A friend just told me that advances in 9mm cartridge tech have made it almost comparable to .45 in stopping power.
Did I miss something in the news about this?
It has been true for a long time. The best 9mm are very effective.
I still prefer a .45 but would never complain about the 9mm, especially with high capacity mags.
Advances in bullet technology have made 9mm almost as effective as .45 was 10 years ago. Of course that goes for .45 bullets as well. But the truth is all pistol cartridges are marginal at best.
L
“Did I miss something in the news about this?”
Yes. There has been a startling new development in pistol ammunition: http://ammo.com/bullet-type/hollow-point-hp
http://www.firearmstalk.com/What-round-is-More-Effective-9-45-or-40.html
Speer Goldpoints expand to about .69 and 9mm is a higher velocity round than the .45.
Having said that, a shotgun round has the muzzle energy of four .357 rounds and I carry a .45 loaded with FMJ.
Back in the late 70's through the 80's I had a S&W Model 39 and spent a lot of time working up loads for it. Solely for accuracy and not stopping effectiveness. I used 124 gr FMJ with Unique but cannot recall the exact powder drop. I think it was on the low side, perhaps 4.6 gr. That pistol was amazingly accurate with handloads and one of the few guns I really regret selling.
Modern HP ammo has 50% expansion. This means that a 9mm bullet (.355) will actually expand to .5325.
Last I checked, .5325 was indeed larger than .45