Choice for CC ?

[Old rookie]

All other things being equal....are there significant benefits to choosing .45 over 9mm in SD situations?
(Besides cost of ammo, weight, etc.)
Not a "troll" question, and not intending to start some kind of "size" or "brand" war....

 

[surjimmy]

IMHO, the 45 is better then the 9. Stopping power being at the top of the list. In most civilian cases you are not going to get in a long fire fight. I think statistics say you will fire only 3 rounds. My main carry is a LW Commander, with the growing chance of these Mall attacks I have started to carry a Sig M11 9mm. So bottom line is......6 one way, 1/2 dozen the other. Carry what you are more comfortable with and can shoot the best.

 

[jhat]

I'm a .45 guy but I have no problem carrying a 9mm with high end defense loads such as 124gr. +p Federal HST. The ballistics are impressive and you have more firepower. In the end, however, regardless of caliber, shot placement is the key.

 

[65ny]

All other things aren't equal. Recoil sensitivity, ability to be accurate, capacity if that's a concern....If you're talking about concealed carry, I'd say go with whatever you're comfortable with and will carry often. I'd love to pack around my 4506 all the time. That thing is awesome, but it's huge and it doesn't CC very well. Lots of people (like me) feel comfortable most of the time with a five shot snubby. Is bigger better? Probably, but you have to compromise sometimes. In my opinion, there is no real ideal caliber for CC.

 

[Fredkrueger100]

I have always been a 9mm guy. Recoil is easily managed so follow up shots is a breeze. I carry either federal hst's 147gr or federal hi shok 147gr. Both offer very good performance. Of course a .45 is more powerful. But it comes with several drawbacks. Size and weight, more recoil and less rounds. And I could care less what statistics say, I want as many rounds as I can carry. Most civilian shootings are very short with few rounds fired but all it takes is one time where you need a lot of rounds. But like others have said, carry what you a comfortable with. And practice, practice, practice. Did I mention practice?

 

[yukonjack]

90% of the time I carry nothing more then my Ruger LCP .380. Cause it's uber concealable and that's the point of concealed carry. Defend myself and get the hell outta the kill zone. That's it.

 

[RustedBeef]

I appendix carry a compact Beretta PX4 Storm in 9mm when off work. I think 9mm is better than 45 just because of the larger capacity which lets you put down more fire to buy yourself more time to get to cover. Also you can panic fire more without suddenly being empty, which looks to be common in those "SD moment caught on camera" videos. From what I've read most handgun rounds have the same incapacitation power, which evidently is little, so I'd just go with more rounds to fling.

Here's what I think about the 3 shots exchanged on average thing. There is a deviation which means sometimes more and sometimes less is fired, so I'd like to be more prepared to take the worst. It's not like any of us were convinced to not carry because most people don't ever use a gun in defense in their lives, but we're quoting odds of round counts fired and using that as limiting judgement factor?

 

[gfercaks33]

I think stopping power belongs in the cliche thread.

Military and police change from .4 to .45 to 9mm all the time so there's no "right" caliber for stopping a human. You have skill on where you shoot someone and how you shoot them. You need to find what's comfortable for you. I have started carrying and honestly I feel most comfortable with my p64 in 9x18. It fits me I know it reliable, I can hit what I'm aiming at.

If stopping power was the end all to defensive carry police and military would be armed with ridiculous s&w .500s

 

[Rod Snell]

"All other things being equal...." and they never are.
Sure, you can accumulate statistics, but statistics applied to a sample of ONE have a confidence factor of ZERO. (I teach this stuff)
The outcome on the ONE person you shoot is binary: either they stop or they don't.
And sometimes a person absorbs an entire magazine of .45 and has to be clubbed down to get the cuffs on.
The Hatcher experiments 100 years ago concluded a pistol bullet the size of an orange would guarantee one-shot stops, but not much else would.
I read the accounts of the Philippine uprising and the famous failures of the .38 pistols to stop Maori, but was surprised to learn rifle shots in the chest weren't stopping them either!
Sentries were advised to shoot them in the pelvis area with a rifle to try to knock them down before they could reach the sentry with their knives.

So what do I get from all this?
I carry a caliber generally used for defense in a gun I can shoot well, and am mentally prepared to shoot if necessary and keep shooting until the threat is stopped.
I also believe that none of the IDPA time is wasted.

 

[jhat]

Handguns suck for stopping power. We carry them because it is the most convenient, and legal, method of self defense. A shotgun or rifle provide stopping power.