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One of the lead instructors at the school where I regularly take handgun classes believes that 9mm is not an effective round as far as stopping power is concerned and is not an ideal weapon for police use and effective self defense... This is a guy who has a boatload of experience as a SWAT operator and instructor and who I respect tremendously. Before I turn in my beloved Walther 9mm for a .40 or even .45, does anyone have any other opinions to add to this?
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UPDATE Feb 14:- below is a recent post in this thread from the school where I train, adding further to this subject:
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David is our student, so we think its about time we weighed in. We'd like to thank all of you for the stimulating conversation on this age old quarrel; Scott and Mark found the 'those who can't do; teach' and the 'get a new instructor' comments especially amusing.
The advice regarding the Walther had three parts:
First, David is a strong young man and an excellent shot; he is easily capable of handling a .45 caliber handgun.
Second, the decock button on the Walther is awkwardly placed making it difficult to decock with one hand, which is a concern for us when we train our students in firing-hand-only, and firing-support-hand-only evolutions.
Lastly, we do believe that the .45acp is a superior cartridge based on the large number of documented shootings that our instructors have collectively been involved in, and based off of the hundreds of shootings that our students have been involved in. Many of our student's documented shootings have occurred on duty within a week of training with us. We can point to dozens of cases where 9mm, specifically the 147 +P rounds currently issued by many departments, failed to stop the threat. If you'd like to discuss these with us come on out to a class and talk to Scott, Mark, Rob or Ray about their shootings.
Many people point to the leaps and bounds that modern ammunition has made in recent years as a validation to carry a 9mm. It should be remembered that while the bullet design of the 9mm has improved, the design of the .45acp has paralleled these improvements. Advancements in the .45acp design hasn't sat still as the 9mm improved.
We do at times recommend 9mm to our smaller students who cannot adequately handle the recoil of the .45. In the end, however shot placement is paramount.
Ask yourself this: If you had a deadly threat at 7 yards and had a choice to attempt to stop the threat with one round center mass of 9mm, or one round center mass with a .45, (both Winchester Ranger T +P loads), what would you choose?
9mm can fail to expand. .45 will never shrink.
Finally, please remember that anyone can say anything they want online or in a magazine without having to qualify the statement. Our instructors must qualify everything they say at the time they say it on the range. They have the real world experience to back up their statements, and are willing to explain them anytime to anybody out on the range. Hope this cleared things up a bit.
Thanks,
-The ITTS Team
____________
UPDATE Feb 14:- below is a recent post in this thread from the school where I train, adding further to this subject:
____________
David is our student, so we think its about time we weighed in. We'd like to thank all of you for the stimulating conversation on this age old quarrel; Scott and Mark found the 'those who can't do; teach' and the 'get a new instructor' comments especially amusing.
The advice regarding the Walther had three parts:
First, David is a strong young man and an excellent shot; he is easily capable of handling a .45 caliber handgun.
Second, the decock button on the Walther is awkwardly placed making it difficult to decock with one hand, which is a concern for us when we train our students in firing-hand-only, and firing-support-hand-only evolutions.
Lastly, we do believe that the .45acp is a superior cartridge based on the large number of documented shootings that our instructors have collectively been involved in, and based off of the hundreds of shootings that our students have been involved in. Many of our student's documented shootings have occurred on duty within a week of training with us. We can point to dozens of cases where 9mm, specifically the 147 +P rounds currently issued by many departments, failed to stop the threat. If you'd like to discuss these with us come on out to a class and talk to Scott, Mark, Rob or Ray about their shootings.
Many people point to the leaps and bounds that modern ammunition has made in recent years as a validation to carry a 9mm. It should be remembered that while the bullet design of the 9mm has improved, the design of the .45acp has paralleled these improvements. Advancements in the .45acp design hasn't sat still as the 9mm improved.
We do at times recommend 9mm to our smaller students who cannot adequately handle the recoil of the .45. In the end, however shot placement is paramount.
Ask yourself this: If you had a deadly threat at 7 yards and had a choice to attempt to stop the threat with one round center mass of 9mm, or one round center mass with a .45, (both Winchester Ranger T +P loads), what would you choose?
9mm can fail to expand. .45 will never shrink.
Finally, please remember that anyone can say anything they want online or in a magazine without having to qualify the statement. Our instructors must qualify everything they say at the time they say it on the range. They have the real world experience to back up their statements, and are willing to explain them anytime to anybody out on the range. Hope this cleared things up a bit.
Thanks,
-The ITTS Team
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