well, to make this simple get a 10 guage shotgun and it will kill just about anything before it hits the ground, that is if you are using something at least as big as buckshot.
I believe special forces and the milatary us .45's I know they use HK 45's and LEO's (police) use just about what ever now adays. I agree about stopping power if you shoot something be sure enough to kill it, then it wouldn't matter if it or they had a 17 round clip or not.
A thinwalled resin capsule filled with gasoline and shot with a slingshot into a bonfire is pretty cool.
Cheers!
Cheers!
glenn1
Lifer
- Sep 6, 2000
- 25,383
- 1,013
- 126
A little bit of firearms history to assist in the 9mm vs. .45acp debate...
Prior to the development of the .45 caliber (initially, the .45 colt, later, .45ACP), most of the handguns in use at the time would have been ones such as the Colt 1851 Navy or 1860 Army. They pretty much all had in common, however, that they essentially fired a round fairly close to the modern 9mm, about .355 caliber (even though the revolver version is commonly known as a '.38'). Well, these cartridges were not known for their supreme stopping power. The U.S. cavalry fighting indians in the West, the Brits fighting Tamils over in their India, quite a few of the users expressed dissatisfaction with the round.
Enter the .45 colt round, which came about in the 1870s. Almost immediately, something like a Colt 1873 "Peacemaker" revolver or an 1875 Remington, or the 'Schofield' became the favored sidearm of choice. I daresay there's a reason for that. The people who needed to use the gun on a regular basis would have stuck with the .38 if it was so very good.
In all fairness to Russ, i agree that the 9mm is a pretty decent round for self-defense. Still though, i'd say that the majority of folks out there who handle guns for a living (elite military forces, policmen, etc.) would MUCH rather probably be carrying a .45 rather than a 9mm, if they were put in a life-threatening situation.
That's not to say that the .45 is the be-all, end-all round (hell, mine piece of choice is a Sig 229 in .40 chambering). It might even be fair to say that the 9mm is a better all-around/multipurpose round than the .45acp, but to call the 9mm a better stopping round... hmmm, that might be a tough argument to make.
Oh, and to answer the original question posed by the thread, there are also some handguns which take carbine cartridges (the .30/06 being one used), which are mainly used for competitive shooting. If you're talking about most powerful cartridge that you might actually use out in the real-world for self-defense, the .44mag or .50AE would probably come out on top. Not that many people actually lug around with them a sidearm big enough to chamber either of those rounds, mind you - and let's not even get into thinking that anyone out there carries around a .454 casull or something with them as a self-defense gun.
If you're talking about statistically demonstrated, real-life stopping power, i think that the stats go something like this... all showing one-hit stop percentage, with a single center-mass hit using hollow point ammo....
1. .45 ACP (long barrel, 5" or greater) ~97%
2. .357 mag ~96%
3. .40 S&W ~95%
4. .44 mag ~93%
5. .45 ACP (short barrel, 4" or less) ~92%
6. 9mm ~90%
7. .38 Super ~86%
8. .38 Special ~84%
etc, etc, etc. until you come to the bottom of the barrel, the .25, which is about 24% or so.
Prior to the development of the .45 caliber (initially, the .45 colt, later, .45ACP), most of the handguns in use at the time would have been ones such as the Colt 1851 Navy or 1860 Army. They pretty much all had in common, however, that they essentially fired a round fairly close to the modern 9mm, about .355 caliber (even though the revolver version is commonly known as a '.38'). Well, these cartridges were not known for their supreme stopping power. The U.S. cavalry fighting indians in the West, the Brits fighting Tamils over in their India, quite a few of the users expressed dissatisfaction with the round.
Enter the .45 colt round, which came about in the 1870s. Almost immediately, something like a Colt 1873 "Peacemaker" revolver or an 1875 Remington, or the 'Schofield' became the favored sidearm of choice. I daresay there's a reason for that. The people who needed to use the gun on a regular basis would have stuck with the .38 if it was so very good.
In all fairness to Russ, i agree that the 9mm is a pretty decent round for self-defense. Still though, i'd say that the majority of folks out there who handle guns for a living (elite military forces, policmen, etc.) would MUCH rather probably be carrying a .45 rather than a 9mm, if they were put in a life-threatening situation.
That's not to say that the .45 is the be-all, end-all round (hell, mine piece of choice is a Sig 229 in .40 chambering). It might even be fair to say that the 9mm is a better all-around/multipurpose round than the .45acp, but to call the 9mm a better stopping round... hmmm, that might be a tough argument to make.
Oh, and to answer the original question posed by the thread, there are also some handguns which take carbine cartridges (the .30/06 being one used), which are mainly used for competitive shooting. If you're talking about most powerful cartridge that you might actually use out in the real-world for self-defense, the .44mag or .50AE would probably come out on top. Not that many people actually lug around with them a sidearm big enough to chamber either of those rounds, mind you - and let's not even get into thinking that anyone out there carries around a .454 casull or something with them as a self-defense gun.
If you're talking about statistically demonstrated, real-life stopping power, i think that the stats go something like this... all showing one-hit stop percentage, with a single center-mass hit using hollow point ammo....
1. .45 ACP (long barrel, 5" or greater) ~97%
2. .357 mag ~96%
3. .40 S&W ~95%
4. .44 mag ~93%
5. .45 ACP (short barrel, 4" or less) ~92%
6. 9mm ~90%
7. .38 Super ~86%
8. .38 Special ~84%
etc, etc, etc. until you come to the bottom of the barrel, the .25, which is about 24% or so.
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