This is kind of a fun thread, kind of a question. When I think of a standard service caliber, three typically come to mind, as I think they do to most people: 9x19, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP. There are others that people use for self defense, including a couple bottlenecked cartridges and the 10mm, but what the 9, .40, and .45 have in common is they are all straight-walled cases and they scale more on caliber than on length (.45 slightly excepted), which basically leads to the bigger hole vs. more capacity/less recoil debate.
I'm wondering what there is, and if there's a future for, expanding in the other directions, with a .30 and a .50, to further the range of capacity vs. bore.
On the smaller end, we have the 5.7mm, but that is a unique option and has a lot of disadvantages, in this case I'm mainly looking at the noise, the fact that the velocity limits the potential practice ranges (as in where you can go to shoot, some pistol ranges have FPS limits below the 5.7mm bullet's velocity), and the length of the cartridge. There's the 7.62 tokarev which I don't see offering more capacity than 9mm, and the .32 ACP which is regarded as anemic.
On this end, I'm wondering if something straight-walled and a bit longer than .32 ACP, with a heavier bullet and more power behind it, might work. Be a bit of an oddball caliber, but it would offer capacity over a 9.
On the other end, I haven't really seen anything except for .50 GI that fits the bigger-than-.45 option, and goes as big bore as you legally can while maintaining decent controllability and acceptable penetration. However, this round fills a niche that a lot of people jokingly want ("why do you carry a .45?" "because they don't make a .50") but it seems to be fairly unpopular. I'm wondering if this is because it is proprietary or what, but I think it brings something new to the table, and wonder what the future of the round is...or if possibly another .50 will rise up and take over.
Just some thoughts I had. It would be interesting if the 9 and .45 were no longer the ends of the caliber war spectrum, but two more stops in the middle between ".30 long pistol" and ".50 big boy" or whatever the rounds were.
I'm wondering what there is, and if there's a future for, expanding in the other directions, with a .30 and a .50, to further the range of capacity vs. bore.
On the smaller end, we have the 5.7mm, but that is a unique option and has a lot of disadvantages, in this case I'm mainly looking at the noise, the fact that the velocity limits the potential practice ranges (as in where you can go to shoot, some pistol ranges have FPS limits below the 5.7mm bullet's velocity), and the length of the cartridge. There's the 7.62 tokarev which I don't see offering more capacity than 9mm, and the .32 ACP which is regarded as anemic.
On this end, I'm wondering if something straight-walled and a bit longer than .32 ACP, with a heavier bullet and more power behind it, might work. Be a bit of an oddball caliber, but it would offer capacity over a 9.
On the other end, I haven't really seen anything except for .50 GI that fits the bigger-than-.45 option, and goes as big bore as you legally can while maintaining decent controllability and acceptable penetration. However, this round fills a niche that a lot of people jokingly want ("why do you carry a .45?" "because they don't make a .50") but it seems to be fairly unpopular. I'm wondering if this is because it is proprietary or what, but I think it brings something new to the table, and wonder what the future of the round is...or if possibly another .50 will rise up and take over.
Just some thoughts I had. It would be interesting if the 9 and .45 were no longer the ends of the caliber war spectrum, but two more stops in the middle between ".30 long pistol" and ".50 big boy" or whatever the rounds were.