.40 vs..45—who cares?

American Handgunner, March-April, 2005 by Dee Cannaday, Jr.

There's still quite a bit of controversy over which caliber (.40/.45) does the best job. Most of the old timers seem to prefer the proven .45 ACP over the newer .40 S&W. So how do we laymen who want a good-shooting and sure-stopping semiauto decide? Everyone I've talked to has a different opinion. Are there enough ballistic wounds around to compare the .40 against the .45? The ballistic tables seem to lean toward the .40 but many 1911 manufacturers have pretty much dropped the .40 from their lines. Could you clear up some of the controversy?

Dee Cannaday JR

Florida

Dee, there's really no controversy here--only among those who don't have anything better to do than argue about such things. Buy yourself a gun you like. Make sure it fits your hand, has decent sights and a good trigger. Then, get it in any caliber you like (9mm, .40 or .45), buy lots of ammo, get some training and go shooting. If you stick with quality, high-performance personal defense-type ammo, you can't go wrong. 1 doubt any miscreant you might have to shoot would ever know the difference. And that's" based upon a lifetime of study on the topic (and seeing a bunch of dead bodies during my cop years). And don't let any gun-store-commando tell you otherwise. Hope this helps. Editor.