I see, just a troll to stir up sh*t and not add to the conversation. At least you admitted it.
I've had a .32 and a .380 and it's just not fun for me. I don't want to have to stick it in their ear to damage them. I was a medic in the Army and witnessed an autopsy on a wino with a .32 about 1 inch into his brain. His hair was singed so it was fired point blank. He walked to the ER before dying. I shot my own .380 and it bounced off a telephone pole more than once. .32 ricocheted every time off the pole.
I'm gonna have to call BS. Every test of the 32 ACP with FMJs show they will pass FBI penetration tests, and if you look at the Fiocchi I linked to above, and gel tests in 9mm by the same person you'll see that the 32 ACP penetrates as much as most 9mm hollow points.
People survive 45 ACPs to the head, others drop dead immediately from a 22 LR. If you were a medic then you would know that better than anybody - it's not the caliber that matters, it's the placement, and a CNS hit. With 15" of penetration, the FMJ Fiocchi 32 ACP will get your CNS, if you do your job.
I call BS on you if you think a .32 is worth spit. I call BS when you say a head shot with a .45 won't take your head off your shoulders. Maybe they were shot in the tip of their nose. And what is with all the FMJ talk. No one I know uses FMJ for protection. FMJ is for target practice. HP or soft nose is for protection if you don't go all the way with the new frangible's.
I was a medic and have witnessed many gun injuries. I'm telling you I shot a phone pole with a .32, 15 feet away and every shot bounced off the pole. Not one penetration. I sold the gun. It's not even a purse gun for a woman. The .380 is only slightly better.
You lose all credibility when you say a .32 is as good as a 9mm. I'm not in love with a 9mm, but it is way better than a .32. These are gang banger guns that burn up the ghetto's. They shoot each other every weekend and are back in school Monday. I would rather have a .22 LR than a .32. At least you get the penetration.( and more shots)
No, I don't want to be shot with anything, but I'm just talking about raw power. Shooting someone with a .45 in the kneecap wouldn't be as good as shooting someone with a .380 in the head, that is true. But shooting someone with a .380 in the knee probably wouldn't even keep them from slapping the sh#t out of you before you got off another shot. In Texas, you have some "big ole boys" that take alot of killin. My daughter is a Sheriff Deputy and has seen many perps shot multiple times with small bullets and lived. 9 hits with a 9mm and it still takes 2 officers to take a guy down killing his wife while on meth, will make you pay attention to the size gun you carry. When I pull a gun, I plan on winning. It's not a game. I don't want a pencil hole, I want meat and guts flying. You may not always be able to make a head shot.
Now that we have settled the small caliber against the large caliber pistol question, we can move on to the tried and true .308 against the .223 for the military question. You get one guess what I pick. My M1A Springfield is the only gun I will never sell. This same ground has been covered about 150 times in the last few years. Same people, same comments. All the points have been made multiple times. I could have started the thread off with a bunch of numbers of foot pounds of muzzle energy and retained energy down range and such, but it usually get a reactions when you just say small caliber's pistols suck. A good knife will do more damage.