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-   -   Best handgun round? (http://forum.imfdb.org/showthread.php?t=2405)

AdAstra2009 07-29-2015 04:51 AM

Best handgun round?
 
I've been doing more and more research on handgun calibers as far as use on self defense/police use and I've decided after looking over the most common handgun rounds that 9x19mm is the perfect handgun caliber for that use. 9mm you can hold more rounds in a pistol, less recoil therefore easier to keep on target and faster followup shots especially in a stressful situation, more velocity and range (not as important in handguns but in submachineguns/carbines) and cheaper to buy and therefore more economical for practice. The arguments for .45 ACP and .40 S&W in my opinion are nullified being that stopping power in handguns has largely been proven a myth. .40 S&W has excessive snap/recoil compared to 9mm holds less rounds and has a drastically reduced service life in comparison to 9mm handguns of the same type. The only reason I can find to use a .45 ACP over 9mm is if your running a suppressor as .45 ACP is subsonic. .45 ACP handguns also tend to have a drastically reduced capacity compared to 9mm. Only merits to use .40 S&W is they can be slightly more reliable shooting through a car windshield.

Can anyone argue a reason to use a caliber other than 9mm for a handgun in self defense/police usage...

Excalibur 07-29-2015 11:48 AM

I have no argument for other calibers than 9mm as a carry round for a handgun, other rounds like the .45 can be pretty awesome in an SMG.

The 9mm has been improved a lot since the 90s when the .40 was introduced

Yournamehere 07-29-2015 06:04 PM

You can have the caliber debate all day but 9mm will always have the most benefits and the least detriments for most handgun uses. As AdAstra mentioned, it is the most cost effective of the big three (9mm, .45 ACP and the soon to be defunct .40S&W), it is relatively low recoiling, and it will always offer a higher capacity than other calibers in similar guns.

There are some other considerations in favor of 9mm as well, though. 9mm guns tend to have better longevity as well considering that a lot of .40 guns were scaled up from 9mm guns to accept the cartridge. There are also subsonic 147 grain 9mm loads that are cheaper than standard .45 ball which mostly negate favoring of .45 for the purpose of suppression (though .45 ACP will be more powerful, but that doesn't outweigh every other 9mm benefit). The amount of micro guns in 9mm also allow the cartridge to bleed into .380 territory and a niche that .40 and .45 can't really touch due to their pressure/size constraints.

The whole stoppin' powah discussion is moot as well, and the small variance in ballistic numbers are mostly just puff. First off, you shouldn't count on your gun to "stop" someone in a less lethal capacity, as bullets are still very very lethal if they hit the right places. The general consensus in a defensive situation where lethal force is being used upon you is to shoot to kill, but not to execute someone if they are incapacitated, which makes perfect legal and ethical sense. Still, you should never go for or count on an incapacitating hit because bullets generally don't work that way. There is a very high likelihood that an individual will not be totally incapacitated by a gunshot, so your best bet is to understand that you may very well kill someone with your bullets and act with that consideration in mind.

As an extension of that, gunshots themselves are typically only definitely lethal if they hit a vital organ (the brain or the heart for example). Otherwise, they are survivable, and according to statistics, 80 percent of gunshot victims survive regardless of the caliber with which they are shot, because the wounds are in nonfatal places. Think about every mass shooting and notice how the amount of dead people is small compared to the amount of wounded, and this stat becomes easy to understand and accept. What kills people is getting to those vital organs, and some will argue that the mass and velocity of .45 and .40 allow for that penetration easily, but so do a lot of modern 9mm loads, according to independent tests conducted with the FBI 12" penetration protocols. Again, in summation, the stopping power point is moot.

.45 ACP will never go anywhere because of the 1911 and because its weight range allows for good penetration and velocity variances for niche practices, especially hunting and competition. .40 S&W was a poor solution to an overstated problem that created a lot of other problems that are just now coming to fruition after 20 some odd years of its use. 9mm Luger, with current bullet designs (and, I would personally argue, before current bullet designs) does just about everything well enough if not exceptionally well. I find it very hard to see reason to dispute this.

S&Wshooter 07-30-2015 05:29 AM

I think at this point, with the near limitless varieties of guns and ammunition around for each common caliber, the round itself matters less than what you're doing and what works best for you. For me, I think I'd use 9mm, .45 ACP, .357 Magnum, etc for different stuff usually; that being said I can't really think of any reason to use .40 for anything (I mean, I'll still probably end up with one just to have the option, but whether or not it'd be my choice for anything in particular would be 100% dependent on the gun rather than the caliber)

I myself would be way more likely to pick .45 ACP over anything else just for general use/whatever simply because I'm very used to it. However, I feel that .357 Magnum would be more flexible and all-around applicable, but it'd not be my first choice because even though I shoot revolvers pretty well, I highly doubt I'd be able to reload it under stress fast enough for it to be much use past the 6-7 shots I'd get from the first cylinder full

S&Wshooter 07-30-2015 07:07 PM

Well now you dicks have me researching the different rounds, thanks a lot. It'd be nice to get an auto in a semi-common round that performs similarly to .357 Magnum, without the gun being absolute ass or the round being expensive/rare

AdAstra2009 07-30-2015 07:32 PM

^Think the closest your going to get is .357 SIG as its relatively common, fairly priced, and I guess the great thing about it is you finally have a use for a .40 caliber pistol-swapping out the barrel and making it a .357 SIG pistol.

Yeah I started this thread as I came to the sudden realization that there's no reason for me to buy any handgun chambered in something other than 9mm except for novelty purposes. I was hoping I would be convinced otherwise.....oh well

Now my S&W 4506 and box of 500 rounds are nothing but a novelty :confused:

Though im still getting a 10mm for hiking/camping.

***1,000 post!!!***

Excalibur 07-31-2015 11:51 AM

Watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuiePszwaho

MT2008 07-31-2015 11:15 PM

I'm very much a 9mm guy myself, though my reasons have more to do with practical considerations (cost, mag capacity, and recoil) based on how I use my guns: range time only. Unlike seemingly everyone else, I don't place a lot of emphasis on self-defense.

I can't imagine I'll ever buy anything in .40 S&W, and while I respect .45, I don't think any .45 I own will ever be a go-to pistol for me.

Spartan198 08-02-2015 04:56 AM

.500 S&W, obviously. :P

S&Wshooter 08-02-2015 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdAstra2009 (Post 42011)
^Think the closest your going to get is .357 SIG as its relatively common, fairly priced, and I guess the great thing about it is you finally have a use for a .40 caliber pistol-swapping out the barrel and making it a .357 SIG pistol.

Yeah if I got a .40 that was able to do that swap, I'd get it just because. But if I get a .40 I reckon it'll be a S&W 3rd gen (if you find a 3rd gen here, 4/5 of the time it's a .40 because they were quite popular with the police), so I don't think that'll happen. Coonan time?

Quote:

Yeah I started this thread as I came to the sudden realization that there's no reason for me to buy any handgun chambered in something other than 9mm except for novelty purposes. I was hoping I would be convinced otherwise.....oh well
I want at least one pistol in each major caliber, but I like having options and variety


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