the 9mm vs .45 debate

ok so as far back as i can remember there have always been people debating on this topic so i figured why not discuss it on here. so what do you believe to be the better of the two calibers personally i own both and have my reasons for likeing both so lets hear everyone elses oponion

The reason the army went to the 9mm is because when you shoot the enemy with it you accentually take three men out of the war. The one screaming on the ground for help and the other two guys that need to take him out of combat and bring him to the rear of the line.

.45 of course would just kill the guy.

reply to post by JROCK2527


Depends what your using it for really. They are both good rounds. As far as cost goes the 9mm is better. As far as stopping power goes the .45 is better. I think 9mm is more available than .45 is, so in a survival scenario your chances of a resupply would be greater with 9mm. In the end I think it just depends on your budget, and your personal preference.

OP probably could have used a bit more info in it....

I don't think anyone is debating the performance between the two, the .45 wins hands down. Overall usefulness is the issue, with the 9mm being easier on recoil, smaller, lighter, and generally with higher capacity. Although with double-stack .45s being pretty common now, the capacity issue is starting to go away.

Personally I feel that both the 9mm and .45 are out of date, the only reason they are still used is because there is such huge industry support for them, and people don't like change.

The 9mm and .45 fill different roles, but in those specific roles there are superior rounds.

Instead of 9mm and .45, it should be .357sig and 10mm. The .357sig fits the roles traditionally held by 9mm, and offers superior performance. Just like the 10mm fits roles traditionally held by the .45, and also has superior performance.

So, in short my answer is I don't care about either 9mm or .45s, because they are both inferior to the .357sig and 10mm.

There isnt any debate. 9mm for the ladies
.45 for the gents. .40 S&W for the metro gents.

Originally posted by Shadowalker
There isnt any debate. 9mm for the ladies
.45 for the gents. .40 S&W for the metro gents.

thats why i have the .45 and my GF has the 9mm. haha

reply to post by JROCK2527


NATO had the 9mm. the US Military had the 45ACP. The .45 ACP has more knock down power: IE: Kinectic enegy.

The 9mm reqiures a headshot nowadays due to body armor.

Simple physics.

Camero has it wrong in todays age. A lot a bad guys will just charge past their fallen comrade,

Originally posted by James1982
Personally I feel that both the 9mm and .45 are out of date, the only reason they are still used is because there is such huge industry support for them, and people don't like change.

The .357sig as well as the 10mm will probably never replace the 9mm or .45 based on cost alone. The .357sig is a good round I don't dispute that, but the 10mm is a dead caliber and the .40 already stepped up and took it's place. Until the military demand for .45 and 9mm fades you will probably not see either round get bumped from their current standing of the top 3 pistol rounds.

I was told at a young age "never go to a gun fight with anything that doesn't start with a four"

There are so many variables that go into this argument. Stopping power vs penetration, make and model of the weapons, ammo for the weapons, target size, target environment, etc

9mm has a much higer chance to "slide" in CQB from what I have seen and I hate to think about hitting something I'm not aiming at.

Better days,

Originally posted by TDawgRex
reply to post by JROCK2527

 

NATO had the 9mm. the US Military had the 45ACP. The .45 ACP has more knock down power: IE: Kinectic enegy.

The 9mm reqiures a headshot nowadays due to body armor.

Simple physics.

Camero has it wrong in todays age. A lot a bad guys will just charge past their fallen comrade,

well that was the theory behind the converson to 9mm from the .45. plus it was cheaper

I bought into the recoil issue until I actually started shooting a .45, a 1911. My question now is, "What recoil?" I get a lot more recoil on a lightweight J-Frame .38 than a 1911. I was quite surprised at this and attribute it to the greater weight of the 1911. It can just absorb more. I actually run a Glock 19 (9mm) most of the time as the 9mm round is so very much cheaper and available. .45 is still in short supply around here.

Originally posted by schuyler
I bought into the recoil issue until I actually started shooting a .45, a 1911. My question now is, "What recoil?" I get a lot more recoil on a lightweight J-Frame .38 than a 1911. I was quite surprised at this and attribute it to the greater weight of the 1911. It can just absorb more. I actually run a Glock 19 (9mm) most of the time as the 9mm round is so very much cheaper and available. .45 is still in short supply around here.

my old man bought a original army issue 1911 when he was 18. Its Serial # is 111. steel blue. Its a sweet gun

I think the larger you go the better.

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by schuyler


Yeah, the recoil excuse is complete bunk.

I shoot IDPA with .45 with either a stainless government 1911 or an XD and do very well with it.

When I'm low or .45's are too expensive locally I'll use one of my 9mm's.

If you're practicing proper fundamentals recoil is a non issue.

I apologize for the lack of detail this is my first time being the author of a thread so im not the best at it future threads will contain more. i prefer my .45 for knock down power and it is the one i want handy if i am ever in a shootout, but gee that 9mm sure is fun to shoot cheaper too. thanks for the replies

Originally posted by Shadowalker
There isnt any debate. 9mm for the ladies
.45 for the gents. .40 S&W for the metro gents.

I call it the small penis syndrome. Smaller the penis, bigger your ammo. Just like cars...

Unless if you are trying to stop a charging rhino, 9mm will work just fine...

FYI, I'm not biased to any rounds, I just don't like people thinking bigger the ammo, the bigger the man bs...

reply to post by SpaDe_


I don't disagree with you.

I judge a round by it's performance, not it's popularity with the Military, and in that respect the 10mm trumps any other common pistol caliber. It averages around 700ft/lbs of energy, a .45 averages around 500. Recoil isn't too crazy on the 10mm either, if you can handle a .45 you can handle a 10mm, at least in my experience.

Cost, politics, there is a lot more than performance that goes into the Military's choice for firearms and calibers. I'm not the military, I don't have those issues, so I go for a round that performs, so I'll stick with the 10mm, fired from my Glock 20.

It may be more manly to identify with the military than civilian LE so the two military calibres (9mm and ,45acp) will carry more cache than the .40 s&w (10mm short) but for me the ,40 makes the most sense. The advantages of the 9mm are cost, carry capacity and tractibility (less recoil for more accurate follow up shots) and the advantages of the .45 are greater terminal ballistic energy (one .45 is < two 9mm so the cost difference is relative to how many rounds it takes to terminate a threat) and a lesser pressure round (to counter the more powerful cartridge) but the .40 (making up in velocity what it loses in mass) has approximately the same superior ballistics as the ,45 with the advantage of a slightly cheaper round and greater carry capacity (even with a double stacked .45). The .40 was created as a less powerful version of the 10mm which was originally developed for the FBI. Law Enforcement uses all 3 of these calibres but the military does not use the ,40....I am with LE on this one and suggest the .40 or 10mm short for the military to consider as well. On the lines of suggesting military calibres I will take the liberty to suggest the 6.8mm as a basic replacement for the 5.56x45 also (except the SAW for suppressive fire)....but that would be another thread.

Momentum = mass x velocity. What you gain in weight with the 45 you lose a good deal of in lost velocity. Before I started shooting I used to believe gun shot wounds were super deadly. As it turns out killing people is hard. Ifyou want to take a dude out the fastest way has nothing to do with bullet diameter. What you want is a caastrophic drop in blood pressure. Law enforcement trains with double or triple taps center mass. One hollow point in the aoerta and bam you're unconscious. So 45,40 or 9mm doesn't matter if you're aiming for the right target with a bullet that dumps all the kinetic energy inside the body of your target.
me personlly? I use .40s&w. The 9mm looked a little ponce-ish and I didn't want to go completely broke with my new hobby using 45acp.