What has more stopping power .45 or .40?

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It all depends if you have 'monkey'. If you don't have any, neither one of these will do any better than the other. You might as well pistol whip the other guy. Ask him which hurts more and there you have your answer.
 
I'll tell you exactly which one................ The one you shoot the best. Not what WE shoot best. But again, what YOU shoot best. With good quality self defense ammo, and shot placement, it makes no difference.
 
What is the power factor of a .40 S&W vs .45 acp? Or did you not take this into consideration? Which one meets the minimum of 175?
 
i have read that the best round for one-shot stops in actual field shootings is the .357 magnum. a 125 grain round traveling 1450fps, will get the job done. which brings me to my answer regarding the .45acp v.s. .40sw in stopping power, i say the better stopper would be a 40S&W 135grain, out of a Glock 24................ allllllll-RIGHT! :)
 
Don't believe everything you read in gunrags, Half-Price. When the CHP dropped the 125-grain .357 Magnum at ~1450 fps and replaced it with the 180-grain .40 S&W at ~950 fps, they discovered that it was more effective than the mythical 125-grain .357 Magnum load it replaced (and that's without going into all the good reasons why a 135-grain .40 S&W is not the best choice).
 
The pics tell it all alright, they're all about the same!

The 45-70 Govt is a terrific one-shot-stop performer on squirrel. One shot, COM, usually puts 'em down for the count, even if they are stoked up on crack!

Yes but squirrels shot with a 223 are eviscerated (?) on the spot and need no cleaning! :D
 
TIYAA,

Not sure about power factor.

Most important item to look at when comparing is the size of the permanent wound cavity the round creates - w/#1 - penetration and #2 dia. of the hole. Factors that COMBINE to create these 2 points include bullet design/expansion, mass, velocity, sectional density, caliber, etc.

Energy alone doesn't incapacitate - tissue destruction does. Too much speed? no good - can limit penetration. Not enough speed (rarer these days)? no good - can limit expansion. Not enough mass? no good - can limit penetration. Poor design? no good - bullet can clog and not expand at all, or expand too fast and limit penetration, or seperate and limit penetration. ...

And for general info, as the linked article stated - "altering weight or velocity without the accompanying engineering analysis will in most cases make the product less effective. There is much more to the issue than weight and velocity." As someone above mentioned - we need to take this into consideration when looking at ammo companies who take...pre-engineered(?) bullets and repackage them at +100/200 more fps - without testing there is no real way to know what effect that will have on the round.
 
625 have you must have seen your mother-in-laws naked to make a statement like that, that's awful. As for stopping power well everything is relevent in relation to the person being shot. With good shot placement, all thing are about equal with most calibers, 9's, 40's, 45's, 357 sigs, 38's so on. The 40 seems to work real well in both short barreled guns and long ones. The 45 seems to work better in long barreled guns rather than short ones, where hp's are conserned anyway, but both work. Personally, I think that "Staying Power" is WAY more important than "Stopping Power".
There really is no such thing as stopping power. I look at pistols as hole makers one pistols makes a slightly larger hole than the other. Anything that's going to make a hole in you is going to do damage, it's where the hole is made that makes one hole work better than another. Remember it's "Staying Power", not stopping power you should be worried about ;).
 
625 have you must have seen your mother-in-laws naked to make a statement like that, that's awful
.

It was awful. I didn't know she was in the bathroom at the time. :eek: :barf:
My brain no work right nowdays.
 
Then again, you can get pistols chambered in 30-06 and 7mm mag

Are they practical though? To take advantage of the above cartridges' velocity it would have to be a fairly large handgun with at least a 10" barrel and they are probably single shot or hold very few cartridges. I wonder what the affect of the shorter barrel would have on the ballistics. Probably pretty significant as I don't think very many ammo companies make 30-06 or 7mm Mag loads that are tweaked for handgun barrels. I would rather just have a rifle, which would make controlling the power of these loads much easier.
 
Enough about the wife eventually looking like the mother in law someday.
I have to get in bed a sleep tonight with the beast now!
 
If you could launch your mother-in-law, at a badguy, at 850fps, that would be a REAL manstopper!! Especially if she was wearing one of those world war one, german spiked helmets!! :p
 
625 ..... your naked mother in law did not stop your father in law if she had, they would not be your inlaws....

Also, the only stopping power that really works is when SWMBO says NO! and rolls over.
 
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