A couple weeks back, a fellow IDPA shooter told me that recent events and our conversations have led him to consider renewing his concealed handgun license. He then went on to say he’d been told he should consider moving to .45 ACP as the caliber of choice for his carry gun rather than the 9x19mm pistols he was already shooting. Thus began a conversation that some of us have had many, many times over. As folklore goes, if you hit a man in the heart with a 9mm, the bullet will pass right through and the guy won’t even know he’s been shot. Hit him in the finger with a “45” and he’ll be torn asunder, thrown back on his ass, and all hostilities will cease immediately as his friends cower in fear. It all sounds good but, it has little to do with reality.
In the real world, bullets launched at living creatures are all charged with the same job. One way or another, a bullet must penetrate the outer layers and get in deep enough to break load bearing bones, disrupt the central nervous system, and/or cut through the heart, lungs, major blood vessels or other organs. So to that end, no area of the body makes a better target than a four to six-inch strip down the midline of the body between the head and groin. This is of course, ideal and things change in the real world such that we aren’t necessarily presented this wondrous landing strip for bullets but, take a moment to think about what lies in this strip of real estate.
If we could see through all the layers, at the center of it all is bundle of nerve fibers known as the spinal cord which happens to smell like “hot dogs” to your truly and is responsible for directing all motor control signals between the brain and the body. The spinal cord is surrounded and in fact armored by bones and other tissues. These bones and tissues are the vertebrae and discs that make up the spine or spinal column that resembles a stack of “marshmallows” (vertebrae) with “grapes” (discs) squished between them. Forming the core of the circulatory system and positioned on either side of the spinal column, lie the large blood vessels or “hoses” that lead to/from the heart and lungs, down the spine past the kidney toward the pelvis where they bifurcate or split before continuing on to the legs. Regardless of caliber, bullets that penetrate deep enough to hit these “hot dogs and hoses, marshmallows and grapes,” present us the highest probability of incapacitating a threat in the shortest period of time with fewer rounds fired.
So the point lurking here is that what you hit is more important than the caliber with which you hit. All that matters in terms of caliber is that the bullet be capable of penetrating deep enough to reach these areas. Modern defensive/duty ammunition in service calibers such as 9x19mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP are all tested using FBI protocols to be sure their bullets can do just that. Bonded jacketed hollow point ammunition in .40 S&W dominates in the police market largely because such ammunition does offer advantages in continuing to perform as desired after passing through intermediate barriers like auto-glass, sheet metal, and drywall. Most of us, if we have to defend our own lives, are not likely to have to shoot through a car or the interior walls of a building to do so. To that end, for most of us, “nine is just fine.” Shoot the caliber with which you can deliver fast, accurate, and controlled fire to the areas discussed above. We recommend starting at 9mm but, few people shot with .380 have ever said, “that bullet isn’t big enough.” Your mileage may vary.
-Gary
