I've worked a bunch of different homicides with a bunch of different weapons. The only "weapon system" that was 100% fatal was the common .22 repeating rifle. Most of my time was on Indian reservations, so that was the handiest thing around when the killing started, but if somebody starts poking holes in you with their trusty Marlin Model 60, your day is at an end.

Pistols were hit and miss. I used to be on a fugitive squad in New Orleans and almost everyone I arrested had been shot at one time or another. To kill time on the way to Central Lockup I would ask them about what they had been shot with, and they were usually more than happy to point out healed and mostly healed bullet holes and say: This one was a 9, or this one was a forty. One guy was missing almost all of his left calf which he claimed was from an AK round. Didn't stop him from healing up and paying back the favor.

I think the best deal going is .40 police trade ins. Its like when those obsolete .30/40 Krags hit the market way back when for next to nothing. Those guys back then probably said - what do I want a clunky old thing like that for? Meanwhile, other guys were socking them away.

Now is the chance to be the other guy.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Those who believe a .40 automatically has recoil issues are just using the wrong brand. I have a Springfield XDm .40 that has far less recoil than my Sig P220 .45. Apparently Glocks are not like that and it seems that is the only brand many people consider. From all I've seen in reports on the Glock .40's their recoil is tough to handle. I can't even feel the recoil on my XDm.

I recall reading an interview with an emergency room doc who claimed that he had never lost a patient with a pistol caliber wound if the patient made it to the emergency room with any life left at all. He said that most of those shot with a rifle either did not arrive alive, or that they died while being worked on.

We have to remind ourselves that handguns are not particularly effective in killing - we just need them to be effective in stopping an attack.

I had a Glock 22 I was never happy with the recoil impulse on and got rid of it. I picked up a Sig P229 for cheap and that is like night and day compared to the Glock. Better recoil and, to me, better grip feel.