9 vs 45 vs 40 etc.

[Strider]

Ok everyone. I have come to a crossroads. Full disclosure, I have been a .45 guy all my life. Cut my teeth on them. But I gotta admit that modern ammo has really closed the gap. I have made the switch to 9mm on most of my platforms. Give my access to shooting reports and anecdotal evidence, I am a convert. Other than very heavy winter clothing, The differences are nil.

[alfsauve]

We also have cookies here on the dark side.

[tombogan03884]

Well, 9 mm, has been good enough for European's for 100 years, and the French have certainly drop tested them extensively.

[Big Frank]

Some 9mm +P ammo is as powerful as some .45 ACP standard loads but a .45 makes bigger holes. My Para Ordnance .45s have magazine capacities of 10 - 15 rounds, 20 in the extended mags. If I can't hit what I'm aiming at with 10-15 rounds the additional few rounds a 9mm gives me wouldn't be of much use. Plus I like +P ammo in my .45s that is more powerful than any 9mm +P.

[billt]

Ok everyone. I have come to a crossroads. Full disclosure, I have been a .45 guy all my life. Cut my teeth on them. But I gotta admit that modern ammo has really closed the gap. I have made the switch to 9mm on most of my platforms......

I agree, and have done much the same. I'm still a big advocate of the .45 ACP, but most all of my handgun purchases in the last 5 years have been 9 MM by a 2 to 1 margin. The 9 MM has a lot going for it. Most notably is cost. It's about 70% less than .45 ACP, comparing Ball to Ball. Today, 9 MM Ball is again available for around $10.00 a box. About the cheapest I've found reloadable .45 ACP Ball is $17.00+. Some higher, very few lower.

And in high performance self defense ammo, the 9 MM has improved leaps and bounds. So has the .45 ACP. But today's modern high performance 9 MM's are right up there with stopping ability. Back in the 70's you couldn't give me one. Today I love them.

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

Bullets are bullets, it's placement that matters.

[Magoo541]

I think a lot of people are making the move from 45 to 9.  My next pistol will be 9mm, probably a G19 too-the even darker side.

I will still shoot my XDM 45 in USPSA Limited 10, maybe even Limited if I get some mag extensions (Canyon Creek says 18 rounds). 

For now I still carry my XDS in 45, because I have it.

[billt]

I even bought a 9 MM AR-15 a while back!

[tombogan03884]

What about splitting the difference with .40 ?

[billt]

What about splitting the difference with .40 ?

The .40 S&W isn't much of an improvement over the 9 MM. Especially today with all of the modern, reliable expanding, high performance self defense ammo that's available out there. It's basically nothing more than a shortened 10 MM, which is a hell of a cartridge. Even a lot of the police departments that bought into the .40 hype in the late 90's, are now going back to the 9 MM.

About all it does do, is give you more recoil, less capacity, and tear up guns faster. It's not that it's "bad". It just doesn't offer much, if any improvement. It has become the proverbial solution to a non existent problem. The ammo is more expensive, albeit not enough to make much of a difference. And during all of the seemingly never ending ammo scares we've been through in the last 7 years, it's been a bit more available. But now with 9 MM Ball dropping back to around $10.00 a box, and pretty much available everywhere, even that incentive is gone.