Quick Comparison of Semi-Auto cartridge performance.

[bushwhacker]

This is a "quick and dirty" comparison of some semi-auto cartridges. Closest bullet weight in my book with same powder(except for .45) The 9mm is shown with a 4" barrel, so if you have a 5" barrel figure, that would be useful. I used as close as I could find bullet weight from the 26th edition Hodgen manual. I realize this is old, so if you have a better comparison, feel free. The purpose is to look at the options of getting a little more "bang for your buck" than a 9mm. Seems like the 38 Super is the forgotten cartridge, but I have heard of guys up-grading their 9mm to it for action shooting. I might look into another barrel, spring and magazine. Something to think about when there is too much snow to drive in to the range but the snowmobile trail is getting washed out.

9MM 4" barrel 147GrFMJ 5.5Gr.HS6 973FPS 32,700CUP

38 Super 5" barrel 147GrFMJ 7Gr. HS6 1040FPS 32700CUP

40 S& W 5" barrel 155GrFMJ 9Gr.HS6 1103FPS Not given

10mm 5" barrel 155GrFMJ 11Gr.HS6 1350FPS 3500CUP

45ACP 5" barrel 155Gr.? 7.8Gr.Trap100 1239FPs 19900CUP

Your thoughts are requested

 

[stampede]

The bullet weight (155gr) for 45ACP is low. Standard is 230, typical range load 200.

 

[floriosean1]

I've never even heard of a 45acp in 155gn, i currently load 200gn. Also it seems like your 9mm is running a little slow, mine crono's at about 120fps faster then that. With that said everyone's gun likes a different combination. if thats whats reliable in yours for punching holes in paper then good enough.

 

[bushwhacker]

I hesitated to include the .45 because it was so much larger bore and bullet mass. I also figured if I left it out, someone would bitterly object. Didn't want to get into calculating energy levels with widely varying bullet weights. If someone has a figure for a 9mm with 5" barrel, that would be interesting. Perhaps 9mm+P would be good to see too. Might undermine the advantage of the 38 Super.

 

[JohnnyMac]

My question is what do you want out of the cartridge and the gun? There is a lot of versatility in the 10mm but is capacity or gun size a factor for you? The other question is do you reload? If not you're going to be limited by cost and availability of decent ammo. If you're question is just based on ballistics alone I would personally choose the 10mm as it is such a versatile cartridge. My personal preference would be for a S&W 610.

 

[BCRider]

My "thoughts" are that the paper or steel we shoot at doesn't care a whit about those numbers. Instead we should shoot the ammo we can afford or can justify the cost of and shoot it with guns that make us smile. For most of us that means 9mm. Or if we reload then the component costs for 9mm and .38Spl is identical so we can load either. For fans of 1911's it would be like going to the dance with a sister or cousin if we don't shoot .45ACP. But there's no doubt that it is far more costly.

For those that are recoil junkies then it may well be that happiness is spelled "M-A-G-N-U-M" and everything else is just practice until they can afford the next box of "proper" ammo.

Whatever floats your boat. But unless you're doing handgun silhouette where you need the knock down power to tip over the steel animals neatly those figure mean diddly squat to the targets we typically shoot at here in Canada.