9mm vs 45acp

Hello, I apologize if this has already been discussed. I am looking for a good home defence and range gun for my wife and I. She is a beginner with guns is 5 foot and 110lbs so recoil is a consideration. As most I am looking at the glock and the springfield xd. Now my main focus here is with the home defence portion, I am looking at bullet penetration. We live in a close community with houses all around and what I do not want if heaven forbid someone were to break in and the gun would be used for the bullet to pass through the target and hit a house next door or across the street. That being said I have heard the 9mm has more of a chance of this happening. Is this true? Will the .45 actually hit the target and bounce around inside said person rather than exiting and going through a wall as easily? Any help here would be great. I still have to get her to a range that rents guns to see if she can actually handle a .45 but that is what I am considering. Thanks in advance for all of the help.

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Originally Posted by PSYCHOFREAK3

Now my main focus here is with the home defence portion,

Concrete fence is the best, but the most expensive. Wood fencing has to be replaced sooner or later. I think chain-link is a good compromise between cost and longevity.


I am looking at bullet penetration. We live in a close community with houses all around and what I do not want if heaven forbid someone were to break in and the gun would be used for the bullet to pass through the target and hit a house next door or across the street. That being said I have heard the 9mm has more of a chance of this happening. Is this true?

They ALL have a chance of passing through a wall. It's even possible to pass through several walls. However, the odds of passing through your walls and into and through the walls of another house are very very small. Also, bullet type has more to do with this than caliber, when talking about these low-powered calibers.

Will the .45 actually hit the target and bounce around inside said person rather than exiting and going through a wall as easily?

Any bullet can do that, not just .45. FMJ is more likely to do so, but then again you wouldn't be using FMJ for home defense now, would you? BTW, "bouncing" around and coming back out can happen. Coming back out and then going through a wall however is unlikely. Coming back out, then going through a wall or two of your house, and then going through the wall of your neighbor is very very very unlikely.

Any help here would be great. I still have to get her to a range that rents guns to see if she can actually handle a .45 but that is what I am considering. Thanks in advance for all of the help.

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A .45 is fine if she can handle it - so is a 9mm too. It doesn't really matter which one you choose, as long as she can shoot it well. Size of the bullet is not as important as bullet placement (within size reason - obviously there is a difference if one were comparing a .22 to a .44).

You really can't go wrong with either one. With a 9mm you can get a higher capacity and recoil is not as bad. My wife likes shooting my Sig 229 better than my 1911, but the best thing would be to take her to the range and shoot a bunch of guns and decide which one you both like the best. As far as shooting through walls, I'm sure there are people on here that will have a lot of information and statistics about that, sorry I don't really know. You could always get a 12 gauge, I'm pretty sure that you wouldn't be hitting people in the house next door with one of those. Good Luck :smt1099

It's more about the bullet than the caliber. As long as you use a premium quality jacketed hollow point (JHP) and hit your target, most of the bullet's energy will be expended inside the (human) target...meaning that even if does exit the target, it shouldn't have much energy left to penetrate walls with. On the other hand, the same gun, firing full metal jacket (FMJ) type bullets, may shoot through numerous human targets, and walls.

As for recoil, physical size has very little to do with how well a person handles it. Neither the .45 ACP nor the 9mm have a violent recoil, so just start her out easy with good ear protection and good shooting mechanics, and she should be fine with either, though she may prefer one over the other.

Thanks for the info, that's exactly what I was needing to know. I plan on getting her to a range this week just have to find one around here that rents guns so we can try them out. Thanks for all of the help and you guys are awesome getting to hear the opinions of of a hunderend years of compiled knowledge.

PSYCHOFREAK3

You're on the right track now.

My experience is that most - not all - but most women like the recoil on a 9 mm better of the two.

:smt1099

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Originally Posted by dondavis3

My experience is that most - not all - but most women like the recoil on a 9 mm better of the two.

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Certainly that's the case in our house....

Get a good quality gun in the biggest caliber you can hit your tatget reliably
Practice
Get professional training
Practice
Oh, practice

Definelty looking forward to practice. One of the few things that I enjoy is shooting a gun. Don't quite know what it is but it's almost euphoric. So I don't think practice will be a big issue.:anim_lol:

Try reading the linked articles. It should help with your answer.

http://www.hipowersandhandguns.com/9mm%20vs%2045.htm

http://www.handgunsmag.com/ammunitio...803/index.html

http://www.glockworld.com/content.aspx?Ckey=gwa_9mm

:smt1099

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Originally Posted by PSYCHOFREAK3

Hello, I apologize if this has already been discussed. I am looking for a good home defence and range gun for my wife and I. She is a beginner with guns is 5 foot and 110lbs so recoil is a consideration. As most I am looking at the glock and the springfield xd. Now my main focus here is with the home defence portion, I am looking at bullet penetration. We live in a close community with houses all around and what I do not want if heaven forbid someone were to break in and the gun would be used for the bullet to pass through the target and hit a house next door or across the street. That being said I have heard the 9mm has more of a chance of this happening. Is this true? Will the .45 actually hit the target and bounce around inside said person rather than exiting and going through a wall as easily? Any help here would be great. I still have to get her to a range that rents guns to see if she can actually handle a .45 but that is what I am considering. Thanks in advance for all of the help.

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Hi,
There are many considerations to ponder when hand guns enter your home. You didn't say it but I'm assuming that you don't have any children at home, correct? Also you didn't identify which caliber you're looking at for which gun, it would help us to know that but I can make some assumptions: Springfield XD= .45 & Glock (19) = 9mm, correct? Assuming that the XD is your home defense I can tell you what I did. I bought some" Remington Express Pistol & Revolver, .45 Automatic (subsonic), 230 gr JHP. The sales guy in the gun shop recommended this ammo after I explained my concerns which are the same as yours. Unfortunately I've not had a chance to investigate to see if he told me a story or the truth.
Good Luck,
Jackhttp://www.handgunforum.net/images/smilies/023.gif