Favorite semiauto cartridges

If I could wipe away all other centerfire pistol cartridges like they never happened...........40S&W.

But when reality sets in, 9mm.

.45 ACP

45acp
I've got a good 9mm, just never been in love with it.

9mm +P124 gr the most accurate in all my pistols .22LR is not my favorite but the most practical now.

My heart calls to .45 ACP.

But mostly I use 9mm. Easy to shoot, easy to shoot fast, capable for what I need a pistol for and my wife far prefers it (which means HD pistol is 9mm in case she needs to use it).

The other one I really like to load and shoot is 10mm.

40S&W by far, in both number of handguns owned and amount of ammunition fired. But I spent years shooting 40S&W in Limited, Limited-10 and Revolver divisions.

XD-40 in all three sizes. The XD-40 Tactical (right most) has been modified a lot by myself, almost none of the fire-control parts are original. It has close to 40,000 rounds through it.


S&W 610 was my USPSA Revolver for years shooting the same ammo I was feeding my XD-40's


Finally a proper Limited gun. A very short lived Remington R1 double stack 40S&W (some of the parts are still label Para Ordnance).

I don't even own a 9mm, unless the 9mm conversion cylinder for my Blackhawk counts.

Ever since I bought a Browning 1911-380 I have really enjoyed the 380 as a plinking cartridge.

For carry I prefer .45acp or 9mm depending on what size gun I want to carry. The LCP makes it in the carry club during the summer.

For range fun the 9mm is probably my favorite. The ability to reload cheap is a plus but it is the guns that are only available in 9mm that make it my favorite... like C96, P08, P38, Lahti, etc. My 1911's in .45acp are my favorite range guns to shoot though.

38/45 Clerke is my favorite. I first learned about it in the mid-1970's while in college but did not re-barrel a 1911 until about 1990. I re-barreled a Gold Cup a few years ago as another project.

Otherwise, 45 ACP is my favorite factory cartridge although I rarely shoot factory ammunition. 45 Colt is a close second.

Edit, oops, 45 Colt is not a semi-auto cartridge, 38 Super would be my close second factory semi-auto cartridge.

See a common theme? All are chambered in 1911’s.

9x23 in a 1911

Honest .357 Magnum ballistics 1450fps with factory 125gr JHP. Feeds like butter through a 1911. Too bad it didn't catch on outside of the competition circuit. It's a boutique round these days.

45 acp.
10mm.
380 acp

All other semi auto pistol cartridges aren't worth my time.
Of course everyone loves 22lr.

9X25 Mauser. Also known as the "Export Mauser" Chambered in C-96s for a few years and a few subguns. 128 gr. @ 1362.

Never caught on. With todays powders could probably equal the 9X23 at lower pressures because of its larger case capacity.

I only have 3 auto pistol rounds on hand now. The 32acp, 380 and 9mm. I have owned 40 and 45acp and really liked the 40S&W. The 45 was ok but not a big deal to me. I guess my favorite would be the 9mm. Not that I think the 9mm is such a great round but I'm so invested in it with thousands of loaded rounds plus lots of brass and bullets on hand to load more.

In the end the 9mm does the same thing any other round does. It pokes holes in whatever you shoot it at. Its proven to be a decent SD handgun round and works well in my 9mm carbine.

I like .32 acp.

.45 ACP because tens of thousands of Moros, Mexicans, Hatians, Guatamalans, Nicaraguans, Germans, Russians, Italians, Japanese, North Koreans, Viet Cong, North Viet Namese and Arabs can't be wrong.

In no particular order:
1. 45 ACP because "big and slow is the way to go" and it might not "blow out your eardrums or blind you in the middle of the night." Besides, my 45ACP 1911 is a real pussy cat in the recoil department. It's my bedside gun.
2. 9mm because they don't make Glock 19s (my CCW) in 38 Super.
3. .22LR because -

brutus51 said:

just color it fun.

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As far as the 10mm or ".40 Super" (as brutus51 prefers to call it) I wouldn't mind having one, but my 41 Mag revolver will do everything the ".40 Super" will do and more,

.308 Norma said:

my 41 Mag revolver will do everything the ".40 Super" will do and more,

Click to expand...

Except hold 15 rounds . I'm a revolver guy but they do lack capacity

I would have to add 7.63mm Mauser / 7.62x25mm Tokarev to my response.

A C96 was the first centerfire autoloader I shot at age 12(?) and I got a CZ-52 for my 18th birthday.

.357 Sig.

- It's not expensive to reload.
-The high end ammo like Federal HST doesn't cost much if anything more than 9mm of the same type.
- Handloads get 125gr bullets to 1425fps or more from a 4" barrel.
- Feeds very reliably into a match grade barrel, because it's a bottle neck.
- Commonly available .40 pistols can be converted to .357 Sig for the cost of a barrel.
- A powerful cartridge in a standard sized automatic.

I know a lot of people don't like it. And that doesn't matter a bit to me.

Obturation said:

Except hold 15 rounds . I'm a revolver guy but they do lack capacity

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Yep, that's true. On the other hand, I can drive a 250gr gas-checked SWC at better than 1,200fps (for imagined bear protection in our backpacking days) from my 41 Mag revolver. Or, I can (and do) keep my 41 Mag revolver loaded with 210gr Hdy XTPs over a charge of TiteGroup that will give me around 900fps just in case if someone comes crashing through our front door and my 1911 45ACP is in another room.

brutus51 said:

Can't argue your view but the thread title is
Favorite semiauto cartridges

Click to expand...

Yep, you're right. Sorry, you posted while I was still typing. I won't say anymore about my 41 Mag in this thread.