Performance of a .45acp vs. .357 mag out of revolvers?

D

Daedalus

New member
Which round would have the advantage? Say these are both shot out of the Tracker line from Taurus. As I see it now, the .357 has the advantage of having 2 more rounds. Does the .45 make up for that in "stopping power"?
 
Not surprisingly, I strongly believe that a bigger, heavier, faster bullet has more power than a smaller, lighter, slower bullet. When you mix those three elements up you enter the wonderful world of opinion. Although they are pretty close, my opinion is the 357 has more "stopping power", except on bowling pins where the 45 has more "knock down power".
I will also warn you that I do not have strong convictions in this area so flames will not harm me.:D
 
For two cartridges to be so different ballistically (sp?) they could not be more similar when it comes to street effectiveness. These two are my top two choices when I need to count on a handgun to be able to put someone down and keep 'em down. The .45 has been around for over 90 years and the .357 has been around for over 65 years, and we haven't found a better man stopping handgun round yet. Take your pick, you can't go wrong. I will say that in a revolver .357 (5- J frame, 6-K frame, 7-L frame or 8-N frame rounds) beats .45 (5-L frame or 6-N frame) in capacity/size efficiency, but the .45 is more pleasant to shoot.
 
In terms of energy, the 357 Magnum produces 500-600 foot pounds. The 45 ACP produces 350-400. As far as stopping power on human targets, they are both pretty close.
 
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