
Musing on Fort Scott’s Munitions
Kansas company’s deadly .300 Blackout, 5.56 NATO Tumble Upon Impact rounds get thumbs up.
Story and Photos by Paul Pawela
for Tumble Upon Impact – is one of several
unique rounds from the company that come
with solid testimonials, per author Paul Pawela.
Last month in this column, I wrote about the Battleline Tactical and Fort Scott Munitions close-quarter training course, held at the latter’s facility in Fort Scott, Kansas. I was then asked my thoughts on Fort Scott’s ammunition, which I will discuss in this article.
But before I pontificate on the company’s product line, I had planned to write an article on the poor
performances of some of the leading law enforcement rounds. Hollow points are advertised as mushrooming bullets excellent at stopping bad guys. However, most of the time this is simply not true.
I was sent an in-depth medical report by a trusted friend, who happens to be an ER surgeon and a
federal tactical officer/nationally-recognized firearms trainer. He has pulled lots of bullets from actual
bodies on the operating table and the top bullets failed to mushroom as advertised; he supplied the pictures of those bullets to back it up. Before I get crucified by the keyboard commandos for criticizing
their favorite ammo, first let me state for the record that I do not claim to be an expert on wound ballistics.
However, the same could be said for most people, including said keyboard commandos.
Even the FBI has little expertise on the matter. Here is what they had to say on the subject in their Handgun
Wounding Factors and Effectiveness” report: “There is no valid, scientific analysis of actual shooting results in existence, or being pursued to date …
There are some well publicized, so called analyses of shooting incidents being promoted, however, they are greatly flawed. Conclusions are reached based on samples so small that Most research on wound ballistics comes from coroner reports based on autopsies of said reports, as well as doctors who perform emergency procedures on gunshot victims. Then we have police reports, though these may be tainted for one reason or another.
TO DESTROY OR kill an animal, including humans, there are only two ways to do so:
1) A shot to the central nervous system, or CNS. The CNS controls all bodily functions. No part of the body can function without a signal transmitted through the CNS. Gunshot wounds to the CNS oer the best chance for reliable incapacitation; however, there is not a 100-percent guarantee that this will be quickly
achieved.
2) A shot to the brain and the medulla oblongata. The brain is small but not as difficult to hit as many state. At close range, it is often hit with remarkable results. The medulla oblongata brain stem lies between the
brain and the top of the spinal column; while a hard target to hit, if achieved it offers immediate body incapacitation.

Kansas company’s ammunition. (FORT SCOTT MUNITIONS)
With handgun ammunition, incapacitation will generally come from hypovolemic shock, which is caused by a loss of blood volume sufficient to drop blood pressure to critical levels. Bottom line, it could take a while to bleed out and die. This could be very problematic if an individual is shot but still capable of hostile action.