We spend alot of time busting each others balls whether its glocks or 1911s but this article from the OutdoorHub makes a very compelling case as to why you should choose the latter.
A single .45 ACP round, fired by John Moses Browning from the grave, destroyed the Ploesti Oil Refineries back in World War II, thereby making additional and highly dangerous bombing missions unnecessary. In fact, the ricochet wiped out a platoon of German Panzerkampfwagen VI tanks.
True story? Nah. But according to the hearsay reputation of the awesome destructive power of the venerable .45 ACP, it might as well be. And make no mistake, the .45 ACP is a proven performer while the 9mm may or may not perforate damp Kleenex – depending on the ambient humidity.
As promised, we’re doing a bit of political flip-flop. Since posting all the mathematical and scientific reasons that 9mm is the only sensible choice for self-defense, I’ve seen the lightand come to understand that choosing the .45 ACP will result in a remarkable case of toxic masculinity. Who doesn’t want that?
Again, by the numbers, here’s why you’re a complete failure at the game of Life if you don’t choose a .45 pistol.
Expansion Equality
Now here’s the thing. 9mm fanboys will almost always spout off stuff like “Modern 9mmammo is far better and will expand to diameters bigger than the .45 ACP.” What they leave out, however, is that modern .45 ACP ammo expands too. When you shoot a .45 ACP hollow point into organic material, I’m pretty sure that it grows to a diameter of over 17 feet. Granted, that figure is from memory, so I might have to verify the math…
.45 ACP defensive ammo expands too…
OK, so I was close. During my ammo testing and subsequent measuring, I’ve shot plenty of .45 ACP self-defense ammunition into gelatin blocks and observed some pretty impressive results. While expansion diameter wasn’t quite 17 feet, it was still epic. Consider these numbers that I measured from recovered projectiles.
Barnes TAC-XPD 185-grain: .791”
Sig Sauer V-Crown 230-grain: .712”
Federal HST: .900”
But diameter only tells part of the story. If a bullet was just a straight line flying sideways, I suppose it would be a decent enough measurement, but expanded bullets make circular shapes. Because I managed to stay awake through at least two 9th-grade geometry classes, I know how to figure the area of a circle. Remember Pi times radius squared? Surface area seems the more relevant comparison, now doesn’t it?
Under the very best conditions, a bullet of either caliber can expand to double its original diameter, so let’s use those numbers for both 9mm and .45 ACP. I figure that a good .45 bullet goes through its target leading the way with about .64 square inches of doom. A good 9mm that expands to double its diameter, or 0.71 inches, presents just 0.40 square inches of expanded bullet.
There you have it. .45 ACP wins by 60 percent. Case closed.
