Will todays modern magic bullets find the vitals for me, or do I still have to do that myself?

Thats all that really counts.

Placement, penetration, and what you hit- "wound track".

If you can do that better with a .32 loaded with ball, then with a .45 loaded with the most modern, expensive +p bullet, I'd say stick to the .32.

As for bullet technology being so advanced over the past decade, I just posted a link to a test where it appeared that some of the older designs still held their own with some of the newest- and in some cases, even bested them.

Pick your caliber and your weapon based on what you shoot well, what you are comfortable with, and what you will actually carry, pick your ammo based on what feeds (reliability is more important then magic bullets) in that pistol primarily, then choose what looks best to you in whatever tests you find relevant. Just make sure its reliable. Did I mention that reliability needs to be the first consideration past your ability to actually shoot the weapon here?

It doesn't matter what the FBI says to we private citizens- their guidelines can be treated as suggestions at most by us. Among other things, the FBI has to deal with standardization of a service weapon type and caliber to meet budget constraints and, yes, an "increasingly diverse" population of people in their employ. (Marvelous.....)

I can see why they might not want to run a cartridge as hot as the .40 can be in 9mm sized guns, especially the compacts, based on those things.

But if you like .40, you have a gun that you shoot well chambered for it, then, whatever.

Personally, I like the .45 Auto, in a high capacity striker fired format, but I'll carry a little gun chambered for a lesser cartridge.......... I always have my P3AT, and its loaded with ball. Sometimes its a backup to my XDm .45, but alot of times its my primary.

A .380 FMJ -will- get the job DONE, if you do your part.