The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Whats your favorite caliber between...9mm...40..and 45 ??

proximo · July 15, 2001, 09:12 PM

I recently took John Farnam's Defensive Pistol class where we shot heavy metal spinners (two 9" square metal plates on either end of a vertical bar that spun around a horizontal axis) I shot a Kimber .45 and a number of other folks shot 9mm. The effect of a 230gr FMJ .45 on the plate compared to hits with a 9mm was impressive and convinced me that the .45 hits a lot harder than a 9mm. The difference was less pronounced comparing .40S&W to .45, but the .45 still obviously hit harder. One stat given in the class was that something like 5% of all shooting nationwide are fatal (don't remember the exact percentage but that's in the ballpark). The Chicago Housing Authority police found that when using Federal Hydrashock .230gr .45 ACP loads, their percentage of fatal shootings went to 30%. I'll be sticking with .45 ACP from now on.

July 15, 2001, 09:12 PM	#4
proximo Junior member Join Date: May 11, 2000 Posts: 191	I recently took John Farnam's Defensive Pistol class where we shot heavy metal spinners (two 9" square metal plates on either end of a vertical bar that spun around a horizontal axis) I shot a Kimber .45 and a number of other folks shot 9mm. The effect of a 230gr FMJ .45 on the plate compared to hits with a 9mm was impressive and convinced me that the .45 hits a lot harder than a 9mm. The difference was less pronounced comparing .40S&W to .45, but the .45 still obviously hit harder. One stat given in the class was that something like 5% of all shooting nationwide are fatal (don't remember the exact percentage but that's in the ballpark). The Chicago Housing Authority police found that when using Federal Hydrashock .230gr .45 ACP loads, their percentage of fatal shootings went to 30%. I'll be sticking with .45 ACP from now on.