Which are you a better shot with? What platform? Are you shooting through barriers? Oh, my, so many questions, hmmmm?

Okay, here's the long and short of it...

Placement, placement, placement...

A .44 caliber S&W revolver holds the longest record of accuracy in history- STILL... Though not "powerful" compared to round count, bullet weight, nor velocity of some of today's firearms, it still has NO equal in the most important category... Comparing the 230gr .45acp with the 158gr .38 Special, is like apples and oranges... As no handgun, that I know of, can use both calibers, it's a subjective at best...

If you were to compare, say, S&W's Governor, using .45 Colt and .45acp, out of the same weapon, comparison's could be made, and objectively so... Here, the .45LC can be loaded to exceed the pressures found in a .44 Remington Magnum. However, the use of full-moon, half-moon, and third-moon clips would be efficacious, vis-a-vis HKS' speed loaders, where you have "all, or nothing at all." The ability to use 6, 3, or even 2 rounds in combination to reload, is awesome...

Which hit's harder? .45acp over any standard velocity .38 Special. Which is more accurate? Ever see the great movie, "Any Given Sunday?" That's it, in a nutshell... Accuracy is everything...

Use what you shoot best- don't let "experts" sway you. Go to the range, and find out for yourself. THEN, practice, practice, practice, and never stop practicing...

As for speed, Wyatt Earp put it best. "Make haste, slowly..." In other words, placement/aim, making your first shot count, was paramount to survival...

OA, out...

Gee, here's where I show how OLD I am... I should have used .357, instead of .38 Special... Okay, here's where the velocity vs mass comes into play... .357 is, indeed, faster and lighter. So, too, was the 9mm. Using this as a baseline, the .45acp has stopped more people in combat, when used in the same theaters of combat as the 9mm... Same goes for the .38 Special. In police combat, there have been more kills, with .357, as not that many police or LEO organizations used .45acp. Where there was commonality, cops invariably preferred the .45acp. The most highly regarded .357 goes back to the SuperVel load of 125gr. at more than 1450fps. Dynamic results were encountered, but that was before the FBI tests developed after the Miami Massacre... Today, so many perps wear soft to hard body armor, that you NEED blunt force trauma, just to get their attention... It used to be the venerable FTS drill... Armor, helmets, shields, and face plates have obviated that... No more, two to COM, one to the head... NOW, use all three to the head, if necessary... With the .45acp, you have less chance for a small, fast bullet to curve around the skull, just inside the skin... One 230gr. SCHP, and all you need is a sponge and a squeegee...

My choice? Bigger is better... 200gr +P trumps light and fast...

OA