9mm for Defense, Personal Protection, and Duty
The 9mm has received a bad rap for being an “underpowered” round not fit for defense, personal protection, or
duty use. The old saying of, “it’s not a man’s gun unless it has a “4” in it,” is not as true as it once was. Yes, that
saying came into consideration when I bought my Beretta in a 40 caliber and not the traditional 9mm. However,
when I bought the firearm there were not the options for ammunition like there are today. Handgun
ammunition and ammunition manufacturing has changed a lot. Not only has the manufacturing of the different
components changed but the engineering of the projectiles themselves has changed significantly. As little as a
few years ago, bullet design had the 9mm at a disadvantage. The projectile designs were underwhelming when
it came to terminal ballistics, barrier penetration, and expansion. However, in recent years with new designs
and engineering processes the 9mm has quickly come on par with both 40 and 45 caliber ammunition. Ballistic
testing has been standardized by the FBI for years. All ammunition companies, several independent companies,
along with the FBI regularly test ammunition against these protocols. ATK (http://le.atk.com/) is a great
resource online for ballistics and even puts on live fire ballistic workshops for Police departments when
requested.
Let’s talk a little about ballistics. The 9mm bullet that starts out at .354 inches and expands in bare ordinance
gelatin to .682” and will penetrate 11.35 inches. That expansion is just shy of 2 times calibers original diameter.
The 40 caliber bullet starts out at .40 inches and expands in bare ordinance gelatin to .640 inches will penetrate
12.19 inches. That expansion while still good is only just over 1.5 times the original diameter and less than the
9mm. The 45 caliber bullet starts out at .45 inches and expands to .71 inches in bare ordinance gelatin and
penetrates 13.00”. Again the expansion is just over 1.5 times the original diameter. All calibers expand and
penetrate very similar measurements and the 9mm even expanded larger than the 40cal in the bare gel. You
can look at the other comparisons through different media in the FBI protocols on their website and see that
bigger bullets normally make bigger holes but not by much. When you look at 100th or 1000th of an inch in
expansion difference there are other factors that are more important to consider. That extra 100th or 1000th or
an inch in the permanent wound channel is most likely not going to make any difference in the reaction of the
threat. This is also the consensus of most ballistic experts. One such opinion, “Thou there is a measureable
difference in the expansion of different calibers it translates to an insignificant difference in the terminal ballistic
effect between most service caliber rounds”. If all we looked at was the hole made in the target and all we
carried were single shot muzzle loaders, I would be the first to say lets carry the biggest bullet on the block.
However just looking at the bullet size is not providing all the needed information into the equation. How many
rounds hit the target and where those rounds impacted has shown to be more important.
An example for one to take into consideration: On 8/25/2008 in Skokie, IL an officer was engaged in a shootout
with a bank robber. The officer was carrying a Glock 21 in 45 caliber. During the firefight the officer hit the
suspect 17 times with multiple hits to the torso and abdomen and finally 3 fatal shots to the head. The suspect
was essentially walking dead with the injuries sustained before the fatal head shots, however he continued to
fire back at the officer and advance on his position. So with 14 large caliber 45acp impacts on the suspect, he
was able to continue to fight. It wasn’t until the headshots, which could have been made with any caliber
including a 22, was the suspect finally stopped. In this real life ballistic test it is obvious that bullet placement is
more important than caliber. During this shooting Officer Gramins carried a Glock 21 45 caliber with two extra
mags for a total of 37 rounds of 45. He also carried a Glock 26, 9mm as a backup with 10 rounds in the gun.
Since the shooting he now carries a Glock 17 9mm with 3 extra mags on his belt and 2 33 round mags in his vest
and his back up Glock 26 for a total of 145 rounds of 9mm. I think this says a lot coming from someone who has
been involved in a shooting. More rounds are better than bigger ones.
The 40 caliber bullet was designed to bridge the gap between the 9mm and the 45 caliber when the 9mm was
underperforming. During the 40 caliber conception, the 9mm bullet design was not performing well but people
liked that you could carry more rounds in a gun than the 45 would allow. So the 40cal was designed to be big
enough to perform like the 45cal but small enough to pack a lot of rounds into a magazine like the 9mm. Enter
physics, in order to make a smaller cartridge act like a bigger one you need to push the bullet faster. In order to
have both a small casing to fit a lot of rounds in a magazine and a bigger bullet you need to pack that casing with
a lot of gun powder. This means much higher pressures and thus much more felt recoil. This is why you can
have a fat 45cal bullet traveling relatively slow out of a fat casing and have in the neighborhood of 40% less felt
recoil than the 40 cal.
Money is near and dear to everyone’s heart and money translates into trigger time. With lower cost
ammunition you can shoot more with the same budget. As the bullet gets bigger so does the price. This is true
for practice ammo and personal protection/duty ammo. Let us look at practice ammo first. We all know you
need to practice as often as you can to be proficient with your firearms. An ammunition company we both use a
lot for practice ammunition is Freedom Munitions. For 9mm they have a 9mm 115gr remanufactured
ammunition for $10.77 per box of 50 or $99.70 per 500 rounds. In 40cal they have a 40cal 165gr
remanufactured ammunition for $12.70 per box of 50 or $117.55 for 500 rounds. In 45cal they have a 45cal
230gr remanufactured ammunition for $16.60 per box of 50 or $153.68 per 500. So at the 500 round prices you
have 9mm at 20 cents per rounds, 40cal at 23.5 cents per round, and 45cal at 31 cents per round. Those prices
can add up quick if you go to the range a lot or take multiple training classes. For personal protection/duty
ammo we both shoot Speer Gold Dot although there are several manufacturers that make good choices. This
can be purchased from online or at sporting goods store in the area. Most sporting goods store sell it in boxes of
20 rounds. Cabelas.com has Gold dot 9mm for $22.99, 40cal for $26.99, and 45cal for $28.99. This comes out to
be $1.15, $1.35, and $1.45 per round respectfully. While you won’t be shooting this type of ammunition a lot it
is important to see how it shoots in you firearm to make sure there isn’t a large shift in your point of aim/point
of impact.
So why is 9mm better for some? As discussed above and 9mm is a good choice for many reasons. Good quality
ammunition becoming available, price, and most important shootablility. Shootablility, weather a word or not,
is being able to accurately place rounds on target as quickly as possible and being able to do it consistently.
Recoil is a killer of shootablility. Recoil beats up guns and costs money with repairs, but more importantly recoil
beats up shooters and makes those accurate, quick, consistent shots difficult. Yes there are techniques that help
manage recoil but those are skills that are learned over thousands of rounds and consistent time on the range to
hold on to. There is nothing you can do about recoil, all firearms recoil. However, the way different calibers
recoil is significant. Regardless of people’s feelings about the 9mm round I think everyone would agree that felt
recoil is much less than the 40 caliber. Recoil induces flinching, anticipation, and lots of strange things in
shooter both novice and advanced. Regardless of a person’s abilities, recoil causes muzzle flip. Muzzle flip
translates into your ability to make quick follow up shots. As illustrated in the Skokie, IL shootout, unless you
make a central nervous system shot you will need more than one bullet on target during a deadly force
encounter to end that threat. When you factor in stress from an outside factor, like bullets being shot back, bad
habits turn into rounds being launched into places they are not intended to go. If rounds are fired off target on
the range they can cost you a point, however, if rounds are fired off target in the real world they could cost lives.
The old saying of “Speed is fine, but accuracy is final” still holds true. However, if you have a bad guy who can
put 5 rounds on target and an officer who can put 5 rounds on target, the faster person wins (survives). Caliber
is no guarantee in this situation but the faster/softer shooting 9mm could be a difference maker on either side
of the equation.
Having a pistol with less felt recoil, less muzzle flip, more accuracy, and quicker follow up shots, you get the
most important thing, a confident shooter. Regardless of what caliber, type of gun, or type of ammunition, if
you have a shooter that knows they can make the shot when it counts, that is the equipment they should be
carrying. All in all the benefits far outweigh the negatives. The 9mm is here to stay and the numbers of people
that are now switching back to 9mm are growing every day. Just look at the FBI’s latest executive summary that
covers a lot of the points I have talked about above. If the largest law enforcement agency in the country is
switching from the 40 caliber back to the 9mm, maybe it’s something that should be considered.
Dave Larson – Bellator Strategic
References:
Vista Outdoors (ATK), Load Comparisons, http://le.atk.com/
Handgun Wounding Factors and Effectiveness, Special Agent Urey W. Patrick, FBI Firearms Training Unit,
7/14/1998
Executive Summary of Justification for Law Enforcement Partners, FBI Training Division: FBI Academy, Quantico,
VA, 5/6/2014
Shots Fired: Skokie, Illinois 08/25/2008, www.policemag.com, Dean Scoville, 2/8/2012
Why one cop carries 145 rounds on the job, Charles Remsberg, Soldier of Fortune magazine, 2/2015
Freedom Munitions, www.freedommunitions.com
Cabela’s, www.cabelas.com