I just dont get the 40 cal.

[Hitman]

I thought this question could be answered by simply looking at a simple ballistic chart.

Sift through this page and see the numbers for yourself.
http://www.speer-ammo.com/ballistics/ammo.aspx

 

[dantheman]

I thought this question could be answered by simply looking at a simple ballistic chart.

Sift through this page and see the numbers for yourself.
http://www.speer-ammo.com/ballistics/ammo.aspx

Numbers are useless to me . There are other factors besides simple ballistics .

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I like the .40 over the 9 in a duty gun because with the right bullets, you have arguably better mass retention through intermediate barriers.
I like the .40 over the .45 in a duty gun cause I get more rounds on my belt, and the .40 is easier / cheaper to train with.
It fills that nice middle ground slot between calibers, and with modern bullets, all 3 are effective calibers.

Stop regurgitating things you read on the net. Or at least attribute the source and quote it correctly.

 

[Hitman]

Numbers are useless to me . There are other factors besides simple ballistics .

...of course there is, but it starts there and is a vital piece of the questions asked in the OP.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

When you have a 300lb assailant on PCP or some other kind of drugs, hitting him in a solid mass part of the body with a high velocity round is necessary to give the proper impact to put take him off of his feet. How many times have you heard of these large assailants that absorb bullets and keep coming?

Using the large bones of the upper body to connect with the velocity of the impact and stop the forward motion of the attacker is logical.

Newtons Law man. Sorry. Large bones of te upper body! Which ones? The body absorbs bullet when the hits are marginal. Knock down power is a gun store myth.

 

[DStewart]

I have a .40 for work, and for me it's just snappy. It's not bad, but I would rather shoot a .45 or 9mm. If I need 15+ rounds I will go with a 9mm with good rounds. I can control it better. I have tons of friends who love the .40 and I can tell you I dont want anyone shooting at me with a pellet gun much less anything else. Just my personal preference. Bullets hurt no matter what they are.

 

[SpeedRacer]

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Hitting "Large Bones" is much less desirable than either destroying the heart or brain stem. It is also likely to cause marginal wounds. Pistol bullets of any caliber perform poorly and unreliable against bone. All of the bones in the upper body are fairly feable really. I'd much rather have a bullet go through and through causing tissue damage than hit a scapula and redirect or stop.

 

[The_Shadow]

I continue to rely on the 10mm...I am confident of what they will bring to the ballistic punch!
They can be had mild to wild to fit any situation!

 

[swamper]

The only bone to go for (in my limited knowledge and no experience shooting people) is the pelvic area. And that is a last resort, i.e. "center of mass" and head shot(s) aren't working or aren't "available." It's not that the pelvic area is a show stopper; it's more of the fact that it's a mechanical device that won't work if damaged enough. Damaging it enough reliably and consistently is the key. I haven't learned how to will bullets to take a certain path in the human body yet though. *shrug*

 

[Jack]

I continue to rely on the 10mm...I am confident of what they will bring to the ballistic punch!
They can be had mild to wild to fit any situation!

Mild and wild? If I know which I'd need before the situation arose, I would probably just avoid the situation.

 

[crippy02]

I have personally seen that its not so much the firearm as much as it is the shooter and what bullets he has chosen to load in his pistol of choice. A buddy of mine and I decided to fire into a 10 gallon bucket of water to see what certain rounds did when the hit something. I shot a .40 personal defense winchester which flowered out nicely and sat waiting for me to pick it up at the bottom of the bucket. My buddy fired a .45 personal defense which did the same. I then loaded a z-max in my .40 and effectively blew the bottom out of the bucket and buried the round several feet into the ground. Moral of the story, doesnt matter the calliber as much as shooter skill and the round you are firing. The z-max was a considerably hotter round than the two personal defense rounds. Placed in the right spot, any bullet with enough penetration power can be deadly, which makes the "which calliber is better" argument redundant.

 

[midgetcatcher]

Newtons Law man. Sorry. Large bones of te upper body! Which ones? The body absorbs bullet when the hits are marginal. Knock down power is a gun store myth.

+1

 

[CUJOHUNTER]

I've never heard the term "knock down power" so much till I signed on to this forum....or any gun forum for that matter. Life loss from a bullet is a result from a shot to the brain or wound causing massive blood loss. If I'm wrong, someone tell me now. Knock down power is a selling pitch or a Hollywood prop.

 

[stancel]

You can get many 40 cal guns in the exact same frame size as its 9mm cousin. Not true for the 45.

And if you reload like I do, then the cost difference between loading 40 and 9mm is, for me, not worth thinking about. All that being said, I like them all.

And Cujo is right. Knock down power from a handgun caliber is Hollywood. Well, except for maybe a 45LC .

 

[JWG223]

Newtons Law man. Sorry. Large bones of te upper body! Which ones? The body absorbs bullet when the hits are marginal. Knock down power is a gun store myth.

He probably means the scalpula, or sternum, both of which are "large" until you consider how thin they are, and how soft the sternum is. I've seen sawz all looking surgical saws part them with scary ease. Very thin.

 

[BRdefender]

Most law abiding citizens use a handgun for target practice or personal defense. In the case of the latter, the math is simple. Proper type ammo to yield adequate damage, proper handgun with a smooth trigger and low recoil for accuracy, and someone to operate it very quickly, because no matter how much ammo you have in your magazine, if you haven't accomplished your mission by your second round, you likely won't have the opportunity to get a third shot off. No matter which caliber handgun you chose, you get what you pay for. No matter what ammo you purchase, you get what you pay for. And you can have the best ammo and the best handgun, but that's all poop if you can't use it fast enough and accurate enough to survive.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

In figured those were the bones he meant. As bones go both are fairly easy for bullets to punch through because they are thin and flat.

 

[3fifty7]

I blame Larry Potterfield

 

[tibodoe]

I love my Glock 23. I am confident and accurate with it. I have 45s and 357s, they are great guns. My Glock is the one when something goes
bump in the night, as well as my daily carry. I think it is good combination of size and capacity.