"Barring central nervous system hits, there is no physiological reason for an individual to be incapacitated by even a fatal wound, until blood loss is sufficient to drop blood pressure and/or the brain is deprived of oxygen...
...The human target can be reliably incapacitated only by disrupting or destroying the brain or upper spinal cord. Absent that, incapacitation is subject to a host of variables, the most important of which are beyond the control of the shooter. Incapacitation becomes an eventual event, not necessarily an immediate one...
... While penetration up to 18 inches is preferable, a handgun bullet MUST reliably penetrate 12 inches of soft body tissue at a minimum, regardless of whether it expands or not. If the bullet does not reliably penetrate to these depths, it is not an effective bullet for law enforcement use...
...If a bullet destroys about 2 ounces of tissue in its passage through the body, that represents 0.07 of one percent of the mass of a 180 pound man. Unless the tissue destroyed is located within the critical areas of the central nervous system, it is physiologically insufficient to force incapacitation upon the unwilling target. It may certainly prove to be lethal, but a body count is no evidence of incapacitation..."
A good 38 special load, like Buffalo Bore's, will expand and penetrate 12-14". But neither it nor the 45 acp nor the 10mm nor ANY handgun cartridge will "force incapacitation upon the unwilling target". Thus the gun one carries, if a handgun, doesn't defend you. It only gives you a chance of hurting or killing the person who hurts or kills you.
And thus movement might be better for survival than shooting.
That doesn't really eliminate the many weaknesses of a snub nosed revolver as compared to modern hig quality, high cap semi-auto.
But neither it nor the 45 acp nor the 10mm nor ANY handgun cartridge will "force incapacitation upon the unwilling target".
The following story is the reason why I prefer the 10mm. It gives you excellent terminal energy, excellent penetration, reliable expansion, and a high magazine capacity for when none of that matters.
This is a police shoot out story and involves a suspect that took 14 .45 acp slugs before being incapacitated. Within 56 seconds of shooting, 33 rounds were discharged at the assailant with 14 hits by a police sniper and master firearms instructor. of those 14 hits, 6 were in vital organs-he was hit in the heart, both lungs, the liver, the diaphragm, and the right kidney and he was still maneuvering on the cop with a gun in hand. If you are unfamiliar with the story, you won't be sorry for taking a few minutes to read about it.
The moral of the story is: "having more ammo is better than having less ammo should you find yourself in a gun fight."