Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Case Closed: FBI Says 9mm Is The Best Pistol Round

I have 9mm, 357 Mag, 40, 45, in the inventory. To tell the truth I feel equally protected with any.

Situational awareness and bullet placement make sense to me.

Most of the time I carry 9mm or 40SW in full size Glocks.

The laws of physics no longer apply. A little hammer hits just as hard as a big hammer, because the FBI says so.

Common defensive handguns are ALL little hammers.

It will always go back to the person pulling the trigger making the most difference in a fight. I have carried .45, .40 and 9mm with ammo ranging from 230 fmj to 115 Corbon loads and never let the caliber dictate my tactics nor did it cost me sleepless nights worrying about under/over penetration.

I do feel the consistency of terminal performance has been significantly improved and that has closed the gap in many ways. I carry a .40 most of the time but when I grab my 9mm shield I dont feel undergunned.

Screw the FBI. I'll stick with my .357 Sig and 45 acp.

And I'd take my Glock 20 in 10mm instead of the .357sig & 45acp, only if I lived in Alaska, instead of TX.

What do you expect from;

F*****g
Bunch of
IDIOTs.
WILL.

What reading between the lines tells me is that since the girls like less recoil and when training involves shooting at paper targets. The 9mm is easier for the girls to qualify with during training.
If they are shooting bad guys they can just double tap and call for backup.
Civilians are sheep and will just go along to get along.
A little one is just as good as a big one? Of course it is.

IMHO the 357 Magnum is still the best police cartridge

Apparently it�s all about being able to get the agents to pass Qualifications. That�s easier to do with a light caliber than a heavy one. The FBI can�t admit they are going to a less powerful cartridge so they come out with that claim that �All cartridges are equal� .

I have no problem with 9mm...I carry one...it is called the .38 Super. The difference is my gun throws a 9mm bullet at 1450 fps and and theirs at 950 fps...

And for those of you who have not heard they are again on the 147 Subsonic Bandwagon, back to the 15 round .38 Special.

But of course we have come so far in designer Boolits that the new 147s are much better than the old ones...tell that to a car door...

They need to change their name from The Federal Bureau of Investigation to the (F)ederal (I)nvestigation (B)ureau.

Lets just hope that State and Local LE Agencies are not again taken in by their test tube Jello slime BS...

Bob

You're an idiot.

That is all.

Not true. Nose guard lines up on the center.

HAH! That proves the 9MM actually is better!

We'll said sir!!

Yeah, 25 years of ballistics tests showing nearly identical wounds from 9mm, .357 Sig, .40, & .45 really don't mean anything at all. I'm sure you have it right.

How many people here who are proponents of the .4s and dislike the 9s have ever shot them side by side, with a timer, to see if there's a difference?

9mm rounds that perform best and meet all the FBI's criteria are 124+P JHPand 147 JHP. The 147 gets you a little more barrier penetration and the 124 gives you a very flat trajectory out to 150 yards.

124 meets the FBI criteria with the least recoil. But muzzle flash/noise are increased.
147 does away with the noise/flash, but has more recoil. So whatever is most important to you.

Something you can say about the .45 ACP. While it may not penetrate as well as the best 9mm's, it's penetration is more than sufficient, and you don't need any +P rounds to get excellent performance. In proper loadings the .45 ACP is quieter than the 9mm, .357 Sig, or the .40, and has almost no perceptible muzzle flash...you can't say that about the others.

.357 Sig and especially .40 S&W are absolutely abusive to 9mm sized guns and wear them out faster than most .45's or 9mm's.

And since the .45 requires a larger pistol, most .45's recoil less than most .40's.

9mm may be the ideal LE round, but the .45 ACP hasn't lost a step at all. It's still THE combat handgun cartridge that all are measured against.

There certainly is a noticable difference. But the most important shot is the first, and that's a level playing field. But I don't think shot split times are significant enough to ever be a determining factor in a gunfight.

FWIW, my best split times with a "major" caliber gun is the .38 Super in the 1911, followed by the .40 in a 1911.

Worst are a .40 on a 9mm frame...my worst ever split times came from a Glock 22 in .40.

Best "minor" split times...9mm Browning Hi Power. I can't recall ever shooting a 9mm 1911 on a timer, but I'll wager the split times would be better than the Hi Power.

From worst to best, the difference between shots is under 1/4 of a second. So while that may be huge in a pistol match (especially considering the cumulative effect over long stages), I just can't see where a second shot on target in .12 of a second .vs .24 of a second would ever be a determining factor.

I prefer revolvers, especially .38 spec-.357 mag. But, autos are OK .45, 9MM, 40 S&W with good loads should do fine. Arguing one cartridge over another is illogical. Shooter competence is the #1 factor by far, bullet performance second, the head stamp on the case doesn't seem to matter too much to me.

Yep, not the arrow, but the Indian behind the arrow.