.40 has more momentum, more energy, creates bigger holes, and is easier to get right now. 9mm is a little cheaper gives one or two more rounds, and recoils less for sissies who can't handle a mans gun.

 

Advantages of .40= more power, probably outgunning the criminals small calibers. One shot drop.
Disadvantages of .40= a little more expensive than 9.( It adds up if you plan on shooting a lot. More recoil (nothing a real man cant handle though).

Advantages of 9= less pricey, not much recoil, better accuracy( depending on the handgun model).
Disadvantages of 9= more than one shot to drop, one of the most common calibers today(hard to find).

I was thinking the same thing when I bought my first..I went with a .40
Dont regret it one bit..but hey your decision. Good luck..

Have you shot both of them?

 

Advantages of .40= more power, probably outgunning the criminals small calibers. One shot drop.

Disadvantages of 9= more than one shot to drop, one of the most common calibers today(hard to find).

A 1 shot drop? where did you get that from? sorry, Oprah lied to you about what you seem to be trying to pass as fact..

FACT.. more Cops and deer have been killed by the lowly .22 than the next 4 most popular calibers combined (as per DOJ and WS), caliber only matters when you miss your point of aim, and/or you need deeper penitration, sectional denisity and all that is nice, but when it gets right down to it, it dont mean much when a .22 to the heart or brain, brain stem, or upper spinal column (above the clavicles) will drop ANYONE on this planet, and as well any other caliber handgun.. while a gut shot, or a through and though/out, anything not disrupting blood pathways will all be about equal.. your target will be wounded, and more than likey still shooting back..

Very few gun shot victims are killed with a one shot drop, most, if they die, die from bleeding out, so unless its a femoral, or other such artery, (and even then it can take a couple of minutes depending on how and where the artery is hemorrhaging) it takes time..

Unless a hit it made to the a fore mentioned areas, there is not such thing as a one shot drop... please learn what it is you are trying to pass off as fact, as stupid "facts", much like the people who pass them along, tend to get people killed.

.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I've shot 9mm handguns before but not the .40 I'm new to handguns, and trying to figure out what to get. I'll probably settle on 3 different types. I want to get a 1911 .45 ACP, a semi-auto .40 or 9mm and some kind of revolver. Not sure what yet. Maybe Taurus' new Judge. I bet that's fun to fire a .410 round through!

There's a gun store in my area that has a range and will let you shoot their rental guns. I'm probably going to go there and try a few out before I decide what I want to get.

 

There's a gun store in my area that has a range and will let you shoot their rental guns. I'm probably going to go there and try a few out before I decide what I want to get.

That's the best way to go.

I don't agree that .40SW is a "one shot drop." Heck, even .45ACP isn't guaranteed to do that. Any caliber needs good shot placement . . . and with good (enough) shot placement, any caliber will kill. Sorry to use a semi-morbid example, but President Reagan came very close to dying from Hinckley's .22LR -- and that hit was a ricochet, but dangerously placed.

Using hollow-points, the differences between 40 and 9 narrow significantly.

If money is no object, going with the 40's greater power is an easy choice.

In a SHTF/TEOTWAWKI, the greater abundance of 9 might give it an edge.

 

id go 9mm nothing the 9mm wont do a 40 will do they both make small holes in their targets.

 

ammo availability might be a deciding factor.40s are hard to find down here but 9s are everwhere.

 

Around here it is the exact opposite. I rarely ever see 9mm but I see 40 at WM all the time.

Mad Dog,

For all the reasons mentioned by Killroi I would get the 40. The recoil difference is not a big deal.

 

something else to think about you can legally take a deer in most states with a 40 where you cant with a 9mm

 

I know that is true here and in NC.

 

Smaller weapons , for concealment, can be had in 9mm. If that is not a consideration, go with the .40.

 

9mm vs. .40 S&W, I would feel confident with both because I understand only good hits will stop a threat. A .40 S&W gut shot will be less effective than a 9mm rnd to the vitals for example.

I would shoot both rnds from the same types of platforms like Glock's, Springfield XD's and Beretta's see which cal. you can shoot the fastest with the most accuracy out of similar gun type.

I've owned both 9mm and .40 S&W among others but settled on carrying only .45acp because the 1911 is my favorite platform (the Sig P-220 .45acp is my second favorite) and it keeps things simple ammo. wise.

1 shot drop is only achieved by well placed shot's of a decent cal. in the vitals.

 

If we're talking manly calibers, forget all that and get the 10mm. Load it up with real 10mm ammo (not watered down crap). If you want a nice 1911, Kimber makes 2 10mms, Dan Wesson makes at least 2, and Fusion Arms makes all of their full size and Commander size in it. Get a man's gun. Get the 10mm.

Jim

 

Ok now lets please not hijack this thread with all that 45 and 10mm talk. This thread is about 9mm and 40.

 

I addressed the OP's original question and only stated what worked best for myself because I had too may ammo. choices owning multiple cal.'s I never said .45acp was the end all nor that the OP should get .45acp. On the other hand the OP stated in his second post he had intrest in the 1911 .45acp as well, didn't think I was "hijacking".:blink:

 

I've never owned a .40 but have several 9's. get one built for +P 124 gr rounds and it's in .357 mag energy levels with the 4" bbl. all you will ever need for stopping power. of course good placement is essential as is any caliber.

 

HAHAHAHA what orifice did you pull that claim out of? A 124gr. 9mm+P will do about 1300 FPS from a 4 inch barrel, a 124gr. .357 out of a 4 inch barrel will do about 1600FPS, not even close in energy levels.

 

I have a 40 and a 9mm, I'll stick with the 9. The 40 is a castrated 10 and a homosexual wannabe big bore. 40 owners know it that is why so many of them try to call their guns a 10.

 

I don't try to call my 40s&w a 10mm. I call it a 40 because that is what it is. That is like trying to call a 7.62x39 a 308. 40 is more powerful and has greater muzzle energy than a 9mm and makes a bigger hole.

 

9 mil plus p is more than adequate as far as ballistics go.

 

It definitely is and there is nothing wrong with it, but it is pricey too.

 

Those are Double Taps numbers I got the 9mm and 357 stats from his site so that they would both represent the most powerful ammo you could find for both loads.
http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/ca...uct_info.php?cPath=21_27&products_id=48&osCsid=bd00e3ce4ec572a488d60b827a9e11a1

 

oh right on

 

A lot of people seem to think that the fragmentation of the remington SJHP .357 is one of the reasons it was so effective, as long as you still get good penetration fragmenting is good. Fragmenting is the name of the game with rifles when you are trying to take out humans or varmints not so much with game as you don't want to be eating little bits of lead and copper.

 

I'd rather be shooting 8 rounds of this:

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/ca...uct_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=45&osCsid=bd00e3ce4ec572a488d60b827a9e11a1

or this:

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/ca...ct_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=297&osCsid=bd00e3ce4ec572a488d60b827a9e11a1

or this:

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/ca...uct_info.php?cPath=21_25&products_id=36&osCsid=bd00e3ce4ec572a488d60b827a9e11a1

from my 1911.

Jim

 

some stout loadings for sure. also listed was a +P 9mm 124gr JHP at 1320 fps. that's about what my handloads for my 5906 would push a Rem Golden Sabre JHP useing Power Pistol.

 

you should try Win 296, from my 4" barrel GP100 im getting an average velocity of 1506 fps with a 6 fps spread with 125 grain JHP montana gold bullets.

 

Well just because you can find .357 loads that are loaded down to those velocities does not mean that 9mm+P and .357 mag have the same potential. Just about all the factory 10mm ammo is not loaded to its potential so it ends up being closer to .40S&W that doesn't mean that .40S&W is as powerfull as 10mm. Sorry if my previous post offended you.

 

The FBI tried the 38 spl, went to the 357 mag, I think they tried the 9mm, tried the 10mm, then developed the 40 s&w, and finally went back to the 1911 in 45 acp. What does that tell you? That the 1911 in 45 acp works. It worked in 1911 and works even better today with the great new ammo that's been developed. The Federal 230gr. Hydro-Shock probably the best of the lot. All calibers will kill, but the object is to stop the attacker. If you fire a fatal shot into an attacker and they kill or injure you before they die, it doesn't help you much. Under the stress of an attack you may be lucky to even hit the attacker, let alone get a centered shot. The 45 acp will stop an attack with a peripheral hit better then any other caliber. The 45 acp will stop most attackers with one shot, it may not be fatal, but it saved you. Use what is proven to work. The FBI is using the 1911-45 acp because it works. The US special forces use the 45 not 9's or 40's, and the military is talking about switch back to the 1911- 45 acp. I was talking to a prison guard recently and he was packing a concealed 1911-45 acp for protection. He said in the prison where he worked, he has seen quite a few inmates that had survived being shot with 9mm and a few survived the 40 s&w. There were no inmates that had been shot with a 45 because none had survived. Not a hard choice for him to decide what to carry. I sometimes carry a small 9mm in the hot summer weather when I'm not going far from home and I have a Para P16 40 that I like to have fun with. I mostly carry a full sized 1911 in 45 acp. My wife carries an Officers Model in 45 acp. I also have 3 more full size 1911's in 45 acp in strategic spots in my house. So when you ask which is better a 9 or a 40, I'll tell you it's a 45 acp.

 

thanks for the tip wolf but you're shooting a built-hell-for-stout revolver, that load would very likely batter even a heavy built (and for +P loads too) S&W 5906.
just judgeing by damage done to wet stacked cardboard the 9mm+P Golden Sabre load would sure put a hurtin' on a BG with anything near a COM hit. and penetrate too.

 

The FBI tried the 38 spl, went to the 357 mag, I think they tried the 9mm, tried the 10mm, then developed the 40 s&w, and finally went back to the 1911 in 45 acp.

IIRC, only their SWAT/HRT folks use 1911's, and only as a back-up to their MP5's. The general issue is Glock's in .40SW.

IMHO, the FBI is the most schizophrenic of all agencies in their weapons and caliber choices (as your post reveals). As a result, I give next to no weight to their choices.

I don't direspect the general numbers being bandied about, but to me what made most sense was looking at mushromed HP's in both calibers, side by side. Yes, 40 is better, but by such a small margin it wouldn't affect my choice of carry.

 

I'm a member of 9 different firearms related boards. All of them have this same argument. However, one guy on another board actually tried out different loads in a real world test. He lives in a rural area, and they get a LOT of feral dogs, especially big ones. He's had to put down a lot of dogs, so he tested various ammo on them. Of the animals he's shot, he noticed that the faster the bullet is driven, the more likely it is to expand. That's why the 125 gr .357 Mag load does so well. It's going so fast, it expands well. The only problem is it's a revolver round, so you only have 6 rounds, have to use a speed loader (if you have one), and the recoil is pretty stout. And for the 9mm, you have to use +P+ to get decent speed, and you'll beat the crap out of your gun, as most 9mms are not designe for this kind of abuse. And if you want a high powered .40 S&W, get a 10mm. Guns designed for the 10mm are designed to take the abuse. Just upgrade the springs on most of them, and you'll shoot factory 10mm 175gr Silvertips to your hearts content.

Jim

 

I've had to take out dogs with a 9, loaded with Corbon 115s. Do not recommend it. 4 or 5 rounds each and that is putting 1 in the head when they slow down.

 

useing a state F&G issued 'damaging deer' permit I don't know at the whitetails I've taken with 1 well placed .22LR sub-sonic 40 gr round from my AMT heavy bbl rifle.this ain't taking into account the ones I've taken with a in-season hunting license.
I have the Marlin Camp 9 & .45acp both I've taken deer with just to fill my doe tags. one shot DRT. neck/head shots both.