Tippin' my hat to you, FRiend.
Does the .41 Mag count?
Well........the Automag would be nice!
Actually, all things considered...and believe me ol' Squantos and I have been grinding this one down into fine, microscope-inspected dust, inside, outside, backward, upside down, for over a year now, day and night, anecdotes, experience, specialty ammo, every web site we could find...and we found a few (!)....because we wanted to deduce and decide upon what we should carry for all circumstances if only ONE handgun were to be chosen. The age-old "one gun" debate. We searched for an all-purpose unit, which would not be unreasonable to use should a long gun not be there.
The problem for us, not on duty that is (when others make the decision for one...more or less!), comes back to ammunition resupply, which is not a problem for the Armed Forces.
We both agreed that when it comes to STOPPING an animal, vegetable, or military adversary, we would both rather have a .44 Special or Magnum in our hands. One call does it all, more or less. 9mms are so small as to require bullet expansion for effective diameter, and expansion limits penetration, by simple physics, and is unpredictable. An unexpanded 9mm FMJ creates a very narrow permanent channel, further decreasing the odds of hitting structure essential for a STOP. We are not hunting here, but trying to prevent a probably MUCH better armed attacker from killing us, NOW. Dangerous animals are quite well armed too, as many can attest. The .45 Auto (trying not to attract Buffalo Head) creates a wide channel, and penetrates well even at longer ranges if one can manage the trajectory, because of its heavy bullet weight. However, in some uses, the wide diameter and blunt tip limit penetration into harder surfaces...not a good thing. Although Squantos shot a record book mountain lion to death with his .45, when it was discovered to be stalking his men right behind them as they crawled upon the ground during night training, he was fortunate enough to hit it in the ear...and it took another shot at that. It may not have been so effective on a bear. This is why we both carry .44 Magnums when afield for hiking, etc.
I have been told that the .41 does not perform nearly as well as the .44 Magnum, and I know that ammunition is very hard to find. Also, the larger projectile should need less barrel length (velocity) to be properly effective. Anyway, we are speaking about automatics, military arms here. We both back our automatics up with revolvers though, when afield for sport or farm utility, or simply carry the .44.
He bought a Glock 20, and had Larry Kelly Mag-na-Port it, not the one-hole sunroof style...and he says it handles like a .38! Target shooters claim that the 10mm works wonderfully in ported revolvers. So, in a reliable package, with the right loads...180gr. and up, I should think, it really does the job. I think that flat-nosed ball (TC) would be very useful in military and chips down survival situations. Also, more diameter and more weight enhances permanent channel diameter and penetration depth without resorting to higher velocities, a problem in smaller handguns. I have also discovered that the magical "hydrostatic shock" effect does not apply to handgun velocities....so that adding +P velocity (and pressure) is not necessarily the best answer to better performance. For hollow point of expanding bullet use, it can actually LESSEN penetration depth, and/or cause fragmentation. It also beats hell out of any semi-auto handgun. The better method is to increase bullet weight....which is part of why the penetration performance .45ACP (here he comes) continues to prove so effective in mortal combat to this day....higher projectile weight causes deeper penetration even at moderate to LOWER velocity. Larger diameter improves bullet effectiveness against living targets too, but the trade off can be greater bullet drop at longer ranges. Ahem.
I think that the 10mm is a great invention, and that we should use it. In declared war situations, when Ball must be used, it has ample weight and diameter, and flatter trajectory. It screams out of longer barrels too, as in SMGs. Sub-sonic use is effective because of greater weight and diameter too.
So, there's mah Opus. BTW, we fellers has decided to mostly stick wif our plain ol' 9mm BHPs most of the time, loaded with white box Winchester 147gr. HP or Supreme, and specialty ammo from www.RBCD.com since the current unpleasantness could cause a survival bug-out, and we'd have trouble resupplying with 10mm. I carry a Redhawk 7 1/2" .44 a lot when I can....kills the rattlesnakes REAL good, and can fill in for a rifle if'n the balloon goes up when I'm far from home. In peacetime, I'd go to the woods with a 10. Now....hmmmmm.
The military can resupply anything, a civilian must buy or trade.
10mm.
That's my 8 million cents.
(also, gotta reply to the girlfriend's IM now, since I've been right here for a while!)