9MM, 10MM or 40 SW

I posted the pros and cons of those 3 calibers but either a mod didn't like it, or I forgot to hit post. Here's the gist of it.

None of them are insta man stoppers even if you drill someone center mass. That being said, I don't want to get hit with a .22 short center mass. No handgun just magically incapacitates someone instantly, unless you hit spine or brain. Even a heart shot isn't guaranteed an instant drop. Fast, yes, instant, no.

Pros 9mm - plenty of firearm and ammo choices. Some EXCELLENT and affordable ammo choices that run as intended in CCW sized guns. I have really good ammo in both 115gr and 124gr that I paid 40-75 cents per round for. Today's prices you aren't getting much for .40/round but you can still get good stuff from .60-.75/round

Cons 9mm - some ammo advertised as self defense ammo is pee-poor and is no better than 11$ a box fmj. Caveat Emptor. Good news is that there are at least a dozen excellent choices, maybe as many as 25. See my post above for the workaround non hollow points. Those are very very effective at chewing up Mr. Malignant


Pros .40 - still a good amount of firearm and ammo choices, but not quite as many as 9mm. You are almost guaranteed to find something you like it you are willing to spend 6-700$

Cons .40 - some of the smaller CCW guns beat your hand up after 10-20 shots. Makes practice not so much fun. This can happen in 9mm also, but .40 is worse. It's also not 10mm though the round is almost the same size. Many 10mm guns will shoot .40 just fine.

Pros 10mm - this replaced .45 as God's personal round. I kid, but barely. With the right ammo, you are dumping 6-700 ft lbs of energy into Mr. Malignant. It's a big, heavy gun that just screams "try me, scumbag"

Cons 10mm - it's big and heavy. The few smaller ones are STILL big and heavy. Ammo manufacturers make anemic ammo in 10mm. You have to really research specific manufacturers or you end up with 10mm that isn't as powerful as .40. Really good 10mm ammo is expensive, better than 2$ a pop. One exception that I know of is Sig VCrown 180gr jhp in 10mm. That's VERY close to what real 10mm is supposed to do and it's about 1.25/round. And those smaller 10mm with real 10mm ammo tend to turn your hand into cube steak after a few shots.

Edit: I can't put enough emphasis on ammo manufacturers and 10mm ammo. 90% of it is watered down to be equal OR EVEN less than .40
 
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Indeed. That frosts my cookies. Some of it feels like 38Special! It won't even run my 10mm AR
It sucks so bad. My son just treated himself to a new G20. I sent him 50$ for Christmas with the explicit instructions to go to Cabela's and buy 2 boxes of the Sig VCrowns with it just so he'd have a mag of something decent. Then I sent him about 15 YouTube videos of what is and what isn't 10mm...
 
Chester County is messing with you. Allegheny County is usually less than ten minutes for a renewal. I walked in around the fifteenth of June handed the woman $20 and walked out with my new 5 yr permit in about seven minutes. Three minutes of that seven was waiting for the card machine that prints the permit, to warm up. What's this three day crap?
In fairness, it was during Covid so they were adjusting.
 
Is your 9mm gas driven? Probably not.
No. Of course my AR is. I do have one of those 9mm PCCs though. $600 well spent. You can tear through a box of ammo pretty quickly.
I like to try and standardize my calibers as much as possible and I do regret not having the foresight to buy more .38 and.357 ammo 5 years ago. I did for .223, 9mm and .22 though.
 
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I posted the pros and cons of those 3 calibers but either a mod didn't like it, or I forgot to hit post. Here's the gist of it.

None of them are insta man stoppers even if you drill someone center mass. That being said, I don't want to get hit with a .22 short center mass. No handgun just magically incapacitates someone instantly, unless you hit spine or brain. Even a heart shot isn't guaranteed an instant drop. Fast, yes, instant, no.

Pros 9mm - plenty of firearm and ammo choices. Some EXCELLENT and affordable ammo choices that run as intended in CCW sized guns. I have really good ammo in both 115gr and 124gr that I paid 40-75 cents per round for. Today's prices you aren't getting much for .40/round but you can still get good stuff from .60-.75/round

Cons 9mm - some ammo advertised as self defense ammo is pee-poor and is no better than 11$ a box fmj. Caveat Emptor. Good news is that there are at least a dozen excellent choices, maybe as many as 25. See my post above for the workaround non hollow points. Those are very very effective at chewing up Mr. Malignant


Pros .40 - still a good amount of firearm and ammo choices, but not quite as many as 9mm. You are almost guaranteed to find something you like it you are willing to spend 6-700$

Cons .40 - some of the smaller CCW guns beat your hand up after 10-20 shots. Makes practice not so much fun. This can happen in 9mm also, but .40 is worse. It's also not 10mm though the round is almost the same size. Many 10mm guns will shoot .40 just fine.

Pros 10mm - this replaced .45 as God's personal round. I kid, but barely. With the right ammo, you are dumping 6-700 ft lbs of energy into Mr. Malignant. It's a big, heavy gun that just screams "try me, scumbag"

Cons 10mm - it's big and heavy. The few smaller ones are STILL big and heavy. Ammo manufacturers make anemic ammo in 10mm. You have to really research specific manufacturers or you end up with 10mm that isn't as powerful as .40. Really good 10mm ammo is expensive, better than 2$ a pop. One exception that I know of is Sig VCrown 180gr jhp in 10mm. That's VERY close to what real 10mm is supposed to do and it's about 1.25/round. And those smaller 10mm with real 10mm ammo tend to turn your hand into cube steak after a few shots.

Edit: I can't put enough emphasis on ammo manufacturers and 10mm ammo. 90% of it is watered down to be equal OR EVEN less than .40
Your first post contained profanity. If your post violates rules, it’s as good as gone. Even if a mod agrees with every technical point you’ve made.
 
Easy. 10mm. Learn to reload. With the proper and inexpensive conversion parts, that one gun will also shoot 50 GI, .40 S&W, 9x25 Dillon, 357 SIG, .22LR.

You haven't lived until you shoot 9x25 Dillon at it's max.

With a stock G20, you can shoot .40 S&W all day.
 
You will get n+1 answers, where n is the number of people responding. It might be useful to know the history.

9mm, or 9mm luger more precisely, has been around since the turn of the century. During this time its spread to almost every military and police department around the world, and is by far the most common handgun cartridge in existence - so this means it has the most options for both firearms and ammunition. The argument has always been is that it isn't powerful enough, but with modern ammunition, all the military testing proves that false.

The .40 was commissioned by the FBI in the 80's after they found themselves ridiculously outgunned in a shootout in Miami. They were carrying 38 special IIRC. The idea was that the FBI wanted an auto pistol with the capacity of a 9mm with the power closer to a 45 ACP. After much testing they got the 40, and it was very popular for many years. However with 9mm ammo getting better, and police departments moving that way - its becoming to some degree obsolete. Still lots of people like it.

The 10mm originally came out of the same commissioning test the FBI requested in the 80's for the 40. It was deemed too powerful for many shooters, so the FBI rejected it. This has made it somewhat coveted however, and it has been getting quite the resurgence lately. The basic premise is you get the power of a 357 magnum in an auto pistol with more bullets.

And I will add, there are no Plus / minus to any of these. There different tools. Depends on what tool you want to use and what job your looking to accomplish.
That’s not exactly how it happened. The FBI adopted the 10mm first. In the S&W 1076, which was on the cover of every gun magazine in the summer of 1990.

Then they had to reduce the velocity because agent qualifying rates plummeted. The watered down 10mm was the basis of the .40S&W which was developed in about 1992.

I talked about it more in this post:
Post in thread 'New Springfield XDM 10MM'
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/new-springfield-xdm-10mm.297569/post-4892710

I am a 10mm fan, and have several pistols chambered in 10mm, including a 1076. But full power ammo (e.g. Cor-bon, Buffalo Bore, and the V-Crown) is about double the recoil of a 9mm.

In most situations, a 9mm is sufficient for a threat. 10mm is nice if the threat is over 400lbs, has heavy clothing, or fur, or is really determined to kill you.
 
No. If course my AR is. I do have one of those 9mm PCCs though. $600 well spent.
Yes totally different guns. There are similar 10mm PCC's as well.

But my 10mm is a project gun, hobby really. It's an SBR, runs just like an AR - gas impinged and those underloaded 10mm don't have enough pressure to cycle the gun. It's the way it works. I can free up the BCG, light buffer, correct spring - nope still needs regular hot 10mm rounds.

10mmARicon.webp
 
Yes totally different guns. There are similar 10mm PCC's as well.

But my 10mm is a project gun, hobby really. It's an SBR, runs just like an AR - gas impinged and those underloaded 10mm don't have enough pressure to cycle the gun. It's the way it works. I can free up the BCG, light buffer, correct spring - nope still needs regular hot 10mm rounds.

View attachment 196169
It looks very comfortable. I'm sure it sleeps well in that bunting. It loves you for treating it so well. But probably wonders why you feed it anemic loads.
 
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