MTT TL, let me tell you that having been on the recieving end of fast flying metal, you usually don't know how bad your hit or if you're hit at all. With adrenaline pumping and you reacting (ever notice a deer with a heart or double lung shot still running 50 to 100 yards? but a good neck shot DRT) you can contenue the fight for longer than most think. Gunner on the 2 truck took a 7.62 round into the back and out the chest and tried to get back up even though he was bleeding like a stuck pig. He had to be held down so they could stop the bleeding.
Also bigger isn't always better. The cops have a video about this as well, and one example was a bolt-action mistake where a round detonated before the bolt was engaged and it blew the bolt back into the guys hip or abdomen (either way it penetrated at point blank range) massive hole, bigger than any hand gun bullet. The guy lived. Shot placement is the true decider. Or a mossberg 500 with 00. 9 .38 rounds going into someone at once. My choice of weapons for home defense would be the mossberg 1, and a GLOCK 27 loaded with talons being #2 and could use it for concealed carry.
Good post, even if the title was misleading.
I was hoping for a list of good defense pistols.