9mm difference

[joeyj]

looking at 9mm ammo tonight. Salesman said this type is good for target practice, but not for personal defense. My theory is when your shoot anybody with any kind of 9mm, the fight is over. Is my theory wrong?

[LordTobias]

looking at 9mm ammo tonight. Salesman said this type is good for target practice, but not for personal defense. My theory is when your shoot anybody with any kind of 9mm, the fight is over. Is my theory wrong?

Most handguns in general are woefully inadequate at killing/ending threats when compared to rifles and shotguns.

9mm ball ammo (FMJ/TMJ/etc) is a terrible idea for a few reasons. One, the wound channel will barely be any bigger than an ice pick. This means that unless you have incredible aim under duress you're not going to get the job done. Two, 9mm ball ammo can penetrate completely through a human body. You absolutely do not want to be in a position where you shoot someone and the bullet goes right through him, especially if it hits an innocent bystander.

Always use hollow points as long as they are legal (which in most states they are).

[twency]

looking at 9mm ammo tonight. Salesman said this type is good for target practice, but not for personal defense. My theory is when your shoot anybody with any kind of 9mm, the fight is over. Is my theory wrong?

As LordTobias suggested above, the salesman was probably distinguishing between ball (full metal jacket) and hollowpoint ammo. Both will stop an attacker instantly if the hit is in just the right spot, but then so will a .22.

To have the greatest chance of stopping an attacker as quickly as possible, all else being equal, you want to create a larger wound cavity/channel. An expanding bullet such as a hollowpoint will generally do this better.

(There are all sorts of little caveats and variations on this, but that's the general idea.)

[Emptymag]

Well, there's your theory and then there's the theory of the way things work in the real world.







ETA: I'm just being a smart ass.

Also, everyone knows that the fight is not over after being shot with a 9mm!

[twency]

I don't understand. 10 is just one more than 9.

[wakefield724]

I personally think they do the same thing. The self defense stuff is a marketing thing in my opinion. We are defending ourselves against humans not zombies or rabid bear. I guarentee if you hit someone with a 9mm bullet they aren't going to stand there and say "O this is only a target round". They will probably run. Plus you got atleast another few shots. If you feel safer and believe self defense rounds will have a effect than that's your opinion which you are entitled to. I have 0 actual gun fighting experience so i may be wrong like I am most of the time. But a 9mm target round will do the same job in my opinion

[saleen322]

Well, there's your theory and then there's the theory of the way things work in the real world.







ETA: I'm just being a smart ass.

Also, everyone knows that the fight is not over after being shot with a 9mm!

That is too funny! Rep inbound

[Emptymag]

I personally think they do the same thing. The self defense stuff is a marketing thing in my opinion. We are defending ourselves against humans not zombies or rabid bear. I guarentee if you hit someone with a 9mm bullet they aren't going to stand there and say "O this is only a target round". They will probably run. Plus you got atleast another few shots. If you feel safer and believe self defense rounds will have a effect than that's your opinion which you are entitled to. I have 0 actual gun fighting experience so i may be wrong like I am most of the time. But a 9mm target round will do the same job in my opinion

New sig line material?


No. No it won't do the "same job". That isn't debatable. Each works differently, as do different brands/types of "defense" rounds.

I'm not saying that someone hit with a FMJ won't die, but the two types are not "the same".

[bluetrane2028]

You basically want to make as big a hole as possible.

All modern hollow points basically do the same job of that and penetrate about as far. I carry .40 not because it's superior but because when the shit hit the fan on ammo supply, I could about always find it, and I've gotten comfortable with it.

FMJ, you might want to carry something bigger than 9, like the .45. It travels slower, so it might not go all the way through a guy, but again it probably will, which brings me to the only logical conclusion:

Just buy the damn hollow points. Buy enough that you can shoot and make sure they feed well in your gun, and then buy more so you can keep it loaded with them for carry/HD duty.

[LordTobias]

I personally think they do the same thing. The self defense stuff is a marketing thing in my opinion. We are defending ourselves against humans not zombies or rabid bear. I guarentee if you hit someone with a 9mm bullet they aren't going to stand there and say "O this is only a target round". They will probably run. Plus you got atleast another few shots. If you feel safer and believe self defense rounds will have a effect than that's your opinion which you are entitled to. I have 0 actual gun fighting experience so i may be wrong like I am most of the time. But a 9mm target round will do the same job in my opinion

It's not a marketing ploy at all, as Empty Mag has shared.

You ARE aware of how dangerous it is to shoot someone with ball ammo, right? The likelihood of the round over-penetrating is a guarantee with ball ammo out of any caliber .380 and above (that includes 9mm).

I really don't mean to be rude with this, but if you're spreading great deals of misinformation please do the OP a favor and edit your post. Some poor schmuck might read what you said and immediately jump on that because "he knew it all along." You know how people can be sometimes (read: most of the time).