Billy,
At this stage,I will sit back and watch the other folks do the tests.

Basically,close contact shots are "helped" by the expanding gases.

I had an investigation where a young lady took out a carjacker who hopped into her car. Her Detective Special loaded with the plain jane 38 spl RN was more than enough to end the fray.

Contact shot where she put the piece,firmly,into his ribs and touched one off. Incident pretty much ended right there.

Wayne