Size Matters?
Reposted from my
Gun Blog :
Size Matters?
You’ll see a lot of debates in gun circles, but none more fervently debated than caliber selection, especially when it comes to handguns for personal defense and concealed carry. You see it on gun-related websites and you hear it in your shooting areas; the old 9mm VS .357Sig VS .40S&W VS .45ACP debate rages on daily in the world of firearms. Now, there are a lot of folks that know plenty more than I do about ballistics. They read up on all the tests done by researchers using ballistic gelatin with denim and other mediums between the bullet and the test block. And these test are conclusive of two things:
1.) Handguns are not a great choice when trying to defend your own life. However, since I can’t seem to find a good holster that will conceal my rifle, a handgun will have to do.
2.) Each of those calibers listed above perform similarly in regards to expansion and penetration, provided a good bullet is used from a reputable manufacturer. Expansion and penetration are the keys they tell us, and I would have to agree. And If I ever have to defend my own life against an assailant comprised entirely of gelatin, I now know that a 9mm round will do the trick the same as anything else.
But to me, they key here is not that they all perform in a similar manner, because similar does not mean the same. The .45 still expands a bit more and penetrates enough, just as well as anything else. Which means you’re gonna have a bigger hole with the .45, assuming that every round expands, every time. But that assumption is false. Not all rounds expand, sometimes they don’t. While they generally expand far more often than they fail to, sometimes they still fail. Mr. Murphy sure had something going with that funny law of his, didn’t he? Now, I’m not particularly keen on putting myself at his mercy, so I carry a firearm chambered in .45ACP. Why? Because, if the rounds all do expand, gelatin tests tell us that they will offer near identical performance, but what they don’t tell you, and what anyone that can measure will know, if your round does not expand, a .45ACP is going to cause a larger wound and generally cause more damage than the others. I am betting my life on that round, so I want it to perform to the best of its ability even if it does not expand. So my theory is that you take the biggest, heaviest bullet you can control and hit with in a firearm that is reliable and accurate and carry it with you everywhere you can. Yes, to me, size does matter, because, while sometimes bullets don’t expand, they certainly never shrink.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I carried a 9mm for a long time before switching to .45ACP, and I never felt under-gunned and defenseless. Shot placement is god, especially when it comes to handguns. I don’t think that those that carry 9mm are silly or “sissies” for carrying a smaller round than I do. I have friends that carry 9mm, and at least 2 of them are far better shots than I am with a handgun, so there’s no question that they could make the 9mm count when they needed to.
The next issue that stems from this discussion is capacity. You can carry a helluva lot more 9mm than you can .45ACP given a similar sized platform. But does that really matter? According to the FBI, most gunfights last between 3-5 rounds. Any handgun can carry that number of rounds of any of the popular service calibers. So yeah, you can get 17 rounds per magazine from your Glock 9mm, and I only get 8 in my HK .45, but math says we’ll both be well ahead of the game given the statistics from the FBI. Now you can worry about a terrorist invasion or having to face 10 or more attackers, but let’s be honest here. If you find yourself that outnumbered against armed foes with the intent of harming you, you’re not going to do much more with a handgun than to kill a few and piss the rest off. Sure some of them might run after you get a few, I don’t know, because mob assaults are rare in this country, so are terrorist invasions. But, seeing as how I don’t like to play dice with my life, I carry a loaded back-up magazine everywhere my handgun goes, which is everywhere I go. If we find ourselves needing more than that, we’re already in more trouble than a handgun can get us out of anyway.
My rules:
1.) Carry the biggest round you can control and hit with. Bigger is better, but a hit with a 9mm is better than a miss with a .45 any day of the week. Practice often. Shot placement and draw time are more important than your gun or caliber.
2.) Carry a reliable, quality handgun. One that you are familiar with and can operate the controls in the dark if need be.
3.) Carry using the method that allows you best possible compromise between the ability to conceal and the ability to draw fast. Any method is fine as long as it is safe, concealed and you can actually get to your firearm in a short amount of time if needed.
4.) Carry as many rounds as you reasonably can. A spare magazine in case the primary magazine malfunctions is optimal.
5.) After all of this decision and preparation, make sure you are ready to use these tools if and when you need them. Be prepared, but also, be willing.
Oh, and P.S., when reading about the next “wonder bullet” that is said to be a “one-shot-stopper”, keep in mind, most people shoot until the threat is gone. If I shoot twice, but the first bullet was actually the killing blow, how would you know? When in doubt, “slide lock” and reload. If that first round is in fact the one that gets the guy, think of the rest as insurance. The little gecko would be proud methinks.
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