It's easy to get caught up in caliber debates, at times it's fun though. I'm a .40 guy, love the .40 and 10mm both and have used them for quite a while. I've had them all though, and I do think the 9mm is a good cartridge, but it's not a .40 and never will be.
That said, the arguments for 9mm are pretty solid, extra capacity and lower recoil are benefits, but then again, depending on the platform, the difference in both recoil and capacity between 9mm and .40 is quite small. To me, the arguments for 9mm are not based on ballistics but on variables like slight capacity increase and slight recoil reduction and to me, that's not enough of an advantage to accept shooting smaller, lighter weight, less powerful projectiles.
I like the .45 ACP but I'm not crazy about it, it's a good option but it generally requires a bigger gun. I also feel the performance gap between the .40 and .45 is a lot smaller than the performance gap between 9mm and .40. The thing about the .40 is that I can have a 9mm sized gun, 9mm like capacity but poke bigger holes and hit the target harder than 9mm. It (along with .45) also has more potential in it, the 9mm will continue to do well but at this point only relies on bullet technology to help it try and keep up, the .40 and .45 have more power on tap, something the 9mm doens't.
That said, the arguments for 9mm are pretty solid, extra capacity and lower recoil are benefits, but then again, depending on the platform, the difference in both recoil and capacity between 9mm and .40 is quite small. To me, the arguments for 9mm are not based on ballistics but on variables like slight capacity increase and slight recoil reduction and to me, that's not enough of an advantage to accept shooting smaller, lighter weight, less powerful projectiles.
I like the .45 ACP but I'm not crazy about it, it's a good option but it generally requires a bigger gun. I also feel the performance gap between the .40 and .45 is a lot smaller than the performance gap between 9mm and .40. The thing about the .40 is that I can have a 9mm sized gun, 9mm like capacity but poke bigger holes and hit the target harder than 9mm. It (along with .45) also has more potential in it, the 9mm will continue to do well but at this point only relies on bullet technology to help it try and keep up, the .40 and .45 have more power on tap, something the 9mm doens't.