Difference between .45ACP and 9x19mm?

Question

Really what I'm asking is the difference in damage, and any other differences that you can think of. Is there much of a difference?

Answer 1

Modern 9mm rounds will kill someone just as dead as .45ACP rounds will.  The diameter and weight are the largest differences.  .45ACP +P rounds approach the speed of 9x19 rounds.  If you are hunting a deer sized animal, then the .45 acp has the advantage..

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Answer 2

.45acp has amazing stopping power but lack of range, while the 9x19mm has less stopping power but great long range. means that the .45acp has knock down power when you are close to the target and will leave a lot of damage to it. and for the 9x19mm means that you can be a far distance to the target and shoot at it and it will reach the target but wont cause as much damage as the .45 would do.  

Answer 3

I like my 45, but 9mm are fun to shoot too. I decided I wanted the big bullet hittin if I ever needed it. If Im shooting long range Im not gonna use my pistol anyway.If you ever watch pistol shoots with steel targets, or have ever tried it, you wil notice that usually the 45 will knock down a popup even with less than perfect accuracy. Sometimes it takes multiple shots from the 9 if you dont hit the right spot. Each to their own, I prefer the 45

Answer 4

Wow, is THIS going to bring out the answers.......As the say in New Orleans....Whooooooeeeeeeee did you bring up a answer here boy....

My humble opinion.

Most are going to tell you that 45 ACP is the end all, be all.  They have lots and lots of writers they will refer to and yet, most will never equal the writers exploits sooooooo keep that in consideration.  While there is NO doubt that the .45 ACP is a true, proven man-stopper all the way back to the Phillpine insurrection some 100 odd years ago, the 9mm "ain't no slouch" either predicated on load and accuracy.

I think that regardless of which one you use, the accuracy of the round placed is more important than load, caliber, and bravado.  

The arguments abound.  Bigger, slow moving bullets are more potent.  This usually follows the logic of some guy sitting on a port-a-crapper with a JC Whitney catalog pondeing his next VW bug restoration.  While it is proven that big bullets put big holes, bigger crush cavities blah blah blah, the 9mm doesn't tickle.

With the higher-capacity .45's the argument for the .45 is certainly at a higher level.  For the defense of the 9mm, it's easier to follow up and arguably, easier to score menancing hits the first time due to less recoil, speed, and ammo selection.  Can't overlook the capacity of most 9mm's either.

The OSS (one-shot-stop) tables by the esteemed-retired-making-more-money-off-t... experts will keep this answer log going on for days, weeks probably.  Not to diminish their expertise but shot placement, is everything.  Right down to the .22 LR cartridge.

For all the other soon-to-be respondents, let's skip the lessons on if the guy has a coat, the 40 offerings of the .45 and 9mm cartridge, recoil management, history of each cartridge, fps, lbs ft. energy, crush cavity, tooth cavities, blood loss, stock losses, I am at a loss, you are at a loss,  etc...etc...etc...

Scientific, hair-splitting jargonauts aside, in the end, it's probably going to come down to which YOU can shoot more effectively?  Both WILL do the job but, assuming that you could place shots in identical places with each round, the .45 would win on wounding damage.  So maybe the recipient of said round would drop 1/2 second sooner?  

Both cartridges WILL ruin a person's day, both cartridges WILL cause considerable damage, both cartridges WILL kill quicky if placed correctly.  People who argue that say the .22 is not effective and yet, it and the .25 have killed more people than any other handgun cartridge out there.....don't listen to Jethro, shoot what you can handle.

Pick the one you can handle most effectively, practice with it (2 boxes a month is a good start/regimen), know it well, and pray to God it's the best money you ever wasted because you never had to shoot someone.    

Answer 5

I've owned both.  If you only had a choice of one - go with the 9mm because it will be an easier to carry side arm concealed, less expensive to learn to shoot, and a bit easier on your hand.

Personally, I carry the Springfield XD in 45acp.  I already know how to shoot, don't care about the expense and being over 50 years old I can carry the XD and easily conceal it.  A younger man wearing more stylish clothing would have a difficult time keeping a full sized 45 under wraps.

Both are good choices.  The 45 is a bit better, but, only if you can pull it off.  

Hope this helps.  

Answer 6

The 45 gives superior knock down power to the 9mm.

The 45 gives more recoil, requiring more skill for a repeat shot.

The 9mm is lighter to carry and smaller bulge in a CCW type of situation.

The 45 will leave you less rounds to miss.

Most gun fights are 15feet or less, given that a 45 gives less of a need for a repeat shot. I sure don't want to get in a tug of war for my pistol.

And if you have ever had to look at the business end of a 45 the first thing that goes through your mind is look at the size of that fricken hole on the barrel of that gun.

Answer 7

The .45 acp is a big bore defensive caliber that uses a heavy, slow moving wide bullet to good effect.  The 9x19mm is medium bore defensive caliber that comes into its own using the fastest rounds you can find for it (115 to 127 grain jacketed hollow point defensive ammo from any of the major ammo makers).

Differences:  The .45 acp puts daylight through its target by virtue of being a wide bullet.  It is generally subsonic and performs poorly against barriers like doors, sheet metal and car glass.  The 9mm must expand to be effective.  It is a better performer against barriers.

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Answer 8

Design and history

The US Cavalry had been buying and testing various handguns in the late 1890s and early 1900s. The .45 Colt Single Action Army had largely been replaced, even by some double action versions of the same. The Cavalry had fielded some double action revolvers in .38 Long Colt, and they determined that the .38 caliber round was significantly less effective against determined opponents, such as those encountered in the Moro Rebellion warriors they were fighting at the time of the Philippine-American war, than the .45 Colt. The current issue rifle at the time, the .30-40 Krag, also had failed to stop Moro warriors;[3] the British had similar issues switching to the .303 British, which resulted in the development of the Dum-dum bullet. This experience, and the Thompson-LaGarde Tests of 1904 led the Army and the Cavalry to decide that a minimum of .45 caliber was required in the replacement handgun.

Colt had been working with Browning on a .41 caliber cartridge in 1904, and in 1905 when the Cavalry asked for a .45 caliber equivalent Colt modified the pistol design to fire a .45 caliber version of the prototype .41 caliber round. The result from Colt was the Colt Model 1905 and the new .45 ACP. The original round that passed the testing fired a 200 grain (13 g) bullet at 900 ft/s (275 m/s), but after a number of rounds of revisions between Winchester Repeating Arms, Frankford Arsenal, and Union Metallic Cartridge, it ended up using a 230 grain (15 g) bullet at about 850 ft/s (260 m/s). The resulting .45 caliber cartridge, named the .45 ACP, is similar in performance to the .45 S&W cartridge, and only slightly less powerful (but significantly shorter) than the .45 Colt cartridges the Cavalry was using. The cartridge case shared the same head dimensions as the .30-03 and later .30-06 rifle cartridges in use by the military at the time.

By 1906 bids from 6 makers were submitted, among them Browning's design, submitted by Colt. Only DWM, Savage, and Colt made the first cut. DWM, which submitted two Luger pistols adapted to the .45 ACP cartridge, withdrew from testing after the first round of tests, for unspecified reasons.[4] One of the DWM pistols, serial number 1, was destroyed in testing; the remaining instance, serial number 2, is considered one of the most desirable collectors handguns in existence.[5]

In the second round of testing in 1910, the Colt design passed the extensive testing with no failures, while the Savage design suffered 37 stoppages or parts failures.[4] The resulting Colt design was adopted as the Model 1911.

[edit] Performance

The result is one of the world's more effective combat pistol cartridges, one that combines very good accuracy and stopping power for use against human targets. The cartridge also has relatively low muzzle blast and flash, as well as moderate recoil. The .45ACP also operates at a relatively low maximum chamber pressure rating of 21,000 psi (145 MPa) (compared to 35,000 psi/240 MPa for 9mmP and .40S&W, 37,500 psi/260 MPa for 10mmAuto, 40,000 psi/280 MPa for .357SIG), which helps extend service life of weapons it is fired in.



.45 ACP hollowpoint (Federal HST) with two .22LR cartridges for comparison

Side on view of Sellier & Bellot .45 ACP cartridge with a metric ruler for scaleLike many pistol cartridges, it is a low-velocity round, and thus not particularly effective against body armor. Another drawback for large scale military operations is the cartridge's large size, weight, the increased material cost of manufacture compared to the smaller 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge, and lack of compliance with Standardization Agreements pertaining to handgun ammunition currently enacted between the US and many of its allies.

Even in its non-expanding full metal jacket (FMJ) version, the .45 ACP cartridge has a reputation for effectiveness against human targets because its large diameter creates a deep and substantial permanent wound channel which lowers blood pressure more rapidly. However, some writers, such as the published work of Marshall and Sanow, have cast the reputation of .45 ACP as being the "best" at this task into debate. Marshall & Sanow's work, while receiving heavy criticism from Dr. Fackler and others, show the .45 ACP, loaded with the best hollowpoint bullets and fired from a 5" barrel to be a good "one shot stopper", somewhat better than the 9x19mm, equal with the .40 S&W, and only a few percentage points behind the "King" of the Marshall and Sanow study - the .357 Magnum fired from a 4" barrel. Nevertheless, the .45 ACP remains one of the top handgun cartridges for stopping power, when figures are compiled accurately.

Development

Georg Luger developed the 9 mm Parabellum cartridge from the earlier 7.65 mm Parabellum pistol cartridge. In 1902, Luger presented the new round to the British Small Arms Committee as well as three prototype versions to the U.S. Army for testing at Springfield Arsenal in mid-1903. The German mi.I like the 45

Answer 9

  Wow, talk about a can of worms!

  You'll get a lot of ppl saying 45ACP is the best man stopper and the 9mm is easier to control. The guys on the front lines in Iraq & Afghanistan have shown a nearly universal disdain for the 9mmNATO round. However, one has to keep in mind that they are limited by the Geneva Convention to hardball (Full Metal Jacket) rounds. Given that limitation, the bigger bullet will give the biggest punch. Civilians, on the other hand, have a wide variety of cartridges and bullet weights/designs from which to choose. Having owned numerous pistols chambered in both calibers, I can say that I would not feel 'under gunned' w/ either one. The most important thing is which one you can shoot the most accurately as bullet placement is more critical than caliber. Bobby Kennedy was shot with a 22 revolver and he's just as dead as the next man shot w/ a 357, 38, 44, 45, 9mm, blah,blah,blah etc.

Answer 10

Both work just fine with premium ammo. Pick the one that YOU like to shoot best. 9mm is a little cheaper to shoot, so you might practice with it more. It also has less recoil if recoil is a problem for you.

I like and carry both. They will both kill you graveyard dead when shot accurately, and THAT is they key. Which ones shoots better for YOU?