Although I agree completely here, I will take it a step farther. Although shot placement is ideal, it is very often not the contributing factor. With Adrenalin flowing, targets moving and shear panic in the case of having to use your weapon, perfect shot placement is far from guaranteed and most likely a moot point UNLESS (1) You have been in a SD situation more than once, ( 2) you are in a very controlled (in your favor) environment such as using a hall way at your home as a shoot ally, (3) you have ice water in your veins or (4) you are Chuck NorrisMiddle Age Russ wrote: ↑Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:31 pm I'd wager that the vast majority of us have exactly zero experience using a firearm in an SD situation, so I am happy to hear from anyone who has. That said, like most of us here, I base my primary defensive firearm choices on what is now commonly seen as truth -- that shot placement of a sufficiently powerful cartridge is a deciding factor IF the firearm is actually fired. Many times a self defense use may not require actually firing the gun. When a handgun is fired, only accurate fire to the CNS can be expected to render a threat harmless immediately. Hits anywhere else will likely take some time to be effective in stopping the threat. So, if you shoot the .45 best it may be that the .45 is the choice for you. Likewise if you shoot a .40 or 9mm best. .380 even has its place, since it seems to be the minimum caliber/energy considered by many a minimally effective.
. Take a look at most LEO shoot outs. How many rounds hit the intended target and how may misses are there? Even though I've been hunting for over 50 years, and shot competitions for several years, I still have to calm myself down when targeting the first buck of the season and that about as controlled as you get when actually taking a life of anything, or at least for me it is.
Thats why I shoot a 45. If it hits most any part of a human, its going to at least temporally slow them down where as a 9 or 380 may not. I think even on a through and through it would slow them down considerably. Now, I do use a 9 or a 380 as a BUG but thats a different scenario. But then, thats just my .02