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Evan Marshall is a Special Weapons and Tactics trainer
for a federal agency with counterterrorist responsibilities. He retired from the Detroit Police Department after 20 years
of service. His assignments included Tactical Unit, Crime Scene Investigation, Homicide and the Special Response Team. He
has trained groups as diverse as the Federal Air Marshals and the U.S. Army Special Reaction Team. His articles on ammunition,
ballistics and tactics have appeared in the law enforcement and firearms press over the past 25 years. Evan Marshall co-authored
a series of three books with Ed Sanow: Stopping Power: A Practical Analysis of the Latest Handgun Ammunition;
Handgun Stopping Power: The Definitive Study; and, Street Stoppers: The Latest Handgun Stopping
Power Street Results.
According to the book description of Stopping
Power: A Practical Analysis of the Latest Handgun Ammunition (third in the series, published March 2001), “Evan
Marshall and Ed Sanow rocked the firearms world with the release of Handgun Stopping Power and Street Stoppers. Both books
predicted the effectiveness of all types of ammunition by studying the results of real-life shootings rather than relying
on laboratory tests that ignored the dynamics of an actual gunfight. This third book in the series provides the very latest
street results of all the major handgun calibers, from .22 LR to .45 ACP, as well as popular rifle and shotgun loads. It also
contains chapters on short-barrel ballistics, the emergence of the hot new .357 SIG caliber, the continued success of the
.40 S&W, the development of the latest exotic ammo, the effectiveness of black powder firearms and a brand-new ammo test
protocol based on the results of the many gunfights of U.S. Border Patrol officers.”
One reader of Stopping Power: A Practical Analysis of the Latest Handgun Ammunition said, “After reading way too many discussions on "stopping power"
in gun forums, I figured I'd buy the book and see what all the nay saying was about. After reading the book, I must confess
it sounds to me like lots of folks hate these guys (and their findings) because it doesn't square with what they already
believe. I haven't finished it completely (I keep jumping around chapters), but so far I'd have to say it's great!
True, stopping power is not an exact science as there are so many variables, but the authors acknowledge
this.
Basically, it looks to
me like many folks depend entirely on lab results, loving the repeatability they can achieve when in the lab (the "Jell-O
Junkies"). 'Course, we all know when it comes to real world results, things are often not what they seem in the lab.
Looks like these guys got real world results first, THEN took the same ammo to the lab to see how it tested. Since they know
what works in the field, hopefully bullets can now be designed in the lab using the lab characteristics of real world stoppers
as a baseline. As one who tends to come down on the side of real world results (ignore the real world at your own peril!),
I like their methodology!”
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