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I would put forward that if anyone is depending on either a 9mm or 45 ACP to bring down a bad guy in one or two rounds, that’s risky. I don’t believe either one is that reliable, regardless of what’s in the chamber…

Unless you take out the central nervous system, you still have a potentially dangerous adversary on your hands. Even once the heart is taken out, he/she can still operate long enough to put several rounds in you, or finish the charge with their knife.

Now let me state, I like 45’s. Over time, I’ve carried a 45 more then any other caliber and I tend to be biased towards it. But I’m not so confident in it that I would categorically state it’s “better�.

In my mind, by its very nature, a pistol represents a trade off. As I stated in an earlier post, I rather have a rifle and relegate the pistol to backup. Some people draw the line at 38, some pick 9mil, others go 40, and a lot of folks opt for 45. But there are harder hitting pistol rounds then all of those, so why stop at 45? It just comes down to where the individual draws the line between size, recoil, and perceived situations.

I often carry a Kimber Ultra. What about a situation where I’m coming in from the field, and see a BG attacking my wife with a knife. Let’s assume I’m ~100 yards away. The 3 inch barrel would be a bad choice in this case due to the short sight radius. A five inch full sized 1911 would be much better.

Let’s say again I come back but this time my wife is about to be attacked by 3 bad guys, and I’m standing within 10 ft of her. I would feel more confident with a high capacity 9 mil then I would with 8 out of my Kimber. I don’t relish the thought of having to take time to reload, and I’m not confident that 8 rounds of 45 would reliably stop 3 guys, but 16 rounds in my G19 sounds better to me.

The 9mm does have a tendency to over-penetrate with ball, while the 45 is not as susceptible to that flaw. Slow and heavy has it's advantages...

The work done by Marshall and Sanow cast doubt on the superiority of the 45, and many have jumped on the bandwagon since and toted the laurels of the 9mm. But it should be stated both have been in service since around the start of the 1900’s and have excellent field records in both the military and police realms. To me they’ve both earned the right to reside in our holsters.

I bet the first heated debate on 9mm vs. 45 cal started 10 seconds after John Browning announced the cartridge in 1905, and certainly after the introduction of the 1911 and it’s adoption by the US military, and has been going on ever since. I really doubt we’re going to resolve the issue here on this forum. It’s kind of like arguing over which truck is better, Chevy, Ford, or Dodge. In the proper hands, both cartridges can get he job done...or fail. As Clint always says, you can do everything right, and still be dead, and that includes carrying the "right" caliber (whatever that is in the individuals mind).

I’m sure we’ve all heard the stories of the magic one shot stop 9’s that stopped the BG instantly, and the druggie that took 8 rounds of 45 and kept coming. We’ve also heard the same story with the 9 & 45 swapping roles.

To me, both have proven themselves over time to be reliable, reasonably good stopping power pistol cartridges. They’re both easy to find anywhere in the US, and for international travel, the 9 is in just about every country in the world.

But if I had my choice of what to carry for personal defense, it wouldn’t be a pistol anyway. It would be something in 30 cal with a short barrel…maybe the Springfield SOCOM or an AK variant. The pistol would be relegated to backup to cover the times the rifle ran dry and I didn’t have time to reload.

But carrying a rifle in today’s society is not generally accepted. So for a concealed carry weapon, what to carry? I agree with the posters who’ve said “It’s what you will carry�.

You’re at the outside teller machine, and you see 2 big burly guys approach. One of them pulls out a knife and not so politely explains he’s going to castrate you after he’s taken all your money. This is not the time to inform him you’re a concealed permit holder and have a 454 Casual at home that’s capable of stopping elephants, rhinos, and dually pickup trucks . I put forward you would be much better to present your short barreled 9 mm (or for that mater even a 380). Heck, a metal ball point pen would be better then the pistol at home!

I also agree that shot placement is second only to “what you will carry� on the priority list, and that implies “What you will practice with�. Quite awhile back, I bought a Glock 23 (40 Cal) and carried it for a long time. I liked the stopping power of the 40, and I liked the magazine capacity. So my 1911 ended up spending a lot of time in the safe. But as my arthritis has proceeded to get worse, I find I can’t tolerate range time with the 40. I like the G23 ergonomics, so I switched to the G19 (9mm). I don’t feel under-gunned with the 9 mm. I practice often, and I have confidence in my shot placement capability (to include head shots). I recently purchased a G26 and was surprised at how much I like it. Now when I need a concealed weapon carried IWB, my Kimber Ultra has competition (although being biased towards the 45, the Kimber normally wins ).

Now I don’t want to lose my rights to rant about how great the 45 is, so let me state over the years, my trusty 45’s have been carried more then any other caliber and I must admit it has a special place in my mind. But that’s more personal preference/experience then a preponderance of scientific data.

As stated earlier, if I had my choice, I would carry a rifle…