Incorrect. The same advancements in ballistics technology which have allowed the 9mm Luger to penetrate deeply with reliable expansion have been applied to .380 ACP as well, so now with proper ammo selection, the .380 ACP is capable of meeting FBI/IWBA specifications by penetrating a minimum of 12" into a ballistics gel block through 4 layers of heavy denim with full expansion. The only downside is that the bullets capable of reaching theses specs don't expand very much and they on average fall between 2-3" less than their 9mm Luger counterparts. (If you need proof, look up some .380 ammo tests on YouTube featuring the XTP bullet, honorable mention goes to shootingthebull410 who has done extensive testing on .380 ammo.)
The point I'm trying to make here is, you're being extremely arrogant and obtuse by making silly inflammatory statements like how .40 S&W and .45 ACP should have never existed just because 9mm Luger is an effective round. .380 ACP with proper ammo selection can be effective as well, does that make 9mm Luger a useless round? Certainly not, and neither does 9mm Luger being an effective cartridge make .40 S&W or .45 ACP useless cartridges.
Sometimes folks just like to carry larger caliber rounds which deliver more energy.
I don't pay attention to ballistic gel blocks or Youtube tests. I talk to big-city ER doctors and pathologists, and study autopsy reports. Those sources tell a different tale. They will tell you that it's placement and penetration that shut bad guys down, not "energy" or any of the other aforementioned myths. The .380, even in its most effective form, FMJ, doesn't reliably penetrate. They will tell you:
1. Pathologists can't tell what made the hole(s), what caliber it was, or what type of bullet it was, from examination of the body.
2. People hit in vital organs with any kind of bullet or caliber die pretty quickly. Those who aren't, don't.
3. Magnum stuff, .44, 10mm, etc. doesn't make humans any deader than the service calibers.
4. Shot failures are failures to penetrate, not failures to expand.
5. Handgun bullets frequently fail to expand at all in people, and those that do, usually just deform oddly rather than make those perfect mushrooms and flowers seen in bullet ads.
6. "Terminal ballistics testing," i.e. gel blocks covered with x layers of denim, etc. are low-order approximations. Human bodies are complex and each shooting is unique and unpredictable.
7. If Agent Dove had been shooting FMJ rather than expanding Silvertip bullets, Michael Platt might (or might not) have gone down in seconds rather than in four minutes and seven shot Special Agents. That was a shot failure due to penetration failure, not some imagined "weakness" of the 9mm caliber.
8. The .40 was invented because agents couldn't handle the 10mm. The 10mm was fielded because Agent Dove's bullet didn't stop Michael Platt quickly enough.
9. The .45 ACP may have been invented because the .38 didn't stop Moros quickly enough, but they don't tell you about the sequel: Moros hit with .45 didn't fall any quicker than they did when hit by .38. Some of them kept on going even after multiple hits with .30-40 Krag rounds.
All this and more upsets shooters to no end. It destroys cherished myths and shakes their confidence in their magic self defense bullets.
But that's the reality of it.
Bottom line: For defense against bad guys, 9mm FMJ is as good as anything out there, and better than many.
