Lets settle this once and for all...

What is the better round?

  • 9mm

    Votes: 245 63.8%

  • .40

    Votes: 139 36.2%
  • Total voters
    384
Bop67

Bop67

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Time after time do I have to sit in between two of my friends who constantly argue over the 9mm vs the .40.

On one side, I have one saying:
1) 9mm is cheaper, you can shoot more, whats the point of having a gun if you're not good with it
2) The SAS use it so why the hell not
3) According to some "facts" he always brings up, the energy behind it is almost identical as the .40 :confused:

On the other side I have:
1) If 9mm is so great, why are so many ditching it?
2) .40 has more stopping power
3) The cost isn't even that much more so it doesn't matter

I am fed up with having them each turn to me and ask which one is better, it's one of those cases where you just gotta get up and lock yourself in another room. So everybody unleash and let me settle this damn thing...:slap:
 
I would imagine 9mm is at least slightly more available than .40
Also the cost issue.

This issue will never be settled.
It's like Toyota vs Honda, or for you domestics Ford vs GM.
Just pick a side after thorough consideration.
 
This poll is stupid in that it doesnt take into account actual loads being tested.
 
Depends on what you are shooting at and why. If all you are doing is killing paper, 9mm is more than adequate for that, cheaper and easier to find. If you are trying to stop chemically hopped up attackers, then 40 would be better and 10mm even better than that and a shotgun even better than a 10.

Definitely a Ford/Chev issue and never to be resolved to anyone's satisfaction.

Mark
 
It certainly is a question that lacks context.

For the vast majority of those who will never be police or military, unless they decide to carry illegally, the toughest target they will ever engage will be... a target. 9mm pushes holes through paper and cardboard every bit as well as any other caliber, including .22.

When it gets down to actually using a handgun defensively, a .40 S&W will push a 200 grain bullet out of a service pistol at just over 1000 fps with the hotter commercial settings, and a 135 gr bullet just as fast as the mythically effective 125 gr loading in the .357 Magnum. The 9mm will not do either of those.

And while the 9mm continues to prove itself as quite effective in defensive pistols, many are of the "more is better" belief system, assuming all else is relatively the same. While at the instant of a bullet hitting the bad guy's chest the officer might wish that was a 12 gauge slug or 240 gr 44 magnum about to make contact, the fact of the matter is carriability and controllability is an issue with whatever you carry on your hip all day.

The ammunition of today is not what it was even a decade ago. The FBI load in the ancient .38 Spl, in fact, was a pretty damned effective fight stopper at the time police transitioned to pistols. Similarly, the 9mm ammunition of today is similarly so much better.

But the .40 is better as well. In the urban interface such as around here, where the problem might be a cougar or black bear instead of a two legged problem, a 200 grain bullet at over 1000 fps is definitely preferable.

For paper only, make mine a 9mm. In fact, why not just get over it and make mine a .22 rimfire.

For the big bad world out there, make it a .40 S&W.
 
Using proper self-defense ammunition, the 9mm doesn't lose nearly as much ground as the fans of larger rounds would have you believe. I love my 45's, but wouldn't feel handi-capped with a 9mm. I'd probably shoot with pinkie's sticking out, however :nest:
 
I voted 9mm the SAS do use it, you get higher capacity in magazines, proven in combat for over 100 years, lower cost, good availability world wide(during the shortages after the election here .40 was always available in quantity...), has a wider variety of ammo, etc.

That being said the .40 does have more stopping power and since you can only have 10 rounds might as well have big ones.
 
Bop67 said:
2) The SAS use it so why the hell not
Click to expand...

Well it might be good enough for the "Secret Attack Squad" :mad: with their non-pinned "high capacity" mags and their legal "bullet proof" vests, but if MY life was on the line against 4 ninjas with ak47 sniper rifles and banana mags, I wouldn't use anything less(but maybe more) than twin .50cal "deagles." Leave 9mm and .40 to the paper punchers :rolleyes:
 
I've actually never owned a forty (must have owned 50+ handguns over the years, not one has been a forty) but I almost bought one at a gun show once because it was so cheap (a $350 Glock) and I have so much damned forty brass that I can't seem to give away. Anyway, every military in NATO issues 9mm, works for them works for me - and if it doesn't I also have a 45, and that does work.
 
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