TruPatriot

Starting at 9mm, what would come next? I am particularly looking to see how .38, 357 magnum, 357 sig, .40s&w and 45acp fit in the picture. I believe 10mm outranks all right?

HotGuns

The only way to accurately match calibers for "power" is to consider the weight of the bullet, the speed and the caliber.

For instance, a big bullet that moves slow, will have different power factor than a small bullet that moves fast.

The power factor is used to measure all of the effects for the various clubs that compete.

http://www.eskimo.com/~jbm/calculations/pf/pf.html

Here is a site that you can plug those factors into and it will calculate the Power factor for you, from a scale of 1 to 1000. It works for both pistols and rifles.

Just plug in the speed, weight of the bullet and the caliber and hit calculate and it will give you a number. Take the time to play with it and see how the various calibers stack up against each other.

You'll soon notice that pretty much anything below .38 special becomes pretty marginal for self defense.

As an example, a 10mm with a 180 grain bullet moving at 1350FPS has a rating of 243, verses a 9MM shooting a 124 grain at 1250FPS which has a factor of 155.

Lot of difference there...

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Go Glock

The caliber question is like a dragon with infinite heads...you cut one off and another form pops up. Two words: shot placement!

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Ti Carry

What's the old saying my Grandfather use to say?

Son, I'd rather been shot in the leg with a .45, shot in the arm with a 9mm, then shot between the eye's with a .380!

I believe in both shot placement and caliber but I always thought that was funny and right at the same time.


Ti.

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dimmak

Not even going to touch this one....

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TruPatriot

Shot placement is Primary in ALL Combat! However, I would not want to be shot with pellet gun as far as that goes.

My question still stands for informative purposes. Not what caliber weapon should I buy according to popular opinion.

HotGuns

Did that link not work for you ?

There is no simple or easy answer to your question as there are just too many variables.

My short answer would be to use the biggest calber that you can comfortably shoot and shoot well.

All of the above calibers will work and work well. With the advances in ammo in the last 10 years, the gap between perforrmace of all of them has really gotten much shorter.

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AR. CHL Instr.

To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men, their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism, and religious dogmas.'
Dr. G. Brock Chisolm

Al.40cal

This again, stop somebody kill it, kill it dead and bury it, bury it deep so no one can ever find it again!

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floridaguy911

thanks for the link hotguns, very interesting.

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