The Best Handgun Cartridge For You?

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WisBorn

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I was watching YouTube last night and came across fun video from GUN SAM.
The perfect handgun cartridge.


So if you needed to live with one cartridge what would it be. (Thank God we don't, what fun would that be)

Please explain why you feel that your choice is the perfect handgun cartridge.
 
I don't think you can remove the gun from the question. I have some 9mm that I love to shoot, others not so much. So if I was told you must use X hand gun I would choose another caliber then 9mm. It also depends on what I want to do with it.

I really enjoy 32ACP, carried it for a long while because I could hit what I pointed (not aimed) at, recoil was light, I just enjoyed that very much, but would not choose that as the only.

I love the heck out of 45ACP, how steel moves when hit, something about it in a 1911 is special, in other guns not so much. Just not sure.
 
I'll agree with him but for some different reasons.

First of all, a cartridge is just a little brass cylinder to hold primer, powder and bullet. There is nothing mythical about the variations in the size and shape of this brass cylinder.

Now, the 38 Special is a big enough brass cylinder for a handgun cartridge. Witness all the evidence that the 9x19mm is not just "enough" but is ideal because it is also not larger than necessary, thus providing magazine capacity, ergonomic grips, and low-recoil.
The 9x19 is a higher-pressure cartridge, but the pressure limit on the 38 Special is arbitrary. The limit on the +P is also arbitrary, as evidenced by the 38/44 which was as far back as the 1920's just a 38 Special inserted into an N-frame revolver that gave people the confidence to load it to pressures closer to 9x19. Today, the only difference between a 38 Special and 357 Magnum is a little extra length of brass at the case mouth that does nothing to change how much pressure the cartridge is good for. The point being, a 38 Special loaded to good pressure can offer "more" than a 9x19, more than a 9x21, more than a 357 Sig, more than a 9x23, more than a 38 Super. It is in fact nominally a 9x29R case, which means it can be hot-rodded pretty damn well. It can also be loaded down to the lowest levels of effectiveness somewhere near 380 or even less. It is rimmed, being most suited for revolvers, and I'll claim why that is "the best" also.

What we have so far is a cartridge that can be loaded from near-357 Magnum levels down to old-lady levels and it's best suited for revolvers. Revolvers are "the best" because of their simple manual-of-arms and because they're offered in big steel frames that take a lot of recoil. Whether it's loaded hot or "not" a heavy revolver makes the cartridge more manageable for anybody, stud or geezer. We always hear the argument for 9mm, that besides having "enough" effectiveness and more capacity, it's easier for everyone to shoot well. Well, if a 9x19 in a twenty-something-ounce polymer gun has empowering manageability, then a similar load in a big steel revolver is even easier to shoot well. If the capacity thing is the most compelling case for the 9, then it is for the 38 Special also since it is the chambering of the highest-capacity revolvers (other than 22LR). The Kimber offers 6 shots in a tiny revolver that nullifies any advantage to the 327. Then we have 7 and 8-shot revolvers for the 38 Special unsurpassed by any other cartridge.

Bigger caliber cartridges will always recoil more for similar terminal performance. You may enjoy them in the interim, but as a new shooter, the 38 Special is better, and when you get to be a geezer, the 38 Special is better. Might as well just stay familiar with it since it will be there in the end. The larger caliber will require a heavier bullet for the same sectional density and that will result in more recoil. No doubt they offer "more" terminal performance, but the evidence around the 9x19 suggests that may only be desirable for big game hunting or something else untypical of handgun use. Bigger calibers will also reduce the capacity of what is the largest practical cylinders or magazines. Smaller calibers like the 327 or 30 Super Carry have not proven to be meaningfully advantageous and the market has not produced guns that make these cartridges compelling propositions. Cases shorter than the 38 Special like the 9x19 are just fine for pistols with the magazine in the grip where that becomes a necessary compromise. Longer cases like the 357 have little meaningful difference. Because good revolvers today will always be reamed out to 357 chamber length and its really the only way to get standard-pressure factory ammo (as opposed to low-pressure ammo), I would just choose 357 guns and brass, but the difference between 38 and 357 is just hype. If we stretch to 357 Super Magnum, Maximum, 350 Legend and so on, then they become impractically long for the most common revolver frame sizes and they offer no real advantage in the purposes for which handguns are most popular.
 
There's a good chance it would be the .357 Magnum. It certainly is fine for defense, and will do in a pinch for game up to deer or so - I don't consider it quite enough for hunting in general, but a lot of folks have proven me wrong. It's also simple to load down to .38 target levels, and is easy on lead and powder. It's too big for some things and not nearly big enough for others, but I'm not sure there is anything with a wider general application and greater availability of components and loaded rounds.
 
i had to choose just one caliber and handgun because of a career that took me to various gun-unfriendly locales for 25 years, and 38sp was my choice in a taurus m85 revolver.

38sp ammo can be had from mild to wild, and is reliably shot out of any modern 38sp revolver. the platform can be modified with different grips, and is a simple point and shoot handgun that goes reliably bang with any flavor of 38sp ammo without worries about slide racking, mags, feeding or ejection.
 
I guess I’d have to go with 357 Magnum.
  • It’s a good self defense cartridge. I guess I’d pick a lighter load to carry in my Ruger SP-101
  • I can load it light with 148 gr. wadcutters and a fast powder for target shooting out of my S&W 19
  • I can load it heavy with a slow powder and a nice 158 or 180 gr. SJHP out of a big revolver, lever action rifle or Contender for big game hunting. Same load for defense in dangerous animal country. Might even be good out to 150 yards with a Hornady LeverEvolution bullet loaded up in a rifle.
I almost voted for 9 mm Luger, but 357 is much more versatile out past 50 yards. 9x19 is the more tactically-sound in a situation where lots of lead needs throwing, but that’s the LEAST likely use.

They even made a Desert Beagle in 357, so I wouldn’t have to miss out on ALL automatics, just the Concealed carry-sized ones!

Now if the question was “Which cartridge for HANDGUNS?” and I had another choice for rifles, I’d go 9x19 for handguns and 243 Winchester for rifles. One can do a LOT INDDED with those two cartridges!
 
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Easy Peasy, I’m going with 45 acp.

I do love my 45’s, I also tend to prefer revolvers but I’m not overly obsessed with any of the popular revolver calibers, however their are a good amount of 45acp revolver’s to play with. Heck I already own 3, which is not enough.

So yeah, the only down side is ammo price, which is admittedly a big downside. However if I only had 45’s I’d definitely start reloading them.
 
I would probably go with the .45 ACP as that was mainly what I owned and shot for so many years. Had quite a few .38 Specials (learned reloading with the .38 Special) mostly as snubnose J frames, along with my fair share of K frames as well. But my first "love" (and still is) has been the Colt Government Model in .45 ACP: then later the slightly shorter Combat Commander. I have never felt undergunned with a 1911 .45 and believe it will see me through for many more years to come. It's the Best Handgun and Cartridge for me!
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My heart says .45 ACP (you know, like you never forget the first girl you ever kissed), my nostalgic, yet practical, side says .38 SPL (since I keep finding more and more .38/.357 revolvers about, plus have a lever gun for the cartridge) -- it's so versatile, practical and easily loaded for -- but my reality is probably rooted in the lowly... 9mm, since between me and the wife we have probably about eleventy-nine pistols for this foreign-born critter. Though other than for its cheapness, availability, punching holes in paper and packing quite a few rounds for defensive applications, for me, I just don't have the fondness of, or the history with, the nine like I do .45 and .38.

So go with the heart. .45 for me.
 
I have more handguns chambered for .357M or .38 Spl. than any other cartridge, so I guess it should be my favorite, and I suppose in a revolver it is. But I really like the "other couple" .40S&W and 10mm for semiautos. My EDC goes back and forth between .357M and .40S&W.
 
10mm... Pretty energetic ctg but not so much that I can't handle it... Most pistols will shoot 40 S&W in a pinch if needed... Newer models hold 15 +1 so lead onboard is like most double stackers... On my large body it's a "pocket pistol"...It's been said "carry the absolute largest ctg you can shoot well"... Ammo is more expensive and harder to find but I handload anyway... If I have to worry about ammo in the apocalypse then I prolly have a lot more to worry about... IMHO... (45 acp a close 2nd)
 
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9mm would be the best choice, if I had to have an only choice, because the primary function of pistols for me is self defense against humans in a manageable gun for both me and Mrs. Fl-NC. This would make my world very boring, and leave me with less than I would like to have in a pistol on my belt in the woods- which is a distant second in the function of a handgun for me.
 
For me in my current world??? .38 Special. If I could get my wife to accept semi automatics into her world, it would be 9mm.

To be clear that's not to say I think either of those are the best, or most versatile, or anything like that. If that was the question it would be .357 Mag.
 
I just re-read the thread title. It's one HANDGUN cartridge. Gonna hafta change to 9 mm, since I wouldn't have to press this handgun cartridge into service for hunting.
(previous post link)

Like someone else above said, I love 45 too, but probably the most important use for a handgun for me is as a concealed carry weapon, and something like a Sig P365 chambered in 9 mm makes that easy and is usually enough medicine. It's only one CARTRIDGE, but no limitation on the weapons. So P365 for CCW, Hi Power or 1911 as a range toy, Beretta CX4 for a short rifle. Cheap factory blasting ammo if I get lazy handloading. Heck, there are even some revolvers chambered in 9 mm.

Dangerous animal defense is a HIGHLY unlikely scenario for me here in SE WI, but I'd like to get up to the northwoods at some point and do some deer hunting in black bear/ wolf territory. I think 9 mm would be enough juice for a sidearm up there, too. It takes a lot for black bear or wolf to attack a human, I understand.

Sadly, it is more likely these days I'd use the handgun cartridge for self defense, home defense or riot escape type stuff, and for that, 9 mm is just about perfect. There was a riot here in Aug. 2020, but I was lucky not to be downtown at the time. Trump even came to town and promised to help us rebuild, but that turned out to be a big fat lie.
 
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