisposition, the choice of caliber and bullet is essentially irrelevant. People largely fall down when shot, and the apparent predisposition to do so exists with equal force among the good guys as among the bad. The causative factors are most likely psychological in origin. Thousands of books, movies and television shows have educated the general population that when shot, one is supposed to fall down.

Conclusions

Physiologically, no caliber or bullet is certain to incapacitate any individual unless the brain is hit. Psychologically, some individuals can be incapacitated by minor or small caliber wounds. Those individuals who are stimulated by fear, adrenaline, drugs, alcohol, and/or sheer will and survival determination may not be incapacitated even if mortally wounded.

[Rick]

I have heard that even a 45 round taken in the hand is enough to spin a man around and knock him down .

I still have to believe that in the case of the Juramentados the pre-applied funeral wrappings helped reduce the damage from exit wounds .
Maybe in some cases the wrappings were of silk .

We are all aware of the strength of silk .

That might reduce the fatal target area to the head or spinal chord .

[Dimasalang]

Vaarok, I'd like to know your source where the troops favored the single shot Trapdoor Springfields over the Krags. I have read several reports by the Philippine Constabulary officers whom hated the Springfield 45 rifles and made several long standing attempts and requests for Krag rifles. At the time the Krags were being phased out of the Military for the new Springfield M1903s, and they wanted any type of "repeating" or magazine type rifle. The problems stated with the Springfield obviously being the capability to fire only one shot and extremely long time to reload. Particularly during a bolo rush, that one shot was all they were good for and every encounter turned in to hand to hand combat rendering the rifle useless...all the while being blackpowder(lots of smoke to give away your cover and being inaccurate). The Springfield 45s rifles were old military stock from the Indian Wars prior to the issue of the Krag. And at the beginning of the Philippine American War Springfield 45 rifles were issued to native scouts. They were later reissued to Philippine Constabulary and Philippine Scout units.

But still...even a 30-40 Krag cartridge was not so deadly either.
Another account of a Moro:
...he was finally felled by a .45 slug through both ears... He had "thirty-two" Krag balls through him and was only stopped by the Colt .45 - the thirty-third bullet.

The Tueller Drill is another interesting theory that can be backed up by the results of the Philippines. The Visayas and Mindanao terrain is very different then the open fields of Luzon. Note that the Lodge Committee investigated the lopsided death toll ratio of the Phil-Am war believing a realistic war would be around 5:1(insurgent to American death). Anything more they felt was a massacre and/or atrocities taking place. If I remember right, the committee figured out a 10:1 ratio during the war. I recall one general being asked of one battle where 2 US troops were killed versus the 75 insurgents killed. His answer was the toll was higher then 75 for insurgents because most of their dead and wounded were carried off the battlefield. It is of my own opinion because of the terrain of Luzon and the lack of Filipinos with firearms that led to such a high death toll ratio. These Filipinos armed with nothing more then a bolo ran out in "open" field and were killed in a hail of gun fire. This makes sense as they would be in plain sight for a hundred yards or so. Where as, in Visayas region and parts of Mindanao, the Filipinos and Moros had better coverage. Samar/Leyte for instance is dense underbrush...it is one huge jungle. The enemy could be at arms length before they could hear and react to them.

[Battara]

A very good point Dimasalang. More coverage for the mid and southern Philippines. Warriors can get closer to their targets than in the north when attacking. Less reaction time and thus more casualties on the Spanish or US side.