The conventional wisdom that the larger hole of the .45 does more damage is a myth. Bullet holes don't stay holes. You ever seen an actual gunshot entry? Does it look like punched paper? No. They are filled with tissue, clots, etc.
And the 5.56 has tiny little entrance holes in some cases. Is it inferior to the .45 for personal defense?
Since we've established the entrance hole size is irrelevant, we can move to things that matter. Most of the people that "bleed out" and die from a gsw are actually bleeding in-- it's not the blood they lost through the entrance or exit hole, is the blood floating around inside them that caused them to die.
A bullet has a simple task-- produce sufficient damage to critical tissue that the attacker cannot continue attacking.
Handgun bullets, unfortunately, can really only crush tissue. This is incredibly inefficient and why an arrow and broadhead with not even 100lb-ft is adequate for hunting, while a 9mm with triple that energy is not. Broadheads cut and use the energy efficiently. Bullets don't use that energy efficiently.
Why it crushing and not stretching tissue the only real valid wound mechanism? Most HG rounds are too slow to generate enough stress to damage organs by stretching. Hydrostatic shock is mostly a rifle phenomenon, not a handgun phenomenon (although some .357 loads from a 6" barrel will get you in that neighborhood). This is why that high shoulder shot on your deer just folds them like a cheap suit even when it missed the lungs and heart-- that deer round is fast enough for remote wounding effects. (CNS/spinal damage to the deer in this case).
Because they are so inefficient, even non-trivial differences between calibers would produce small differences in terminal performance. There's very little observable terminal difference between a 9mm at 320lb ft, a .45 at .450 lb-ft, and even a hot .357 sig at 500lb-ft.
Pick whichever caliber you like best, but don't pretend it's some kind of magic wand that can make up for your poor marksmanship, lack of preparation, or poor awareness. Your old and crusty "Carry ammo" that you've kept in circulation for 4 years isn't immune to deterioration just because its a .45 and .45s are perfect.
If we only cared about the having the very best all-around terminal ballistics on a compact autoloader, we'd all be carrying .357 Sig. It's ballistically the best of major autoloading duty calibers, both in internal ballistics, external ballistics, and terminal ballistics.
But it's expensive and breaks guns. Is it worth the wear and tear and cost to have a tiny sliver more performance over +P+ 9mm? Probably not.
40SW is truly the middle child. Poor thing. Because it gives you some of each, it's hated by both for its lack of purity. Like a person in the middle that neither Republicans or Democrats can tolerate.
I'll let you in on a secret: handload that 180gr .40sw down to 800fps like a 230gr .45. You will LOVE shooting your .40, the snap is entirely gone.
The mistake of the .40SW was marketing it as a larger 9mm rather than a shrunk down .45. Drop the pressure and the cartridge totally transforms. Penetration goes up (less JHP expansion), shootability goes up. Less wear/tear on gun.
I carry 9mm, I like 40SW, and will never own a .45 for anything but a range toy or sentimentality. It's simply obsolete in my view because the capacity reduction is too large compared to the TINY performance advantage-- if any. The slow speed has serious handicaps at times.
And the 5.56 has tiny little entrance holes in some cases. Is it inferior to the .45 for personal defense?
Since we've established the entrance hole size is irrelevant, we can move to things that matter. Most of the people that "bleed out" and die from a gsw are actually bleeding in-- it's not the blood they lost through the entrance or exit hole, is the blood floating around inside them that caused them to die.
A bullet has a simple task-- produce sufficient damage to critical tissue that the attacker cannot continue attacking.
Handgun bullets, unfortunately, can really only crush tissue. This is incredibly inefficient and why an arrow and broadhead with not even 100lb-ft is adequate for hunting, while a 9mm with triple that energy is not. Broadheads cut and use the energy efficiently. Bullets don't use that energy efficiently.
Why it crushing and not stretching tissue the only real valid wound mechanism? Most HG rounds are too slow to generate enough stress to damage organs by stretching. Hydrostatic shock is mostly a rifle phenomenon, not a handgun phenomenon (although some .357 loads from a 6" barrel will get you in that neighborhood). This is why that high shoulder shot on your deer just folds them like a cheap suit even when it missed the lungs and heart-- that deer round is fast enough for remote wounding effects. (CNS/spinal damage to the deer in this case).
Because they are so inefficient, even non-trivial differences between calibers would produce small differences in terminal performance. There's very little observable terminal difference between a 9mm at 320lb ft, a .45 at .450 lb-ft, and even a hot .357 sig at 500lb-ft.
Pick whichever caliber you like best, but don't pretend it's some kind of magic wand that can make up for your poor marksmanship, lack of preparation, or poor awareness. Your old and crusty "Carry ammo" that you've kept in circulation for 4 years isn't immune to deterioration just because its a .45 and .45s are perfect.
If we only cared about the having the very best all-around terminal ballistics on a compact autoloader, we'd all be carrying .357 Sig. It's ballistically the best of major autoloading duty calibers, both in internal ballistics, external ballistics, and terminal ballistics.
But it's expensive and breaks guns. Is it worth the wear and tear and cost to have a tiny sliver more performance over +P+ 9mm? Probably not.
40SW is truly the middle child. Poor thing. Because it gives you some of each, it's hated by both for its lack of purity. Like a person in the middle that neither Republicans or Democrats can tolerate.
I'll let you in on a secret: handload that 180gr .40sw down to 800fps like a 230gr .45. You will LOVE shooting your .40, the snap is entirely gone.
The mistake of the .40SW was marketing it as a larger 9mm rather than a shrunk down .45. Drop the pressure and the cartridge totally transforms. Penetration goes up (less JHP expansion), shootability goes up. Less wear/tear on gun.
I carry 9mm, I like 40SW, and will never own a .45 for anything but a range toy or sentimentality. It's simply obsolete in my view because the capacity reduction is too large compared to the TINY performance advantage-- if any. The slow speed has serious handicaps at times.
