500 newbie
Member
How about the 45 Win Mag
How about .357 Magnum?
![]()
.45 ACP period, The End.
(but I'm an old fashioned guy)
/c
Am I going to be the only one here to defend the 40 S&W? I'm finding much more 40 S&W brass than 45 ACP at the range and actually slightly more than 9mm even! It gives more capacity, but still has great knock-down power. To me, it's the perfect compromise and is able to be in slimmer, easier to conceal guns than the 45 ACP. Now please, in NO WAY am I dissing either the 9mm or the 45 ACP, but for me, the 40 S&W is my go to round and it's popularity amoung law enforcement says a lot in my mind.
I agree with what 18DAI said but add that I am not a fan of the .40 round. If you want capacity get the 9mm, if you want power get the .45. The .40 is simply a comprise round without the power the latter or the capacity of the former.
Shot placement does nothing when your round can not penetrate. Point blank shot into a dogs chest that was trying to attack him bounced off the dog chest bone(?) and exited out of this rear leg. I have reason to believe that if the same officer had a 9mm or a .45 that the dog would have been down for good.
When in my post did I say that the .40 was "underpowed"? Nowhere. I said that the .40 had poor performance which is means much more than the power that the .40 has. You can throw out all of the data that you want to but it does nothing when you compare something that is on paper to real life. I will never trust a .40 to save my life and would put the .40 just above a .380. 9mm and .45s are the only rounds that I will use.
.40SW is dead last because its a very useless round. I have personally seen officers take down deer after 3+ shots with that round while it took me one shot with my 9mm. Poor performance and the horrible kick make it a no go for my holsters.
Warning! Not advisable but!
Heck if push came to shove, the extractor of the 10mm pistol will usually hold a 40S&W secure enough to be shot from the 10mm chambered pistol with some reliability...