Best handgun round?

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by AdAstra2009

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

The reality is that you need to find a caliber you can train regularly enough with to become proficient with. Bigger calibers generally have more recoil (and effective range, but that's given the data on the close-range nature of defensive shootings that's not likely to be very useful) and if you can't train enough with them they're not much use to you. This is likely the reason why the FBI went back to 9x19mm despite experimenting first with 10mm and then .40 S&W.

Originally Posted by S&Wshooter

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

Have you tried using moon clips for revolvers? They have the potential to be even faster than speedloaders, and also make retaining spent brass cases very easy.

Originally Posted by AdAstra2009

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

I've heard that fully-loaded 10mm out of purpose-built 10mm handguns has less felt recoil than fully-loaded .40 S&W, despite the fact that .40 S&W was a downloaded version of the 10mm. Is it because 10mm handguns are built larger and heavier than .40 S&W ones, since the latter were intended to be very similar in size to 9x19mm handguns?