Well, since I have the opportunity to get in on this one early, the short answer is that all service/duty cartridges perform much the same these days, assuming premium JHP in the medium-to-heavy bullet weight range for the cartridge. There have been PLENTY of threads on this subject here on THR.
FWIW, I do not need to parrot anything I have read. I work for one of the largest PDs in the USA; we collectively shoot quite a number of bad guys. Until 1997, we used a wide range of duty cartridges, from .38/9mm to .45 ACP and Colt. Since 1997, .40 has been standard, with the previous duty handguns gradually fading away due to attrition. The result? When hit well, bad guys fall.
Given the choice, of course, I will lay hands on a shotgun. Handguns poke holes; shotguns perform
weight-reduction surgery.
My wife has an M.D. after her name, when she cares to use it, and works for the M.E. in this area, as a forensic investigator, who makes the death scenes, as opposed to doing autopsies. Blood spatter evidence is a science, and tells the tale of how far a decedent moved after being shot. The size and shape of blood spatter indicated how fast the decedent was moving when the individual drop of blood fell. Her take on this? Any good JHP in any of the common duty/service cartridges performs about the same against living
targets. (Given the choice, she will shoot a home invader with a shotgun or .357 mag rifle.)
Studies on the subject are interesting, but collective wisdom gained over time, in a busy metro area, is worth something, too.
