[calex59]

One reason the so called stopping power of the 9 is not evident is because they use ball ammunition and it does not expand and give take advantage of the velocity. Another reason is the 9 just sucks. Give me a .45 any day, or a .44 special. I love the .44 special but of course you can only get it in a wheel gun but still it is a good round for stopping something in it's tracks. Long live the 1911 and all it's clones!

[mad_as_he$$]

During the Southeast Asia War Games I popped a VC at about 125 yards with an M-16A1 FMJ 56 grain(I think)three times, he kept coming and coming and coming shooting his AK. It was clear he wanted to get a gringo that day. Well, I was clip deficient and everybody else was busy. So I drew my 45, thumbed the hammer and popped him high in the chest at about 10 yards, it knocked him flat on his back and stopped him cold. When the smoke cleared we examined him and found that I had tagged him three times in the lower torso with the M-16 and ALL three had gone through and out. It should be noted that the 45's were not regulation (my Uncle's special brew of hot round and hollow point, And for the people that are going to write and say that a HP will not work in a 45 - all's I can say is I am here now.)

The next day I made two changes. Since the group I was with had some latitude in weapons choice I switched to MAC-10 in 45 and I ALWAYS kept my 45 cocked and locked.

[Terabitten]

One reason the so called stopping power of the 9 is not evident is because they use ball ammunition and it does not expand and give take advantage of the velocity.

That's a *HUGE* issue. There's a reason that damn near every law enforcement agency in the country went to 9mm back in the 80s. With hollow points, you get decent "stopping power" and can carry a sh!tload of ammo (see my tagline.)

With hollow points, 9mm Luger does just fine. The problem is that the military uses ball ammo, and as the author rightly states, 9mm ball tends to overpenetrate.

If you are restricted to using ball ammo (which the military is, essentially), then it's a no-brainer: bigger is better. If the we ever quit following the BS parts of the Geneva Convention, then 9mm hollowpoint would be just dandy.

[Uncle Jaque]

I'm a big fan of the .44 Special too, as was the late great Elmer Keith, who based the .44 Magnum on it.

Would love to have an M-1873 SAA in .44 Spl, but they are hard to come by and out of my budget new.

In the Phillipine Moro insurrection, the troops begged for the old Single-action .45 "hoglegs" to be sent over to replace the innefectual M-1901 .38 Colt revolver - much as our Finest in Iraq are now yearning for "Old Slabsides" to make an encore.

Apparantly, the US .45ACP was designed to replicate the "stopping power" of the .45 Long Colt in an auto-loading platform, and Browning essentially designed the 1911 around it.

The rest, as they say, is History.