Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “9mm vs. 40 – Is the .40 Caliber a Better Handgun Cartridge?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/9mm-vs-40/.
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Yea, my S&W 610 loves .40 caliber, shoots them just fineGood article. Glad the size of the FBI S&W 1076 was mentioned as that was the major reason of the 40 cal creation more so than Ammo being too powerful that gets regurgitated. Good on the author to mention that!
If you were to outfit a whole agency I get 9mm. If you have a 40 nothing wrong with keeping it,
it’s just hard to beat a 9 with cost acceptable performance and with less pressure less wear on firearms (talking polymer stuff but you still have to swap out recoil springs more frequently unless you run a revolver like a S&W 610)
I worked in a gun shop in the 1990’s. I heard 9mm horror stories from police officers. I have and carry a 40 S&W. I was never attracted to the 9mm. Before I went to 40, I was a 45ACP guy. I believe that the FBI move to 9mm was more about agents qualifying with their duty firearm than anything else.Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “9mm vs. 40 – Is the .40 Caliber a Better Handgun Cartridge?” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/9mm-vs-40/.
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Yup... heard this from my police friends... everyone of them.I worked in a gun shop in the 1990’s. I heard 9mm horror stories from police officers. I have and carry a 40 S&W. I was never attracted to the 9mm. Before I went to 40, I was a 45ACP guy. I believe that the FBI move to 9mm was more about agents qualifying with their duty firearm than anything else.
I saw the aftermath (responded to it) of a 45 230 JHp center punch failure so there’s no magic. What we have learned over the years while bullet construction has gotten better and 9mm has gained more as they have gotten expansions and penetration down with the 9mm speed and weight (while all calibers have benefited they haven’t benefitted as much as the 9)I worked in a gun shop in the 1990’s. I heard 9mm horror stories from police officers. I have and carry a 40 S&W. I was never attracted to the 9mm. Before I went to 40, I was a 45ACP guy. I believe that the FBI move to 9mm was more about agents qualifying with their duty firearm than anything else.
well, I won't argue about the benefits of shot placement. This is the #1 factor in the shooter's ability to stop another and not so much a reflection of the abilities of a particular caliber. However, blood loss will also have an impact on stopping ability. While under pressure, no matter the caliber, placing the shot in the exact right place is difficult. Hence, it boils down to the wound channel. Rapid blood loss will render a person unconscious in seconds even if no vital organs are hit. The larger the wound channel the faster one's blood pressure will drop. This too must be considered when talking about the effectiveness of a particular caliber.I saw the aftermath (responded to it) of a 45 230 JHp center punch failure so there’s no magic. What we have learned over the years while bullet construction has gotten better and 9mm has gained more as they have gotten expansions and penetration down with the 9mm speed and weight (while all calibers have benefited they haven’t benefitted as much as the 9)
The issue was shot placement we have learned upper thoracic hits matter more than anything else.
Lots of other LE shootings with the 9mm 115 Silver-tip that was effective but that one shooting was what a lot of folks based it on.
As far as the 357 mag while the 125 JHH was and is a force to be reckoned with the blast alone was learned to factor into its effectiveness as many of the “1 shot stops” were not even hit and it was a psychological stop as you are throwing a hands free flashbang at them. 357 and 124 9mm at 1,200 FPS has the same penetration and terminal ballistics.
Of course we still hear “don’t shoot 38’s in a 357 it will keep you from being able to chamber a mag”
You like 40 or 45 or whatever use it. It’s the users skill over caliber as long as quality non anemic loaded ammo is used!
RIGHT ON THE MONEY!!!I worked in a gun shop in the 1990’s. I heard 9mm horror stories from police officers. I have and carry a 40 S&W. I was never attracted to the 9mm. Before I went to 40, I was a 45ACP guy. I believe that the FBI move to 9mm was more about agents qualifying with their duty firearm than anything else.
I worked a shooting back in the mid 90's where a legit outlaw biker was shot 4 times in the chest with .45 ACPs (probably hardball as they were fired from an old 1911) and walked to the ambulance after the dust settled.... I admit that he was a pretty big boy to begin with,, but four didn't even slow him down- much less stop him....I saw the aftermath (responded to it) of a 45 230 JHp center punch failure so there’s no magic. What we have learned over the years while bullet construction has gotten better and 9mm has gained more as they have gotten expansions and penetration down with the 9mm speed and weight (while all calibers have benefited they haven’t benefitted as much as the 9)
The issue was shot placement we have learned upper thoracic hits matter more than anything else.
Lots of other LE shootings with the 9mm 115 Silver-tip that was effective but that one shooting was what a lot of folks based it on.
As far as the 357 mag while the 125 JHH was and is a force to be reckoned with the blast alone was learned to factor into its effectiveness as many of the “1 shot stops” were not even hit and it was a psychological stop as you are throwing a hands free flashbang at them. 357 and 124 9mm at 1,200 FPS has the same penetration and terminal ballistics.
Of course we still hear “don’t shoot 38’s in a 357 it will keep you from being able to chamber a mag”
You like 40 or 45 or whatever use it. It’s the users skill over caliber as long as quality non anemic loaded ammo is used!
Hydra shock ammo never really gets talked about and is getting harder to find in a lot of places. I have a couple .45’s I carry it in.i have carried both during my le career, i like both and trained and felt comfy with both. now that i have retired i own and carry both calibers as my edc, along with a couple other calibers. train, practice, get proficient, with what ever you carry. also carry a good premium ammo for defensive encounters. there are several ammo manufacturers that produce a good premium defensive ammo. however i am partial to the federal hydra shock or hst ammo in all my calibers