So, is the 9mm the round? And I'm not talking just for tiny CCW guns, I'm talking for the "go-to" carry round.
My daily carry piece is a full size Smith & Wesson M&P9. One of the reasons I went with the M&P is that the two largest law enforcement agencies in the county where I live (both the city police dept, and the county Sheriff's Office) carry M&Ps. However, they both carry .40S&W models, and I still stuck with the 9.
Why? The .40 has proven to be a great fight stopper, one of the City boys put two into a goblin's center mass a couple years back and he was done before they even got to the hospital. (This was after he'd be tazed a couple times, yanked the leads out, and been OC sprayed. Also had a known violent background, especially against LEOs.) So why did I go with 9mm Parabellum?
There a couple reasons. The first, availability. 9x19mm is the single most common handgun cartridge in the world by some accounts. Just about anybody that carries pistol ammo carries 9mm. To go along with this, 9mm is also noticeably cheaper than .40S&W, .40's pushing close to .45acp in price. I figure if I'm going to pay .45 prices, I may as well shoot .45. But I like to practice, so paying 2/3 the price for standard ball is going to win me over any day. 9x19mm is still the cheapest centerfire ammo I know of. It's pretty well agreed that shot placement trumps bullet type every time. More practice equals better shooting, and more consistent shot placement. Price is important.
The constant criticism of the 9mm comes from stories on the frontlines. Soldiers apparently regularly shoot tiny middle-easterners (really, they're little guys) with a full mag, only to watch them shrug them off like mosquitoes and keep coming. While I don't doubt this may have happened with a highly motivated and drugged up insurgent, I don't think the fault lies solely in the diameter of the bullet.
The US military has long limited themselves to FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) loads of 115 grains 124gr loaded to +P speeds. This load tends to go really fast, and the fully jacketed ball does not expand. Even if it slightly deforms it will be prone to over-penetration, and a bullet that goes through your target and continues downrange is just wasted energy.
I regularly shoot 115 gr. FMJ at the range. It's cheap and plentiful, and doesn't beat the shooter up. But when I leave the range, I switch back to 124 gr. JHP (Jacketed Hollow Points.) You can get 9mm loaded all the way up to 147 grain, but I like the 124 grain for the balance between mass and velocity. The 124s tend to travel faster, which can aid in more consistent expansion, which is the entire concept of hollow points. In my M&P, I can carry 17+1 of them (I always just carry 17 though due to WI's stupid laws.) If I can't take care of it with 34 rounds of that, I done screwed up. The data I can find for the rounds I have show a regular penetration of about 12" and expansion to over half an inch. I feel pretty confident in that.
So do I think 9x19 is the be-all-end-all of handgun cartridges? Maybe, but something better could always come along, and it may not fit your exact needs. Most importantly though, I trust it. I don't feel under armed when I'm carrying my gun (well, I'm much more comfortable with a rifle, but that's another matter.) It may not work for you, but it works just fine for me.
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8 comments:
One correction,
9mm NATO is 124 grain and loaded hotter than your standard velocity stuff, it's pretty close to +P in terms of charge.
I carried 9mm for many years on duty and never felt undergunned. I have a few in 40 now but my regular CCW gun is Glock 26 in 9mm loaded with Black Talons.
Shooting FMJs? Then I want a .45 ACP. Todays Modern hollow points? Really any of the three major calibers 9mm, .40 and .45 are great. It just may be down to each individual's weapon they carry. I have a 9mm as a bedside gun and carry a .40 Springfeild XD first generation, or a glock 27.
Why is the 9mm my bedside gun? I've got a weapon light on it and night sights on it. I do agree with your assessment however that 9mm is everywhere and plentiful.
However .40 is very available as well.
I reload which also is another additional factor in this, and my 1911 has a .22LR conversion kit on it for just plain cheap range time.
My own thoughts for pistol bullets? It may not be quite as much the size going in as it is the amount of energy expanded in the assailant. The only thing that has me more inclined for a carry pistol to to a larger caliber is the fact that the one shot instant kill is pretty difficult to get. The larger the bullet is and heavier it is means the greater width of damage to internal organs, if all goes well.
The other aspect of it is, that if for whatever reason I'm forced to have to carry FMJ, its back to the military side of it that then you really do want bigger bullets.
All that aside, Carry what you want, shoot it well, and hope you never have to use any, let alone a full magazine of anything.
JD- learn something new every day. Ball still sucks against people though, especially with how fast +P tends to go. I'd almost rather have slower stuff if I'm stuck with ball.
Like I said, shot placement is key, but 9mm is the smallest I'm comfortable using for defense. I am looking forward to the M&P22 though, will be great for training. My daily carry gun is a 9 for the same reason as Jester, plus it's more controlable than a 40. Those guys are jumpy. No rails or night sights on the .45 though.
I do agree with Fred here about .40 snap. It does take more practice to control in most firearms I've used it with, the G27 with full house loads 180 grains or +Ps are miserable to train with. A larger pistol its more controllable.
All told, the minimum size I look at at a 9mm is the 124 grain weights, preferable to the +P factor. I like heavier bullets period.
Flavors aside, and all this conversation we could have, the opening post, yes 9mm I feel is the smallest size for over all effectiveness in the greatest of situations on self defense applications on humans.
While its best to carry something opposed to nothing, all the ballistic data I have seen has showen that the .380 acp is best at a FMJ loading and even then its very weak. With the current crop of subcompact 9mms 40's and even some .45s I feel there in most applications is no excuse not to carry one of those.
9mm gives more agility and smaller firearms in general and with a modern hollow point I would take that vs something that I could not carry in a comfertable fashion with out printing.
I carry a Glock 19. With a full mag in the gun, a full mag on my belt, and one in the chamber, that's 31 rounds. I use Speer Gold Dot 124 gr +P hollow points, as that is what a lot of police departments around the country use. No one can accuse you of using "extra deadly mankiller" rounds if you use what the police use, right?
I chose 9mm because I enjoyed shooting the Beretta M9 when I was in the Army, and because when TEOTWAWKI comes, 9mm will be one of the more prevalent calibers of ammo available.
Truthfully?
(And I say this as someone who CCW's a .45ACP and keeps a .357 Magnum by the bedside...)
Anything beyond a 158gr .38 Spl LSWC-HP +P is just whistling past the graveyard.
9mm, .40, .45, whatever... With modern JHPs there's not spit's worth of difference.
No doubt.
I think the the 9mm mainly just edges ahead due to market saturation. 9mm and .45acp are still, by and large, the most common automatic pistol rounds you'll run into at any given shop.
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