All pistol rounds are inadequate, and are used only because that is what one has - if you have to go to a fight you can't avoid, you need to take a rifle. A good WC/SWC at 38/44 level should be as good as any modern service pistol; round nose and metal piercing are likely to be poor. Note that all the information available shows no performance difference between any good 9/40/45/357sig load that passes objective testing. Since most of the development has been in auto-pistol rounds since the late 80s, we have good information from Fackler and Roberts' work. All indications are that regardless of the round, one will have to deliver repeated good quality shots to stop a determined assailant. One should not fire one and assess - one needs to shoot until the assailant is disabled, aka "shoot 'em to the ground".
Placement is the biggest single variable. The training related to appropriate areas of the human anatomy to target has been poor until the last few years - look at the old targets. Most of them make the high score/aiming point far too low. The bottom of the "square" (not quite a real square, but close enough for our purposes) at which one should shoot is just above the split in the sternum. From the front: draw a horizontal line through the nipples, a vertical line through each, and top it with a horizontal line roughly through the clavicle notch. For a face shot, a triangle from the outside corner of the eyes to the bottom of the nose (so the point is down). A shot in the ear from the side, and the same thoughts as to the center of the vitals (roughly the armpit).
There has been some decent research done in LE over the last few years, starting from the primitive start of the FBI workshop in '88 or so. Doctor Roberts' last document is 33 pages as a I recall, and when one combines his ballistic research and resulting recommendations with sound tactics, cops do pretty well in shootings.
