Were typical 19th century cartridges lower velocity as compared with modern ones? Does that make a difference in terms of lethality and stopping power?
I recall the Army had to upgrade their 1890s-era pistols to the M1911 Colt firing .45 ACP to deal with fanatical Moro warriors. I read about a shoot-out between Arizona Rangers and outlaws, where most of the participants had Winchester or Savage lever-action repeaters. One guy had a Spanish Mauser which made short work of the cover the outlaws were using.
I guess I'm wondering if it's realistic to show that injuries in a gun battle with late 19th century cartridge arms are less lethal and incapacitating.
Velocity is mostly a matter of the difference between black powder and smokeless powder. The .45 Colt, using black powder, had a muzzle velocity no higher than 1,000 fps. Shorter barrels gave lower velocities.
You could only cram so much black powder into the case.
Using smokeless powder, that same cartridge can reach 1,500 fps. You can hand load a .45 Colt to reach higher velocities than a .44 Magnum.
But for the most part, velocity is more abut range and penetration than lethality. The faster the bullet, the better the trajectory and the greater the penetration at long range.
Solid lead bullets were incredibly lethal. Just look at the Civil war. A large caliber, soft lead bullet does incredible damage to the human body. There is no controlled expansion, as with a modern hollow point, and a hit on an arm or leg bone means losing that arm or leg. You really have to see the damage to believe it.
But soft lead has two huge disadvantages. 1. It has no penetration power on anything other than flesh and bone. If it has to go through anything solid to reach the body, it not only flattens, it can disintegrate. This means it also will not penetrate even ordinary soft body armor, let alone something like class three. 2. It can't be used at really high velocity because the friction of the air will melt it.
Cast lead is something else entirely, but that's another story entirely.
Anyway, bullets do not send people flying trough the air. Reflex muscle action can make a body appear to come off its feet, but never to the extent you see in silly movies. I saw a man hit in the center of the chest with a 12 ga. slug, and he did come off his feet, but only because of the sudden contraction and release of his leg muscles. It wasn't at all spectacular, though the damage that slug did was.
I've also seen a man down and dead instantly from a single 9mm round, and another man who was hit in the abdomen with a load of 12 ga. )) buck, probably the most lethal load out there, who not only didn't die, he never went down, and never lost consciousness. All nine buckshot exited, and did considerable damage on the way through, but he lived.
Anyway, you never know how a man will react to being hit by a bullet. Bullet placement is critical in making a kill, but only two spots on the body guarantee an instant collapse. One is a solid spinal cord hit, and the other is the brain stem.
Humans are individuals. A bullet that kills one person instantly may not kill another person at all. Even a heart or brain shot is not always fatal. This is why you keep shooting until the person is no longer a threat. You never count someone as dead until you bury him.
I've been shot twice, though neither hit was terribly serious. I took a bullet through the calf, and it felt like I'd been hit by a rock. I went down, but came back up running. I didn't know I;d actually been shot until after I reach cover.
Another time I took some shotgun pellets between the family jewels and my hipbone. That time I knew I'd been hit, but I didn't react at all. It felt like several hot needles going in, but the pain wasn't severe, and the pellets did no damage that mattered.
We had a man not far from here who was shot in the head with a .22, and didn't even realize it had happened. He fell, thought he'd bumped his head, and stopped the bit of blood he found with a wet washrag. He went to the doctor several days later, complaining about a bad headache. The doctor found the bullet hole, and all were, to say the least, very surprised.