Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Revisiting The 9mm

I think the idea isn't so much to make the guy dead by the time the paramedics get to him, as to take the fight out of him right now. In that respect, some calibers are probably better than others.

Paramedics don't shoot people. They treat or try to treat those who have been shot.
The heavier, larger bore rounds have the advantage of doing better against targets that are heavily clothed, behind doors, inside cars, or even behind walls. That and they punch a bigger hole in their target.
That's not to say that the smaller, medium bore stuff don't work, they do. But they don't have the performance edge that the heavier rounds do. E

A shot that penetrates the brain or heart will certainly in most cases be fatal. But the fact is that a perfectly placed shot in a gun fight is rare. The target is usually moving, taking cover and shoot at you. A larger caliber that leaves a larger wound channel is definitely an advantage, how much of an advantage is impossible to determine

JWP475;

I have to have to have my daughter read this.
Thanks for the work. I got a 41AE kit for my daughters HP. She liked to shoot a LOT. So she just stayed with the 9mm.
Before she was shooting a lot at age maybe 10, she would watch cartoons and resize and deprime the 9mm with a Lee nutcracker.
Wanted a Bisley only in a blackhawk, but just loved that Belgian Browning.
The 41AE was my idea, a switch caliber gun is always fun.

Those Studies have been done... Published and quoted numerous times. Unless it's a head or cervical spine shot, I doubt the certainty to "STOP" with a single shot from a 9mm or a 45ACP.

Idahoguy-101, you need only to look at the FBI run tests to find out real quick like, just what is a ONE SHOT STOPPER!!!

The calibers in .44mag, 41mag are considered ONE SHOT stoppers.

Now for the sake of those who carry a CCW permit and their pistols, The .40cal. Smith & Wesson with 180 grain bullet fills the requirement for the FBI. As does the .45acp with 230 grain bullets. Not to mention the 10mm caliber with 200 grain bullets!

To everyone on this Post

I re-read my post. I apologize for sounding like a know-it-all ass.

I have worked Trauma Center ER's and as an EMT. My training and experience is guns and cartridges don't kill people. Broken body parts do.

Stopping power with handguns in wounds that are NOT immediately fatal is more of a psychlogical factor. The physiology of trauma is seperate than the WILL to keep fighting.