The sites are replete with .45 vs 9mm, and the consensus is on both sides to pack more ammo. But I can get off six .44 magnum real quick and stay on target, reload is as quick as with any other DA. I have seen .44 magnum pulverize cement filled cinder blocks, explode bullet proof vest, group within a snuff can lid @ 75 feet. But everyone wants to continue with .45 vs 9mm, with maybe a little .357 mag, maybe some .40 thrown in there. Let's pretend the .44 magnum simply doesn't exist, then.
n2sooners, the .44 Remington magnum doesn't hold a monopoly on overpenetration, does it? And the LEO was hitting houses when he'd miss. I am completely certain though, that the .44 magnum WOULD over penetrate, but there would be less rounds hitting people's houses and what not. This article has really put the zap on my head, n2sooners. The .45 and 9mm are useless against a determined attacker. I have been studying ways to conceal carry my .44 mag, but it's just too big. So I'm thinking vehicle carry with my 8" bbl. And I want a 4" bbl .44 magnum ASAP with several speed loaders, when one pops up @ the pawn shop.
Am in a hustle right now getting ready for work, but on this issue of the energy not all getting transferred into the target because of overpenetration, there would be daylight showing through the wound channel before it closed back up.
44 mag= to much recoil= slow follow ups + over penetration = not a good law enforcement round. I used to know a trooper who carried a 44 mag
Depends on the .44 magnum, Saddlebum. Some are built really heavy, with handles built to absorb the recoil, and allow for rapid DA fire. Got to go now. Sorry, really am. But I know of such a handgun - have seen it...
If a round (any round) goes all the way through the target and comes out the other side, by definition it has not transferred all of its energy to the target. That's basic physics. Any energy not transferred to the target is wasted energy, which is not desirable in a defensive round, particularly when you consider that more energy is applied to the shooter when the round is discharged. Again, that's basic Newtonian physics...
SoonerP226, I absolutely agree with you, when daylight is visible through the wound channel, not all of a bullet's energy was expended there. The wound will close itself, but since there's an exit wound, things will exit from it. Some bullets make tiny exit holes. Some make huge ones. This thread made me see that the .44 magnum would have been a better round than the .45 or 9mm in this scenerio. Based on this thread, I'm getting a .44 magnum with a barrel short enough to permit CC. Until then my 8" magnum will be vehicle carry and my .44 special my primary. My 9MMs and .45 can be nice to haves, that I can post pics and comment on from time to time - since everyone else has them, too. And I can watch the debate go on and on between the afficionados of the .45 and the 9mm. Perhaps between the two arguing factions, they can come up with more ways to carry more ammo. Since 14 hits with a .45 aint gonna do it.
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