What handgun caliber?

[Wolverine]

Hi guys

What would you say is the best handgun caliber for self defense, offering high stopping power as well as penetration (say car door / window etc.), should the situation require it, and of course keeping in consideration the availability of ammo?

9mmP, .357 SIG, .40 S&W, .45ACP or something else?


Regards

[Anwar]

Well, I think calibre is not as important as ammunition. Especially when we talking "stopping power" and "penetration". The are other factors to consider which will aid in "stopping power" and "penetration".

[BigT]

Any of the above mentioned calibres would be sufficient. 40 and 45 give slighty larger permanent cavities with marginally better performance through barriers. But 9x19 gives acceptable performance less recoil and cost and more capacity. It is also cheaper to shoot. Personally I have no use for 357 sig. Carry the one that you shoot best and gives yot the most confidence. Handguns all are lacking with regards to stopping power. Shoot lots and shoot straight.

[SSP]

Stopping power starts at .308. Anything that is launched from a handgun is pretty crap. 45 and 40 offer marginal increases in permanent cavity at the cost of capacity and shootability. 9mm ammo is available pretty much anywhere. All three offer good hard target penetration in ball form with, I think, the edge going to the 9.
9 gives you the highest capacity, the best shootability, best ammo availablity at the debatable cost of a very small amount of terminal performance.

[Count Bla]

Ha! This is going to be interesting...

In my opinion, stay away from .357SIG. Its an answer looking for a problem. Not offering much more than +P 9mm, with the added issue of ammo availability.

Further than that, I think a decent 9mm will most probably do the job just as well as .40 or even .45. I carry a .40S&W for SD. I like this round because it offers relatively high capacity in my USPc and the 180gr bullets are nice and heavy, thus good performance can be expected.

I also own a G17...which is great!! 18 rounds of +P speer gold dots is very reassuring. Only problem I have with most .45's is the capacity issue. I'd want at least 12 rounds in a SD gun.

Only place where the .45 outshines the rest is the fact that you can load pretty much anything in there and it'll hit with some authority. With 9mm especially, you must select your carry ammo carefully.

[Thorkind]

9x19, .40, .45 Pick your poison.

PS - "Stopping Power": The ability to say "No" to one more beer served by a hot barmaid with fantastic cleavage!

[SSP]

PS - "Stopping Power": The ability to say "No" to one more beer served by a hot barmaid with fantastic cleavage!

Nice. Take note Thorkind, SSP, BigT and Bla do not have any stopping power by this definition.

[Count Bla]

PS - "Stopping Power": The ability to say "No" to one more beer served by a hot barmaid with fantastic cleavage!

Of which I have NONE. In my case, stopping power is the ability of the bar counter to stop the impact from my head after the above mentioned beer(s).

Getting off topic. Have a look at the attached gel tests. Not much difference between the lot. Also, read BigT's article on ammo selection. Very informative indeed.

[Corné]

On penetration....

Years ago Magnum did a test regarding penetration. They constructed a 'baffle' box with slots and you would have a piece of timber, space, timber, space and I reckon you get the picture. The 9x19 (I think it was 115FMJ) gave the best penetration performance outperforming the 45ACP in FMJ configuration and the 357Magnum (can't remember the bullet design). This was in the day's before 357SIG and 40S&W and hollow points was also not in the order of the day.

Furhter all I can add is that I agree basically with the posts made already. Just on the 357SIG you have the capacity of a 40 with a round that deliverers somewhere marginally better than 9x19 in +P and less than 40S&W and low availability of ammo and thus I still fail to see the reason of existence for this caliber. Yes, if you have it, use it, it will work but I would not recommend it.

[Craig]

I think, and stand to correction that the 357 Sig got a reputation as a body armour piercing round, but with improvements in armour development, it doesn't tick that box anymore.

I'd pretty much convinced myself on going the 9mm route as I think I'd get more practice out of this calibre, but I think the .40 S & W is a better SD round. The Mid Size M & P looks a nice option in .45 with 11+1, but .45 isn't for me.