Thinking about moving from .40 to 9mm ...

[PoofNoEyeBrows]

Go with what ever caliber you shoot the most consistantly with. One will probably work with you better then the other, in my mind thats your choice.

[tnhawk]

... to be clear, my wife was a scholarshipped D1 Volleyball player.  She CAN shoot .40  .... she just doesn't like it.   I don't have the same issue, but I certainly respect her in it.

 

My wife can shoot 45 acp very well, but she likes to carry a .40.  The best option is to fire different calibers and guns and the best choice will easier to make.

[SupaRice]

I am by no means an expert on firearms or ballistics, but best I figure it would suck pretty bad to get hit with any of them. If you're not a good shot, especially with someone swinging a hammer at your face and those sort of situations, then it's best to have the most rounds you can. If you're cool as a cucumber in the face of disaster, make the biggest holes you can and get creative shooting folks in the dick and such just to prove your point.

The best argument I've seen for switching from 1 caliber to another is for uniformity in the household amongst multiple shooters to have a single caliber. That makes total sense to me, that or just satisfying the itch to buy more guns.

[FTE]

You will catch me with a 9 or the slightly less potent 38spl very often. But mass does matter because it equates into energy and energy is what makes rifle and shotgun rounds more effective. You do not have to dig very hard to find accounts of respectable 9mm ammunition failing to deliver effective neutralization. NYPD and most recently the GSP have had head shots that resulted in the unbelievable, a failure to incapitate and even suffering non life threatening injuries. I have ever heard the Chattanooga shooter received some well placed hits from a 9mm that failed to take him down and hopefully sometime we will get a report. The 40S&W has some of the same stories though ; one when THP shot someone in the face which resulted in moving to 357Sig.

When comparing two handguns rounds that are so close in size, the difference in mass between the two really doesn't matter.

Don't look to shooting stories to judge a round. For every round, there are stories of failures and "one shot stops". I could link a story of a BG getting shot 13 times before he stopped attacking a cop.


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[FTE]

http://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/articles/6199620-Why-one-cop-carries-145-rounds-of-ammo-on-the-job/

Found it.....actually 14 times.


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[SupaRice]

Anyone reasonable could agree that:

big > small
more > less

It's just that IMO, what would matter for most folks is that more trumps big... because it's one thing to shoot at a piece of paper that doesn't move and another entirely to shoot a person... especially one that's trying to kill you.

I've never been in that situation, but I've had "buck fever" before and as bad as that is, it's gotta be way worse under the kind of stress where you feel you might die soon. Which leads to misses, and frequently a lot of them. That might be the one thing that stories do tell us that is beneficial, even LEO guys who train regularly, and are in stressful situations more frequently than your average Joe miss under distress... best to have as much as you can. Which is the main reason I've been thinking about ditching the XDs (.45) I have and going with maybe a larger gun.... in .40 since that's what the rest of my pistols shoot.

But what do I know... Edited November 25, 2015 by SupaRice

[Wyldk2]

My first pistol was a g23 3rd gen. I still have it. I went to a 9mm shield as my edc a few years ago simply due to the fact that I prefer to conceal rather than feel like I have a huge brick on my side all the time. And if you're a good shot, you rely more on shot placement over number of rounds anyday. I usually have only 8 rounds in my edc, so yes it's not quantity, but quality shooting if necessary.

So I have both, I still use the g23 as a backup and as a carry pistol when I'm offroading. But get whatever you feel comfortable shooting.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

http://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/articles/6199620-Why-one-cop-carries-145-rounds-of-ammo-on-the-job/

Found it.....actually 14 times.


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Thanks for sharing this!

[FTE]

Thanks for sharing this!

Of course. I think stories like this are important to share when caliber wars go the direction they always go.....

No pistol round is magic. No caliber will "knock a guy off his feet". "One shot stops" are a myth of the uninformed.


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[Patton]

I have read into that story a lot before; I even heard at least one of the Gold Dots bounced off the turds head. That event lead to some departments choosing to dump 230 gr ammo. Even two shoots of 12ga buckshot fired point blank into center mass by Bill Allard failed to stop a guy that was eventually dropped with a .38.

[Caster]

The only intelligent and responsible choice is the one you are most accurate with. The old argument of bigger is better is farce. Holes kill stuff, put holes in it and it will go down.

The ONLY way to make this decision is to extensively shoot both an look at the paper. Remember, a .22 short that hits beats a .50 BMG that misses. Only hits count.

I moved away from .45 auto years ago for this very reason.

[MrsMonkeyMan2500]

Of course. I think stories like this are important to share when caliber wars go the direction they always go.....

No pistol round is magic. No caliber will "knock a guy off his feet". "One shot stops" are a myth of the uninformed.


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Mine was more thanks for the real message! Always be prepared! My friends freaked a bit when we told them we recently bulk ordered ammo. My MIL is confused as to why I have 2 guns in my vehicle with 2 full mags and extra boxes of ammo. They think I'm paranoid. I am just prepared should I ever need it. I'm 97.8% sure I wont, but if I do, then awesome! I'm ready!

[rmiddle]

Maybe it's because I was raised by a woman that is basically just like Sarah Connor from Terminator, but I've never understood why women claim to have a hard time with certain calibers or why the gun community continues to reinforce the idea that women are incapable of shooting anything larger than a 380 or 9.

I just took my girlfriend to the range a few weeks ago.. 5'1"" petite build.. And she was shooting .308, 12 gauge slugs, 45 ACP, 357 magnum, and .40 like a boss. The only time she complains is when she shoots certain revolvers because of an old hand surgery she had.

If a woman can endure childbirth, then a woman can pony up the strength to shoot any caliber weapon as effectively as any man.

Just my .02 cents.

 

My mother can shoot a 9m and .45 but a .40 will just about jump out of her hands.  Women generally are weaker then men.  There are many women who can shot anything out there and there are men out there that will have trouble shooting a .40 or a .45.    Personally I work on computers all day and am not very strong.  I can shoot a 9m and get a kill shot 99% of the time with a .45 it is about 95% and with a .40 is drops down to below 50% and that is with practicing for a while.  In the end I found shooting a .40 cal to not be fun so I stopped shooting it.  Someday I might pick up a .40 just to have a sample in my collection but when it comes to carrying I carry a 9m so I have plenty of rounds to put someone down.

 

Thanks

Robert