Funny how muh modern bullets and loadings help make the 9mm only barely comparable to what the .40 or FBI Lite 10mm was already doing 30 years ago.
You're missing the point. The 40S&W was good enough 30 years ago, so if the 9mm can do the same job with less recoil and more capacity, why not use it instead? Just like hardly anyone carries 44 Magnums for people defense. It isn't needed. Or, 30 years ago, most hunters used various 30 calibers for whitetail, now you see plenty of 243s and 260s and even 223s. Why, because the new bullet technology has made them feasible. Why deal with recoil if you don't have to?
Even your user name is an example. 20 years ago, the most popular bear defense handguns were 44 mags. Look how many have gone to 10mms.
Your reasoning is flawed. One, full power 10mm has been avalible since it's introduction, part of the reason the fbi initially found it to be too powerful, leading to the eventual development of the .40. And fmj and Hardcast bullets are still the same as they've always been. The 10mm's increased popularity is due to the types of guns it is now chambered in, not any measurable improvements in ammunition. The full power loadings avalible today simply mimic the original Norma loads.
Two, sub .30 caliber, high velocity deer cartridges go back over 100 years at least to the .250 Savage. A .22, .24, .25, .26 cup and core bullet killed deer just as dead 100 years ago as it does today. Premium boutique bullets are generally not necessary to take deer sized game in small calibers.
Three, suggesting that using .40S&W in a defensive handgun is in anyway comparable to using a .44 Magnum in the same circumstance is laughable and reeks of a strawman argument. No knowledgeable individual has ever suggested that full house .44 Magnum is necessary or suitable for human defense. That's like trying to insert a watermelon into an apples to apples debate.
Four, the same technology improvements that make modern Plus P+ 9mm almost as effective as .40S&W from 30 years ago has also improved modern .40S&W. Resulting in the relative differences between the two still virtually unchanged. The argument can be made that modern 9mm is now "good enough", and if anyone wishes to stake their life on the bare minimum of just good enough, then that is up for them to decide.
