The best round the shooter can handle with skill. The only consideration worth a thing.
Hear Hear!
I was at a range in Southern California in 2005, or late 2004. It is actually in the hills in San Bernardino county. I really enjoyed that range, even if it was 4 miles after the road turned to rough gravel. When it rained hard the road became difficult for a car to travel.
Anyway I remember being there when 3 vehicles pulled up and parked. About 12 people got out: 8 male and 4 female. The trucks and cars had THIN tires [series 40 or thinner?] on oversized wheels for the vehicles. I mean the tires were so thin they looked like they wouldn't hold air but be solid rubber. And all three vehicles where lowered and chromed. The people who got out looked like gang-bangers. Hip-hop pants, tats, bling-bling, and ATTITUDE!
They had 'manly' guns. Big 1911s, glocks, SKS rifles, Mini-14 and some other things that looked like they might have been completely illegal. They were all shooting 'gansta style' and laughing: having a good time.
This was an outdoor range. Their targets were at 20 yards away, human-sized cardboard cut-outs.
I remember thinking: Well, if I ever face them all I have to do is hit the ground and aim, because they generally missed the target high. I swear most of them would have 3 out of 10 or more shots on the top of the target and the rest hit the hill behind.
I wasn't as good as I am now, but I at least hit the target SOMEWHERE in the central mass area 8 out of 10 times, and most were between the sternum and the crotch. They hit shoulder/head high, when they hit.
This taught me that shot placement is probably the most important thing and people who buy a large caliber due to issues of masculinity and self-image don't necessarily have an advantage.
If I can put 8 out of my 10 9mm cartridges into the bad guys chest while he grazes my shoulder, I'll be able to walk home and he will call a 6 foot deep plot home.
IF I can control a larger caliber, great. But my grandmother never felt the need for anything larger than a .380 for her personal use. She was a moonshiner's daughter who had to use guns to save her and her sisters from rape or death at least three times. She used to deliver the payroll to logging company camps in the hills in the 30s. My grandfather told me of the time some guys tried to run her off the road and steal the payroll. Wrong choice.
When she got to camp and someone asked about the bullet hole and the dented fenders she said something like 'oh yeah. I forgot. About 45 minutes back some guys tried to steal the payroll. I didn't like that.'
That spot had a 300 foot drop into the river. No one ever messed with her again.
She taught me to shoot a pistol when I was 8. She'd probably want to horsewhip anyone for belittling a woman's ability to shoot. And her mother was the best hunter in the county, of any gender.
Be careful who you rile up when you make derogatory statements about women. They might not like it and some are VERY VERY VERY good.
