Do You 45 or 9

[Nemo]

and why?  Me?  9 for ammo capacity.  I don't consider weight because I prefer all metal firearms.  See note below.

Nemo

[CJS06]

YES!  but my 45 hits better be more accurate than that pic

In all seriousness I primarily carry 9mm for both my EDC and my "duty" load out.  I do this for 2 main reasons, 1-Shot placement, and 2- capacity. 

Shot placement means that effectiveness is all based on shot placement, whether you have a .45acp or a 9mm you will get similar results based upon where you place your rounds. Hits  to the central nervous system, cardiac, pelvic area, will all yield similar results with a hit from either round. Likewise hits to non critical areas are no more likely to cause a "change in behavior" with one round over the other. That leads to #2

Capacity! If properly placed rounds are what is effective I want to have the maximum amount available. For instance my SA TRP in .45 carried 9 rounds with 8 ea in 2 spare mags for a total of 27 rds.   My STI in 9mm carries 18 rounds with 17 ea in 2 spare mags for a total of 52 rounds.  Hell I can carry just 1 spare STI mag and still have 8 more rounds than with my TRP.  Even if you have a "high cap" .45 you are still generally limited to no more than 10. With my STI I have Mags that hold 22 rds without protruding awfully from the bottom of my grip. I generally carry these as my follow up mags. For my duty rig I only carry 2 spare pistol mags and I am still able to bring 62rds to the fight.

A third why is Follow Up shots.  I find that shooting 9mm my 2nd and 3rd shots are faster and more accurate than when I shoot .45.   Dont get me wrong, my TRP is accurate and if I was just worried about static qualifying I always defer to it, but for more dynamic shooting there is not doubt that I am more effective (faster and more accurate with #s 2 thru the end of the mag).

If you are fast and accurate with your .45 then by all means run the gun that you can get the best results with.  This is just what works for me.

Chris

[Kentactic]

9mm

I became a noticeably more effective shooter the moment I switched from 40 to 9mm. The same, potentially to a lesser degree would likely be the case if had switched from 45 to 9. You can simply get rounds on target faster. Recoil is a delay in your shooting. The longer the delay, the less effective you are. You can try and push through it but accuracy will fall way off.

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[JohnyMac]

Ditto to what CJS06 and Ken wrote.

I use to carry a 1911 in .45 ACP on my duty rig. During training my shots with the .45 where all kills BUT I lost precious time reloading every 8 rounds thrown at the target. Also my time of emptying the magazine was less than a person with a 9mm mainly due to reacquiring the target with the .45.

Time can be the difference between winning a fight or someone other than you, cleaning out your pockets post the fight.

Last, my EDC has changed to my 9mm mainly because of weight. The weight of my 1911 combined with 2 mags was a bit tough on my hips. Since then my hips by the end of the day have stopped SCREAMING!

[sledge]

I absolutely have a love affair that's been going on for years with my 1911 45.  It makes me feel young again.  But for everyday carry it's a 9mm.  Mainly for the reasons you can find listed elsewhere on this page.  I think the 9mm is the largest round that can be fired off at the quickest rate for most people and still maintain accuracy.  There is a reason that police departments that jumped to the 40 are now all jumping back to the 9mm.

If I were really busy, had a lot to do, and didn't have a lot of time for idle return fire, I'd pull out the 357. 

 

[DMCakhunter]

I do both, just depends what I feel like. Mostly 1911's for daily carry.
Battle pistol is a FNX 45 T.

[mountainredneck2051]

9mm for the simple fact that I can actually carry a fighting weapon with the 9mm, cant be done with the 45, also the 45 bounces off trees. The 9mm atleast fucks up the bark.

[Erick]

I go 9mm for my self defense handguns  unless I use one of my trail guns which is not quite the same application and those are 357 Magnum six shooters)

9mm is cheaper than 40 cal and 45 ACP which means I can stack it deep ans afford to practice more.
This will give me more proficiency and  a greater likelihood of hits.

Also I am well aware of the fatigue factor when shooting 40 cal and 45 ACP thru small pistols, this is an additional anti trianing feature built into 40 cal and 45 ACP and will also influence both the frequency and the quality of my training.