Shooting situation

[swamper]

I agree with pangris about the .40 recoil. I can definitely fire follow-up shots faster with a .45 than with my .40, and make a bigger hole at the same time. Sounds like a win-win to me. Honestly the only reason I own an XD-40 is because the XD-45ACP wasn't out yet, and I'm personally not a fan of 9mm as a defensive round if I'm comfortable shooting the .45.

And I'm surprised no one has mentioned the overpenetration possibility with 9mm. Anyone have any real life experience with this, or is it just hype?

I've got no business talking about this subject as I'm probably the most ignorant person here, but I do read and look at purty pictures of results. Granted, this is not a real human subject (gelatin), but there seems to be some good information in the thread below. There is a picture comparing wound cavities and penetration of different calibers and their grains.

http://www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=237

 

[swamper]

^^+1

Although I've been around guns all my life, I'll be attending my first real, paid for gun class this summer.

I currently own only two handguns, Sigs, so I'm heading up to the Sig Academy for their Handgun 101 and 102 classes this summer.

Next, I plan to take some of the classes offered by Shootrite I learned about from this site.

 

[LACamper]

I've only shot .40 cal once, and that was in a fairly large s&w. I'm thinking most of the newer .40's are build on 9mm sized frames rather than .45... lighter gun, more energy = more muzzle climb.