Best all around semi auto caliber

[500 newbie]

How about the 45 Win Mag

 

[novalty]

How about .357 Magnum?

 

[rock doc]

How about .357 Magnum?

I like it !! Great looking semi auto, but $1200 msrp?? .45 acps can be had for less, but I like the concept of .357 semi auto.

Coonan - Coonan Classic .357 Magnum Automatic

 

[Shadow1006]

Well, I happen to like and use the 10mm for my best all around semi-auto. I handload, so I can go from mild to wild performance with these perfect 10's! Bullet weights from 135gr to 220gr and construction of jacketed lead core, copper solids and cast alloy to deal with the intended target.

However for vesitility, by swapping barrels & ammunition ONLY, I can shoot 40S&W, 357SIG, 9x25Dillon from the same gun, again from mild to wild performance just because of the best all around semi-auto pistol being the perfect 10mm.

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...

 

[kewpie]

.45 ACP period, The End.

(but I'm an old fashioned guy)

/c

So is the 45 - but it is still 'kicking.'

(None better IMO.)

 

[Mule88]

I just like my calibers to start with a "4"

 

[bkp3gen]

These are the best threads to read...everybody is correct. Everybody has their own personal choice and that is what matters. What you shoot the most accurately IS the most deadly. I have many .22's, 9's, .40's and .45's...shoot all reasonably well. Not a master but I hit what I shoot at within an inch or 2. I'm still a believer in "2 to the chest and 1 to the head" and all of my practice follows this principle.

 

[Tunachaser]

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.

No you are not. I compete with a .40, I have shot thousands of rounds of the .40 and have....well, alot of em in the safe. I believe the 10mm or .41 mag are probably the ultamate hand gun load, but I still stick with the .40. the guy that said the .40 is a useless round..........well I just don't understand that, kind of an ignorant thing to say.

 

[nawilson]

These threads are so entertaining! Does anybody else remember when the gun magazines always had a least one article in the 9mm vs 45 ACP vs 357 magnum debate?

Now for my 2 cents... I chose to bet my life on bigger, heavier bullets at moderate velocites. That means 45 ACP. I personally think it is slightly better than the other choices. They are all only handgun cartridges. It isn't like we are considering rifles and shotguns. That is really where the power is.

 

[Tunachaser]

they are all good choices if you choose what you know how to use.

 

[J-FRAME]

2 nd Gen G17 9 mm 17 rounds of 124 gr GDHP at 1300 fps-The best auto IMHO

 

[Outrider]

Include the 10mm!

Every "debate" like this ALWAYS needs to include the 10mm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That said, I'm very, very, very fond of the .45 as well...

 

[steamloco76]

I shoot both .45 ACP and 9MM Luger fairly well, though I enjoy the big bore much more. Can't seem to get a good handle on the 40 S&W so I sold them and won't buy another in that caliber.

 

[joeintexas]

Like the others have said, carry and shoot what you shoot the best and are most comfortable with. I keep a .357 mag by my bed and a 12 gauge in the closet but the gun I keep in the bag is the 9mm. Ammo is cheaper, I can afford to shoot a lot more and I feel confident with it. My son shoots a 40 and he is very good with it, I certainly would be happy to have it if I needed it. The what caliber is best debate could go on forever, everyone has a favorite and its usually what THEY shoot best.

 

[Kavinsky]

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.

I wouldnt say that, I remember reading in the Elmier Keith book Sixguns that he found the 38 special and 9mm to be lacking in stopping power and had found that the old 38/40 and 44/40 winchester cartridges were the better choices for it than those two cartridges and both of those are in the ballpark of the bullet weight and velocity the 40 SW and 10mm put out.

mind you that was from a book written in 1955 and ammo wasnt as good as it is now, so as long as you can handle the gun well pretty much any gun will do as long as your using hollowpoints or semi wadcutters if its below 40 cal since the flat nose of the wadcutters delivers more energy to your target than FMJ's and hollow points are hollow points.

after all as long as you can hit your target where your aiming pretty much any gun will do, regardless if its a .25 or a .45

 

[bennettfam]

Since CA limits to 10 rounds anyway, the hi-cap advantage of the smaller cals is gone. So .45 is my fav.

BUT, my 9mm gets more range time due to ammo cost and my kid's preference for the softer recoil.

 

[Kavinsky]

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.

how the hell is that possibile? was he using really bad handloads or something, did he put 9mm in the 40 by accident?
I've done that by the way

also as I sidenote to what I said above I cant shake the old Elmer Keith saying of a heavier bullet at low velocity is what kills.

So personally while I like the 380, 9mm and 38 Special and I know that with the right bullets they would do the job with the first shot, I gotta go with a 45 because I know there would be no ifs ands or butts with the ammo just like with the 30-06/.308 vs the .223 debate.

Plus the reason why they went with single stack mags for the 1911 to begin with is that's the way all of the pistols used to be built back then, just like the deal with the springfield 1903, garand and mauser all being loaded from the top Marcus, it was just the way it was taught so firearms were built that way.

I mean the 9mm luger P38 was an 8 shot single stack and the 1911 45 was a 7 in WW2, hell the only double stack pistol out there during WW2 was the browning high power and I think there was a version of the mauser that had more than 8, that's all, double stacks and magazine fed rifles are all a post WW2 thing.

 

[remat457]

.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.

Useless to whom? It is the most prevalent law enforcement round.
An Alaska State Trooper recently dispatched a black bear with a Glock 22 with 180gr's. Not powerful enough? Try 10mm, it's my favorite.

 

[remat457]

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...

Just buy a 40 barrel for your 10mm!

 

[amazingflapjack]

Hi Cap ACP

Para Ordinance makes a couplevery nice .45 ACP pistols. Flapjack