What is the best carry cartridge?

[BigMike]

And this is why I tend to shy away from any exotic extremely expensive and hard to find ammo in any semi automatic pistol caliber. Sometimes I'll carry a Glaser Safety Slug or a MagSafe round as the first round to fire in a revolver, and I'm OK with burning up one of those "four dollar cartridges" every couple years and replacing it with a fresh one.

But with semi autos I would want to shoot a whole box of 50 when I first decide to go with that load, and after that I want to shoot whatever is in the carry gun at least once a year and replace it with fresh.
That is extremely expensive and it can be a hassle to replace said exotic / premium rounds.

I've yet to run into a situation where there was only 1 box of ammo I was looking at in caliber. 2 boxes is enough to function test in the gun and burn and load at least 2x.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

You feel better now?

Yes.
(And I'm proud that I remembered this without having to consult one of my good friends or my nephew --both of whom graduated from Georgia Tech with engineering degrees.)

 

[BillsCamino]

The one on my side at the time of need

 

[lostchild]

I still believe in .45 acp.
But since I no longer go places or do things I shouldn’t, I just have my ‘always’ Keltec P32 in my pocket.
Occasional road trips or transit through a major metro area do still require a 1911 in an Andrews Carjacker rig.

Andrews Custom Leather - Carjacker Crossdraw

www.andrewsleather.com

 

[UGA FAN]

Yes.
(And I'm proud that I remembered this without having to consult one of my good friends or my nephew --both of whom graduated from Georgia Tech with engineering degrees.)

 

[Sneakypete]

10mm

Something from Underwood or Corbon. Like the original 10mm was loaded.

Recently added to winter urban carry rotation,Underwood 200 gr JHP at 704 FPE if very tough to beat

 

[JimmyJet]

There is no such thing as the perfect “carry” round, or handgun.

I depended my life on 9mm Berettas at work........because I was issued them and had to use them.

I depended my life on 9mm and .40S&W Glocks at work.........because I was issued them and had to use them.

I depend my life on SIG’s in .357SIG at work.......because I am issued them and have to use them.

I trusted all them, just as I would trust a bunch of other brands I could be issued, and several calibers. I learn the gun I’m using at the time, knowing that eventually it will be something else.

You need to be able to run whatever you come across when you need it. You never know what it might be.

There ain’t a magic caliber or gun out there that will protect your life. Use any one of a hundred handguns, use decent ammo, train with it, and learn its good and bad points. The bad points are more important, and every handgun has them. If folks spent more time on training and less on what equipment they use, they’d be much better off.

10,000 round torture tests aren’t applicable to daily carry. How many rounds does my Glock 19 have to be able to get through? 46. Why 46? Because that’s how many rounds I carry on duty. I don’t care how it runs after that because I’m out of ammo and it’s now a crappy club.

DA/SA, striker, SAO, whatever. Single stack, double stack, revolver. .38 Spl, .357 Magnum, 9mm, .40S&W, .357SIG, .45ACP. Polymer, aluminum, steel. 107 year old design or cutting edge technology. Those are the least important parts of the equation, but they’re the ones folks like to argue about.

"The purpose of fighting is to win. There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield, and skill is more important than either. The final weapon is the brain.

It’s the man that makes the craftsman, not his tools.

Well thought out and expressed "facts” to the bottom line!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MMatt30]

.357 Mag tends to mess **** up.

I carry a .38 though.

 

[MRH]

I mostly carry 9mm or .45acp.

Right now I'm carrying plain old Remington green and white box 115gr jhp in my G19, and Sig Elite performance 115gr jhp in my G48.

Do I think they are the best? No, I prefer Speer gold dot 124gr +p jhp.

In .45acp I am carrying Sig Elite performance 230gr V crown jhp...

Do I think it is the best? No, again I prefer Speer Gold Dot 200gr +p jhp.

So why am I not carrying Speer gold dots? Because they are near impossible to locate, and if found, they are friggin expensive. Besides, the cartridges I'm carrying are, IMO, perfectly adequate and they shoot well out of my guns.

 

[GAgunLAWbooklet]

I read an article years ago from a detective that collected data from hundreds if not thousands of crime/police scenes. The data which I'm summing up there was no marginal difference in caliber unless shot in the head. People will take just as many steps towards you from a 380 to a 45 if shot in the stomach up to chest. So I would say whatever you are a better shot with. I have a judge bedside and carry a small 9mm.

Evan Marshall and Ed Sanow did a study like this, and Evan Marshall later published a book on the topic. I believe his conclusion was that all of the popular medium to large caliber defensive pistol rounds were more or less equal in stopping power, but the smaller calibers were not.


One inherent problem with this study was that it did not factor in the type of ammunition used, and we all know some calibers tend to be used by gun experts who almost always load them with high velocity expanding bullets (example .40 or 10 mm, or .357 mag). But other calibers tend to be owned by casual gun owners or even criminals who load them with whatever full metal jacket or lead round-nose crapammo they find conveniently available.