8 rounds of 45 or 15 rounds of 9mm

Status
Not open for further replies.

gym

member
Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
5,901
What would you prefer for your carry weapon. Assuming you could of course carry as many extra mags as you preferred? Make and model not important, just caliber. I left out 40 because to me it's too expensive and isn't much more useful than the two most often carried.
 
I carry a 45 (7 rounds per mag, 1 mag in the gun, 2 spares on my side...plus 1 round in the chamber)...if that won't get me out of trouble, I was in over my head to start with.
 
I carry a 45 (7 rounds per mag, 1 mag in the gun, 2 spares on my side...plus 1 round in the chamber)...if that won't get me out of trouble, I was in over my head to start with.
A good philosophy. Carry what you are comfortable with, not what the internet experts say. Ridgerunner is cool with his .45, so he carries that. You should carry whichever gun you can
a)carry comfortably and effectively
b)shoot best
c)trust with your life in terms of reliability

Debating the caliber will not help, and the number of rounds may not mean much anyway. Carry what works for you
 
I go with 13+1 of .40, and the price isn't really an issue since I handload. If I didn't handload or just wanted a different caliber, though, I'd go with 9mm. Much cheaper ammo, and less recoil for faster follow-up shots.
 
Yep. That's pretty much my selection.

Carried a Glock 36 for past few years with +1 mag extension making it 8 rounds of .45 and felt perfectly adequately armed.

But I did decide to get a G19 (15+1) for those times when I may be more likely to have to take on multiples and also for the cheaper ammo for practice.

When, exactly, are those times?

I dunno I just go with my mood for that day and that particular outing.

To answer your question I kinda think they're pretty equal with the advantage of .45 damage being balanced by twice the rounds in 9mm on the other side of the scale.

I will say this though: Quicker, more accurate follow-up shots are much easier with the G19. -At least when comparing these two.
 
I'd "prefer" a calico pistol with a 100 round mag or similar silliness if it comes down to more than 3 shots, reloading etc.

I also prefer to not be seen as "that guy" so I carry whatever is comfortable, right now 15 of .40, or 5 in the .45 revolver and 2 speedloaders with 6 each (if i'm reloading with purpose, I'm not worried about having the hammer down on 6)
 
I carry a 9rd 9mm (5% of the time. The other 95% of the time i carry an 8 shot .380).

If you are worried about ammo capacity, then clearly what you need is a 31rd FN Five Seven pistol. :D
 
Ball or modern jhp's? I'll take 15 rounds of 9mm +p+ jhp's any day of the week over any 8 .45 rounds.
 
Assuming its FMJs.... the .45.

Assuming modern PD/SD ammunition..the .45 is probably better if you expect to have an up and close encounter where you may only get a shot or two off.

The High cap 9 is better if you are aiming from further away and will be in a protracted situation.

And +1 the better choice is the one that you can put rounds on target reliably, be it which ever.
 
I prefer the .45 acp because I hate when I have to shoot something more then once.:evil:

I carried a M1911A1 for over 40 years and it is still my "go to gun".
 
I have carried both at different times. While I do not feel under gun with any quality 9mm, regardless of capacity, I find big .45 caliber bullets comforting.
 
Oh, come on, Wow!! You don't have to think THAT hard.

You don't know your arse from a hole in the wall if you don't know that 9mm is INHERENTLY superior to the ol' dried up .45.

All of it's history is a testament to the 9mm's MASSIVE knock-down and one-shot stopping power.

In fact, with 15 rounds, you could load it once and defend yourself for two weeks.

There's really no reason to try and force a round peg in a square hole.

The .45 just does NOT have what it takes to cause the kind of damage a projectile needs to cause to be effective in a self defense situation.

It's just NOT there.

If you wana know what works, look to what they're providing our beloved soldiers.

End of discussion.

BTW -every line of this is sarcasm, guys.
 
Last edited:
With quality hollow point expanding ammo there isn't much difference between the 2. With ball ammo the nod would go with the .45. Pick whatever you shoot the best.
 
8 rounds of 45 or 15 rounds of 9mm
Given this choice, I would go with the 8 rounds of .45ACP.


But truth be known, 13+1 rounds of .40 beats both the other choices! ;)

HPIM6636.gif



Heck, I would even take 10+1 rounds of .40 over the 9mm or the .45.

HPIM6634.gif


I left out 40 because to me it's too expensive and isn't much more useful than the two most often carried.
Around here .40 ammo is cheaper, and more abundant, than .45 ammo.
 
I didn't read all of the other replies, simply because the 9mm vs .45 debate is so common.

Here's my thoughts:

CARRY WHAT MAKES YOU COMFORTABLE! YOU WILL BE FINE WITH EITHER CHOICE!



Personally, I've been carrying a .45 caliber service pistol for my entire career as a police officer, but I wouldn't hesitate to carry a 9mm if the opportunity presented itself. With modern bullets both calibers perform very well, with a slight edge in expanded bullet diameter going to the .45, and a slight edge in overall penetration going to the 9mm.

My duty weapon holds 10 rounds per magazine, versus 17 in the 9mm. Honestly, I have every confidence in my ability to handle a situation with the first 10 rounds (at least if it is any kind of fight that I'm going to live through). Similarly, I have every confidence that a single modern 9mm bullet would be able to disable a bad guy as effectively as a single modern .45caliber bullet.


But, your question comes at an interesting time, as I was just pouring over some data from a recent wound ballistics workshop at my department. Here are a couple of interesting figures for you:

In 10% ballistic gelatin (calibrated to the FBI standard) we shot our 9mm and .45ACP ammo into bare gelatin at 10ft:

9mm +P 124grain Gold dot: 14.75" of penetration with an average expansion of .605" inches, and 100% weight retention.

45 Auto 230grain Gold dot: 12.75" of penetration with an average expansion of .704", and 100% weight retention.

So, in bare ballistic gelatin you lose 2" of penetration with the .45, and gain 0.099" of bullet diameter.


Through "heavy clothing" (FBI standard) the same bullets produced:

9mm: 16" penetration / 0.521" expanded size / 100% retention
.45ACP: 15.25" penetration / 0.687" expanded size / 100% retention

Through auto glass the same bullets produced:

9mm: 14.25" / .595" expanded size / 89.19% retained weight
.45ACP: 14" penetration / 0.629" expanded size / 97.83% retained weight


Based on the results that I witnessed firsthand, I'd carry either caliber with confidence! By the way, this workshop was the first time I had seen the Federal HST ammo, and it was VERY impressive as well.
 
If you're talking about JHP's, I honestly think the 9mm round would be more than sufficient. I think 8 rounds in a typical gunfight would be plenty, but I'd opt for 15 round of JHP in 9mm.
 
If the bullets are the same caliber and both guns are the same size and weight, I'd rather have 15+1 in the gun than 8+1 with a dozen spare mags (for CCW).

So how much is the larger caliber worth? I guess that's the difficult question.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top