9mm vs .45

[algboy 0]

And I have all my own teeth

“Keep your elbow up!"

[bluskidave 0]

I personally use a Colt 44mag. Anaconda 4" barrel. 180 to 300 gr. bullets depending on the situation.Use glaser safety slugs for close combat where you don't want the slug to go through the bedroom wall and kill a member of your family.300gr.for dangerous game.Like Clint said "Make my Day"

[steve1 5]

I'm a firm believer in using enough gun. In hunting situations I hate to see anything get away wounded or suffer because of using too small of a weapon.

On the other hand many people are way over-gunned for the situation. Many people buy magnum type rifles and can't shoot them accurately because of the recoil and noise.

I know Dirty Harry was a great movie, but I don't think a 44 magnum would be the best choice for his line of work. But if you can shoot one well, who am I to judge.

Myself, I like my measley little 9mm. I can shoot it accurately and then be back on target quickly for a second shot if needed. I think it would blow a nasty hole if the right bullet is loaded. It might not penetrate windshields and doors as well as a 45 though.

If I shot a pistol a lot though, I might go to a 45....Steve1

[Nightwing 0]

Got a CZ75B in 9mmP a earlier in the year and with the right ammo-read JHP of suitable weight...115gr and up it will stop a bad man. Plus it holds 16+1.

And like many have said already, when the shit hits the fan you're rarely going to pull the trigger once. You do until the threat is no more.

Drags me down, like some sweet gravity...
Nightwing has stirred, and taken to flight...the silence is over, he's shattered the night!!!

[ripcord4 0]

Use a .45 . Never carry a handgun whose caliber does not start with 4. A .45 lets the blood out and the air in.

[Binkus 0]

I havent read the other posts so you may have already heard this. I am a weapons specaialist for the millitary and avid shooter. The 9mm gets a bad name for lack of power espicaly from the millitary comunity. The main reason for this is becouse in the millitary you are forced to used ball amunition. ball amunition dose not expand on impact with a person therfore with a small and faster round like the 9mm it will just punch through flesh. With modern advaces there are several quality hollow points and pre fragmented rounds on the civillian market that can be quite lethal in a 9mm. The 45 is a larger and slower round so even if it dosent expand on impact it will still rip through the flesh and cause a lot of damage. I prefer the 45 but I am comfortable with both. Most importantly is your skill level, neither is very effective if you dont know how to use it. If you are not very experinced I would recomnd the 9mm. Its recoil is much eaiser to control and you will find it more foregiving while you learn to shoot, wich in turn decreases the chances of developing bad shooting habits. Also consider where you are most likely to use it. For a while I lived in a apartment with thin wooden walls. A 45 would punch right through the walls posibly hurting a neighbor so for my home defence weapon a used a 9mm with prefragmentated rounds. Prefragmantated rounds are simular to hallow points but designed to espand and breakapart even quicker, this creates less penetration into the target/obsticle, Therefore the round is less likely to punch through a bunch of walls. Some people will say that 45 dosent give you high capacity like a 9mm will but there are several reliable hi capacity 45 avalible (although it will be a larger/bulkier weapon)
So in short both can be effective, most important is training with it and choseing a quality self defence load/round for the weapon. Hope this helps

[Binkus 0]

Ok Ive read most of the posts and felt like adding a few things. Mainly becouse I like talking guns. First coment, a couple of people were talking about chosint the .30 over there .223 in combat (millitary weapons systems) For those of you in the millitary I would recomnd finding some 5.56 mm special purpose rounds for your M4. The standard M855 rnd is a 64 grain rond. The 5.56 special purpose or AA53 is a 77 grain round. Athought it is still a 5.56 round it is much more efective than the M855. Ive seen the results of both rounds. Still cant compare to a 7.62. Next coment, a lot of bad mouthing of the Beretta, I actually like the Beretta and do believe it is reliable if maintaied properly. (millitary weapons are not) It got a bad rep from the millitary when the first fielded it due to slides cracking and sliping of under fire. This problem was fixed long ago and only happend in a few ocasions. when Beretta first started produceing for the millitary they opened a factory it the US and used slightly different steel hardening methods thand the Italian factory (Beretta is a Italina weapon) All the testing weapons came from other factorys and passed fine, since than they have changed the procedure and there have been no problems. The other issue is the Beretta is always cracking the locking block, due to the design this is bound to happen but it prevents wear on other parts of the weapon and is easly to fix. They break regularly in the millitary becouces the recoil springs are rarely replaced in millitary weapons causeing addition stress on the locking block. It should be replaced every 3 to 4 thousand rounds. The other reason it has a bad rep is becouse it replaced the 1911 .45 A extremly reliable and acurate system (and my gun of choice). Not to mention most hand guns that get used as heavly as millitary weapons will have some problems and will be heavly judged. The 1911 is still the best though. All right were was I? I got side tracked. Oh yea one other coment, some one said that the 9mm is more acurate than the .45 Totaly not true. Acuracy dose not have much to do with the caliber. A 9mm is more forgiving than .45 so it may seem more acurate but in skilled hands acuracy is determed by the weapon used (example a kimper 1911 compared to a Colt 1911) and by the round used. The round load not caliber. (example corbons compared to winchester white box) Many if not most competion shooters reload there own rounds and for each weapon they will test several different loads to determine what is most accurate for that weapon system. Factors such as bullet weight, type and amount of powder, bullet seating debth and overal cartige lenght all affect the acuracy. Anyways I quite ranting on

[4201 0]

"Here's 12 shots-we know how you do it-just make your killings clean-slugs up in between-their eyes like true lies, kill them and flee the seen-just bring back the coke or the cream-or else- your life is on a shelf-we mean this frank-the cats we fuckin with put bombs in your moms gas tank"

I'm down with 9mm. less recoil. Don't matter who u r, or what u on. i shoot u twice in the chest and one in the face; ur not going to be havin a good day.

[ripcord4 0]

Remember our forces are constrained as to ammo types by the Geneva Convention. That's why ball ammunition is used - we don't want to kill anyone with the wrong ammo. It's just not PC, you see. Be very careful about recommending "special" ammo.

[kbordson 8]

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Personally, as I've stated in the past, I perfer the 45, but that's more so cuz the 1911 is just a sexy looking gun. (and when I want something to go down, I want them to stay down.... at least for a bit.... )

OK... I still think that the 1911 is the sexiest handgun, but after playing in TX (lots of fun - more fun than I should post....) I have to say that more ammo is a good thing. I'm not saying that I'm completely over to the dark side - but 9mm might be up a notch.

[jumperboy357 0]

Here's my two cents on the subject. I own a Springfield XD 9mm. I have shot a lot of .45 and I love the caliber. But the 9mm is cheap to shoot and (in my opinion) has plenty of stopping power when you put your shots center mass where they should be. Also, there are quite a few streamline models in 9mm out there that can be easily concealed. Good luck and have fun with your decision.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Which one would you buy?
Some people say if needed for self defense the 9mm doesn't have enough stopping power vs. the .45.

Neither.

For home use you want a 12 gauge shotgun that'll put over an ounce of lead into whatever you're trying to stop. No handgun comes close.

A big gun doesn't do you any good when you can't take it with you. You need something pocket sized which a 1911 isn't. Even baby glocks are chunky. I'd take a Kel-Tec P3AT in .380. Many .25 pistols are bigger.

[Zipp0 1]

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I'd take a Kel-Tec
P3AT in .380. Many .25 pistols are bigger.

I wanted a Kel-Tec until I found my Makarov. The Mak is so much swweeter than the Kel-Tec P-11 I was looking at. Unfortunately, it is beginning to get hard to find a Makarov for sale.

Zipp0

--------------------------
Chuck Norris doesn't do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.

[StreetScooby 5]

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For home use you want a 12 gauge shotgun that'll put over an ounce of lead into whatever you're trying to stop. No handgun comes close.

And what if the bad guy has one of your kids in their arms? Handguns would be more viable in this situation.

We are all engines of karma

[warpedskydiver 0]

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For home use you want a 12 gauge shotgun that'll put over an ounce of lead into whatever you're trying to stop. No handgun comes close.

And what if the bad guy has one of your kids in their arms? Handguns would be more viable in this situation.

in that case if you were indoors, lets say they other side of a room ok? you would be able to kill him outright even with a shotgun and with the perp holding the child.

the pattern on most all modified chokes will allow a fairly small pattern at that distance.

[StreetScooby 5]

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in that case if you were indoors, lets say they other side of a room ok? you would be able to kill him outright even with a shotgun and with the perp holding the child.

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info!

BTW - what ammo would you recommend?

We are all engines of karma

[ThunderCat 0]

9 mm with something like starfire, rip that MF to shreds.

45's a good weapon but if you suffer from limp wrist forget it.

A DT then 9 mm, Chest 45.

[warpedskydiver 0]

.45ACP is a good round the bad part is it is getting very expensive to shoot alot of it.

I like the 9mm for accuracy and magazine capacity, and using a nice hollowpint in a +P+ gives the equivalent of a .357mag
(*if your firearm is in good condition and built to withstand that loading)

[ThunderCat 0]

I'd say 9mm, gut.

[ryanocerous 0]

Springfield XD .40
highly recommended... check one out sometime, i haven't heard of anyone who wasn't satisfied.

[AggieDave 6]

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Springfield XD .40
highly recommended... check one out sometime, i haven't heard of anyone who wasn't satisfied.

I wasn't satisfied.

Basically its a more complicated Glock that isn't as comfortable in my hand.

The simplicity of a Glock is what makes it so great. You pull the trigger it goes boom. I didn't clean my 17 one year, still no problems. I've put around 15,000rds through my 17, no problems. There's a reason why I have a few Glocks. They're great everyday weapons.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[airtwardo 7]

And what if the bad guy has one of your kids in their arms? Handguns would be more viable in this situation.

***

Then he wins...I would NEVER point ANY gun in the direction of anything I wasn't trying to shoot...PERIOD!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[billvon 2,989]

>Then he wins...I would NEVER point ANY gun in the direction of anything I wasn't trying to shoot...PERIOD!

Methinks you haven't watched enough Schwarzenegger movies!

[airtwardo 7]

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>Then he wins...I would NEVER point ANY gun in the direction of anything I wasn't trying to shoot...PERIOD!

Methinks you haven't watched enough Schwarzenegger movies!

***

Well...okay, but ONLY if the 'bad guy' threw his axe at me FIRST!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[billvon 2,989]

>Well...okay, but ONLY if the 'bad guy' threw his axe at me FIRST!

Why wait? Throw the circular saw blade first to cut off the arm with the axe in it (thus making him drop the family member) then shoot him in the leg, causing him to stumble backwards into the conveyor belt that leads to the rocket-engine test area.

These gun types make it so complicated. It's so much simpler in the movies.