Paul Harrell on the Miami Dade FBI Shooting

I posted the other day on Paul Harrell's illness. This video is one of the things that made me a fan. I'm going to say that I was still, obviously, a Fed. when the shootout happened and had access to the materials Harrell used in his presentation. I find his analysis excellent and very well thought out.

I'll add just two things. He mentions the use of .357 Magnum revolvers by Agents that day. The standard issue FBI revolver, and they still issued revolvers in 1986, was the S&W Model 13 with a 3" barrel. Standard issue ammunition was the .38 Special 158 gr. semi wadcutter lead hollow point. All but one of the agents carried this combination. An agent could request .357 Magnum ammo and the ammo supplied was the Winchester 145 gr. Silvertip, a very good .357 Mag. load. The .38 LSWHP was designed with 4" barrels in mind and works very well out of them, shorter barrels don't work as well, expansion is minimal out of 3" barrels and almost non existent out of shorter barrels. One agent, a supervisor was indeed carrying the .357 Magnum Silvertip load out of a personally owned S&W 2 1/2" barreled Model 19. He was the one who got the hit (torso hit) on "shotgun boy" and after that shotgun boy didn't immediately die but he fought no more. In a video roundtable discussion among the surviving Agents Ed Mireles who ended the fight said he was often asked how much ammo a LEO should carry. His answer - "I don't know, how much can you carry." That is a bit situational but for every day use when I was an LEO I had six in my revolver and 12 more in speed loaders, issue ammo was the excellent .357 Magnum 125 gr. semi jacketed hollow point ammo by either Remington or Federal, I preferred and carried the Remington because I felt it was easier to load. In situations where something real bad could happen in addition to the shotgun I always took for what might turn into a "serious social encounter" I carried 6 of the above mentioned.357 Magnum Remington hollow points in my 3" Model 66, three speed loaders, two with the same SJHPs and one with full metal jacket, and six more Magnum SJHP rounds in a "dump pouch." That's a total of 30 plus 5 in the shotgun.

I've probably posted this before but it is very well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv8cByaVyNQ

A .357 with a 3" barrel would be ruff on the ears.

My brother has a 3" model 10 hwy barrel (38spl) and a 2 1/2" 19 as mentioned above. Both are surprisingly accurate.