Wife considering Smith & Wesson SD40

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

Well, tell that to the guy who succumbed to a 115gr 9mm bullet wound that traveled through 2 walls, and the wooden headboard of a bed, from an adjacent apartment. Or the one who collected a 62gr bonded tip .223 round in his ribcage after it traveled through both sides of the singlewide next door and into his. But I digress. Incidentally, those three authors that I listed back up their opinions with real world testing and are considered experts in the field of ballistic performance. The first 2 were also LEOs and have probably seen their fair share of "real world test results".

Not going to continue on with this as we can be here for years picking this topic apart. However, as @dubber09 states, what's beyond your target, and whether your ammunition can reach past that and cause damage is a major concern. And another aspect that most don't take into account, the legal ramifications if it does. This is why one should choose wisely based on the environment it's intended to be used in. And of course, as @Astro14 so succinctly put it, DON'T MISS. That increases the chances of causing unintended damage exponentially. So that involves training. And training the way you would if placed in that defensive situation to achieve a positive outcome.

I think the horse that is getting a beating is long dead. OP got a lot of great options to mull over. I think he will take all of the advice here into consideration and make a wise choice.

A broad sweeping statement was made: that slower, heavier projectiles are less likely to overpenetrate walls. This is a statement about odds and tendencies, not absolutes.

Anecdotes don’t mean much in the context of broad statements and likelihoods. That being said, 9mm is relatively slow and heavy in the grand scheme of things. And a 62gr bonded 5.56 is not the lightest or least penetrative flavor. Compared to a HP 55gr, yeah, it’ll go through more material.

There are no guarantees no matter which caliber is used, but that doesn’t mean this topic should be ignored, or worse, that people should do the exact opposite of best practices.

I’m going to press on this because people’s safety is involved. The fact is, if you want to lower the likelihood of wall penetration (again, this is never a guarantee), then source lighter and faster projectiles.

• #4 buck over #00 buck (good choice)
• 45-55gr hp 5.56 over 75gr (fairly good choice)
• 65gr 9mm over 124gr (but almost all pistol rounds like going through walls)
• Fragmenting rounds designed for penetrating less likely the 162gr 45 RIP in the video below.

Here’s a video where lighter expanding loads like 55gr .223 FTX fragmented in sheetrock and minimized bystander risk, and #4 buck shows its advantages.



And here’s another test:

 

[shortyb]

In fairness, two walls (two layers of drywall, two layers of sheathing, perhaps a bit of fiberglass) isn’t going to stop anything, particularly a rifle round of any kind. Regular walls are concealment.

Not cover.

Even a 9mm hollow point will go through at least ten layers of drywall.

Look, if a projectile will penetrate a human enough to be effective - it’s going to penetrate walls, too.

Agreed. The point I was trying to make is that a smaller/lighter bullet is not necessarily less likely to overpenetrate due to the energy it has. If one were to really be concerned about it going through stuff (besides the target) a frangible could probably be a better choice than anything else.

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

Agreed. The point I was trying to make is that a smaller/lighter bullet is not necessarily less likely to overpenetrate due to the energy it has. If one were to really be concerned about it going through stuff (besides the target) a frangible could probably be a better choice than anything else.

Just because the R^2 isn’t exactly 1 doesn’t mean there isn’t a well defined trend.

 

[shortyb]

A broad sweeping statement was made: that slower, heavier projectiles are less likely to overpenetrate walls. This is a statement about odds and tendencies, not absolutes.

Anecdotes don’t mean much in the context of broad statements and likelihoods. That being said, 9mm is relatively slow and heavy in the grand scheme of things. And a 62gr bonded 5.56 is not the lightest or least penetrative flavor. Compared to a HP 55gr, yeah, it’ll go through more material.

There are no guarantees no matter which caliber is used, but that doesn’t mean this topic should be ignored, or worse, that people should do the exact opposite of best practices.

I’m going to press on this because people’s safety is involved. The fact is, if you want to lower the likelihood of wall penetration (again, this is never a guarantee), then source lighter and faster projectiles.

• #4 buck over #00 buck (good choice)
• 45-55gr hp 5.56 over 75gr (fairly good choice)
• 65gr 9mm over 124gr (but almost all pistol rounds like going through walls)
• Fragmenting rounds designed for penetrating less likely the 162gr 45 RIP in the video below.

Here’s a video where lighter expanding loads like 55gr .223 FTX fragmented in sheetrock and minimized bystander risk, and #4 buck shows its advantages.



And here’s another test:

You are absolutely right. I agree, can't make absolute statements about non-absolute situations. All are going to contain variables and all variables need to be considered.

 

[shortyb]

In fairness, two walls (two layers of drywall, two layers of sheathing, perhaps a bit of fiberglass) isn’t going to stop anything, particularly a rifle round of any kind. Regular walls are concealment.

Not cover.

Even a 9mm hollow point will go through at least ten layers of drywall.

Look, if a projectile will penetrate a human enough to be effective - it’s going to penetrate walls, too.

I guess one absolute, broad sweeping statement CAN be made here. Walls, of a household type and construction, suck at stopping bullets of most any kind. They also suck as cover and protection. I suppose the overall point can be made that if this is your self defense environment, you must think about what will happen when a projectile does not strike it's intended target. I think we can all agree on this.

 

[Astro14]

Agreed.

 

[Expendable]

A few of times when I've been interested in a new gun but can't make up my mind I'll go to an indoor range where they have a good selection of rental firearms and try them out,
Every time I have done this they have let me swap between different firearms during the same rental period making it so I only have to pay one rental fee.
There have been several times when just holding the gun in the store I liked it but once I shot it, not so much.

 

[kmrinpa]

2 part response...

1) primary choice(s)...SD9 or 40 2.0 has better trigger than previous iterations- SD9VE or 40; no adjustment in the grip size, mags are decently available for 9mm...not so much for 40; recoil will be higher in 40 than 9mm; ammo more plentiful in 9mm than 40

2) alternative recommendations in $300-350 range...Ruger Security 9, Ruger 9 Max, Springfield Armory XD Mod 3, clean used pistols...S&W M&P, Glock, etc

 

[Astro14]

A few of times when I've been interested in a new gun but can't make up my mind I'll go to an indoor range where they have a good selection of rental firearms and try them out,
Every time I have done this they have let me swap between different firearms during the same rental period making it so I only have to pay one rental fee.
There have been several times when just holding the gun in the store I liked it but once I shot it, not so much.

Exactly. How it feels in your hand is not the same as how it feels under recoil.

 

[KenshinHimura]

There is also the Mossberg Mc2c as well