I've been in situations where I've taken long shots with a pistol. I didn't vote, for me it's platform based rather than caliber, to a point.
About 18 months ago I was out early in the morning working my German Shepherd. About two miles away a couple thousand sandhill cranes were lifting up from a couple of pivots (irrigated quarter sections) making quite a racket. A coyote came through the fence r-l at some distance and then changed direction, trotting toward us. The German Shepherd and I have shared about twelve rounds together, including automatic weapons fire, so he knew the drill when I drew my Colt 1911 in .38Super. Handloaded with .357cal XTPs, MV is ~1496fps, N105 powder, <33,350psi operating pressure.
I guesstimated ~80 yards when I fired the shot. Coyotes are extremely unpredictable in their behavior, especially with dogs. I bracketed the coyote's ears on both sides of the front sight, it's a tough shot to make, but the Super is very flat shooting and that's a necessity when making a frontal shot on a moving target. I was slightly off on my shot, the XTP tearing into its left shoulder, distance turned out to be 95 yards.
At that distance, 9s, 40s and 45s will have too much holdover to see the target, the sights will block the target. The 10mm will work fine with high velocity ammunition AND a narrow front post, G20 would have been iffy for me at that distance because I tend to carry 180gr JHPs or 200gr WFNs, plus the front post is relatively wide.
The yellow dog to the left of the t-post was 75+ yards away. After taking the picture it was confirmed that it was the leader of a feral dog pack that had killed livestock.
As we can see, this ~70# dog didn't present much of a target profile, but larger than a coyote. Had I known that it was involved in killing livestock and there wasn't a home about a quarter mile away, I would have taken the shot with the Colt .38Super.
I've had night time mountain lion encounters at varying distances and have ordered a custom 1911 tactical commander (light rail) in 10mm. Now I have high velocity 125gr Barnes JHPs (1500fps+) for long distance shots and 200gr WFNs for bigger threats and brush.
Except for bears, the .38Super gives hammer of Thor performance on top tier 4 legged predators. The .357cal/125gr XTP is a wicked combination in the Super.