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

DocSWAT · July 16, 2001, 06:08 PM

1031 to answer some of your questions:

If you are not going to put faith in the handgun you carry--don't carry it.

I carry a 45 because I train with it, it has served me well in the past in real life situations and I have never had to use more than 2 rounds to end a fight. I will fire until the perp is down, but always BEGIN with a double tap! LEOs are not trained to wound except in a couple of special situations which I will not discuss at this point. Remember a wounded man is still a life threat in most cases.

The stats you quoted were not from ALL TRAINED pofessionals using ONLY pistols, but include rifle shoot-outs, and others on the street when a gang sweeps an area with a MG. They also include individuals firing Saturday night specials .................and missing their intargets several times. If your going to take stats of trained professionals, which I am assuming most on this list are--whether or not they are LEOs or not (actually I have seen several civilians out shoot LEOs--of course Ft Benning is right down the street and the #10 ranked man in the world in IPC happens to be stationed there now......) than use them correctly. Look at the stats for LEO shoot outs and see how many shots were fired by LEOs in total and the # you quoted goes down drastically--and remember in that number you still have the unusual scenes like the Miami FBI shootout, the LA shootout and so on. In actuality, most normal pistol shootouts end with not more than 5 round TOTAL (from both sides) being fired. Even a current gun magazine--sorry I can not remember the name --now says the the 9-13 figure is way off because of what it includes.

If you study ballsitics and the shootings of the past the 45 is seen as a great round and I do put my faith in it when I do MY PART. Training and shot placment are GREAT KEYS and add to it the most proven and potent round, (just in case of your error in shooting). See we don't live in a perfect world and when it all goes wrong and you wound a guy, I would rather wound him with a 45 than a 9mm--because of the general overall impact it does.

Go to an autopsy of a shooting victim and discuss with the coroner...or whoever...the effects of what the individual was shot with...you may become surprized.

Here is some Reading Material:

http://www.sightm1911.com/Care/45acp.htm
http://www.firearmstactical.com/wound.htm

In jest I will say:

If I put 5 rounds of 45 in a person and he is still coming at me I'm am going to empty my other 5 into him...if he is still coming..I will reload and put 10 more in him..if he is still coming I will take out my shotgun and unload that in him and then I will turn off the Hollywood picture called Rambo and get back to reality.

July 16, 2001, 06:08 PM	#21
DocSWAT Member Join Date: May 2, 2001 Posts: 62	Effectiveness of the 45 1031 to answer some of your questions: If you are not going to put faith in the handgun you carry--don't carry it. I carry a 45 because I train with it, it has served me well in the past in real life situations and I have never had to use more than 2 rounds to end a fight. I will fire until the perp is down, but always BEGIN with a double tap! LEOs are not trained to wound except in a couple of special situations which I will not discuss at this point. Remember a wounded man is still a life threat in most cases. The stats you quoted were not from ALL TRAINED pofessionals using ONLY pistols, but include rifle shoot-outs, and others on the street when a gang sweeps an area with a MG. They also include individuals firing Saturday night specials .................and missing their intargets several times. If your going to take stats of trained professionals, which I am assuming most on this list are--whether or not they are LEOs or not (actually I have seen several civilians out shoot LEOs--of course Ft Benning is right down the street and the #10 ranked man in the world in IPC happens to be stationed there now......) than use them correctly. Look at the stats for LEO shoot outs and see how many shots were fired by LEOs in total and the # you quoted goes down drastically--and remember in that number you still have the unusual scenes like the Miami FBI shootout, the LA shootout and so on. In actuality, most normal pistol shootouts end with not more than 5 round TOTAL (from both sides) being fired. Even a current gun magazine--sorry I can not remember the name --now says the the 9-13 figure is way off because of what it includes. If you study ballsitics and the shootings of the past the 45 is seen as a great round and I do put my faith in it when I do MY PART. Training and shot placment are GREAT KEYS and add to it the most proven and potent round, (just in case of your error in shooting). See we don't live in a perfect world and when it all goes wrong and you wound a guy, I would rather wound him with a 45 than a 9mm--because of the general overall impact it does. Go to an autopsy of a shooting victim and discuss with the coroner...or whoever...the effects of what the individual was shot with...you may become surprized. Here is some Reading Material: http://www.sightm1911.com/Care/45acp.htm http://www.firearmstactical.com/wound.htm In jest I will say: If I put 5 rounds of 45 in a person and he is still coming at me I'm am going to empty my other 5 into him...if he is still coming..I will reload and put 10 more in him..if he is still coming I will take out my shotgun and unload that in him and then I will turn off the Hollywood picture called Rambo and get back to reality. __________________ DocSWAT Last edited by DocSWAT; July 16, 2001 at 09:46 PM.