Concealed Carry: .40 S/W vs. .45 ACP.

[Music] [Music] hi we're out on the range today so please bear with gunfire in the background now a while ago I did a presentation comparing 9 by 19 to 40 Smith & Wesson in their role as police sidearms and that led to a lot of people requesting a similar comparison between 40 Smith & Wesson and 45 ACP not just for police use but for security personnel concealed carry etc so here we are now there's a wide variety of firearms available in both of those calipers but to account for as many extraneous variables as I could what I'm going to use is the Glock model 22 in caliber 40 Smith & Wesson compared to the Glock model 21 in caliber 45 ACP now these two handguns are virtually identical but there are two significant differences because the 45 ACP is bulkier the Glock model 21 has a significantly bigger grip and not only does it have a bigger grip it as a smaller magazine capacity 13 rounds as compared to 15 and those differences are not universal but they are common when you're comparing two handguns that are very similar except for one 240 and ones a 45 but those things notwithstanding talking mainly about the cartridges there's a lot of debate over which is more powerful of which is more effective and so on so today let's shoot these two side-by-side and see if we can shed any light on that debate now the first thing I want to deal with is the mundane task its determining which of these two cartridges is more powerful and it comes with a caveat that more powerful does not necessarily mean more effective and the way you judge power is through velocity and energy foot energy foot-pounds being the true bottom line well I've got the pro negraph set up at 7 yards we'll shoot some different types of ammo and see what kind of velocities we get now one of the real problems here is finding 40 Smith & Wesson ammo in 45 ACP ammo that's similar enough that when we compare them we don't have lots of people complaining about something or others not being fair well I think I found some ammunition that will overcome that and what we'll start with is Remington gold and Sabre 40 Smith lesson 180 grain jacketed hollow-point so let's see what kind of velocity together 1013 1023 1004 1001 997 now let's see how that comparison 45 now we'll try that with the 45 and we'll use the Remington golden saber 185 grain jacketed hollow point five grains difference in projectile weight I think we can live with that 1051 1013 1076 1077 and 1027 now let's go crunch the numbers so how do we do with our 40 Smith & Wesson we've got a mean velocity of a thousand and seventy with our 45 ACP a mean velocity of a thousand and forty nine so that's 42 feet per second more let's just round that off the 40 so when comparing the two the 45 is greater diameter than the 40 45 versus 40 it's greater mass than the 40 185 grains versus 180 grains and it's got greater velocity by about 40 feet per second so not drastically more but definitely more now let's try a different type of ammunition and see how we do I've got this Hornady american gunner and again the 40s myth and Wesson is 180 grain jacketed hollow point and the 45 ACP is 185 grain jacketed hollow point let's see how these compare and again we'll start with the 40's mill and west 1029 1008 1009 1017 992 now let's see how that comparison 245 now let's try our 45 ACP American gunner 1013 980 989 1001 975 now let's go crunch those numbers now with the Remington golden saber the 45 is a clear winner with the American gunner it's not so clear the 45 is still greater diameter and greater mass but in this case the 40 Smith and Wesson had a mean velocity of 1011 mother for T 5 out of a lot of 991 so your 40 Smith & Wesson has a velocity of 20 feet per second more not a lot but still more but it achieves it with a lighter bullet so where does that shake out in terms of energy foot-pounds well if I did my math right 45 as energy foot-pounds of 403 is where the 40 Smith and Wesson has 408 negligible at best so it would appear them in terms of which one of these is more powerful and has a great deal to do with what type of ammunition you buy and there's a wide variety of ammunition for both calibers so we see that when we load the 40 and 45 with similar bullet weights we get similar velocities and similar energy foot-pounds but how does that translate into results on a real solid target like these $2 concrete blocks especially when we take into consideration that quite often the 40 in the 45 are not loaded with similar bullet weights a very common projectile weight for the 40 is 165 grains while probably the most common load for the 45 is a 230 grain projectile so what I'm going to do is I'll go back 10 yards I'll shoot the target on your left with 40 Smith & Wesson Winchester white-box 165 grain full-metal-jacket and the target on your right with 45 acp Winchester white-box 230 grain full-metal-jacket and let's see what happens now that was 13 shots apiece and there's the results so I'll set this up again and we'll repeat this and see if we get a similar result and again I'll shoot the target on your left with the 40 Smith & Wesson 165 grain and the target on your right for the 45 ACP 230 grams now this time we fired five shots with the 40 Smith & Wesson and six with the 45 ACP pretty similar result but why is this so much different than the first two blocks was shot because these two blocks although the same as each other they were not the same as the first two blocks I used obviously the target can make a lot of difference we also see that the 45 ACP with its 230 grain bullet although that might be advantageous under some conditions wasn't really advantageous here now we saw one with cronograph ammunition with similar bullet weights we got velocities that were fairly close but very typically a 40 Smith and Wesson is loaded with a 165 grain bullet while a 45 ACP is typically loaded with a 230 grain bullet what kind of difference will that make well we saw shooting a cinder blocks not much but how about in terms of how much drop you're going to get at distance well I'm going to shoot the target on your left with 40 Smith & Wesson Remington green and white box 165 grain metal case Remington calls it metal case and I'll shoot the target on your right with 45 ACP Remington green and white box 230 grain metal case and I'll shoot from 60 yards and we'll see if the 45 has significantly more drop than the 40 does [Applause] how'd we do in terms of drop well with the 40 Smith & Wesson you could see I hit off to the left that's just me with that gun but in terms of drop it appears not much with the 45 I can't see any now we know that that 230 grain ball ammunition at distances let's say of a hundred yards depending on what kind of gun you're using there can be quite a bit but in terms of shooting 60 yards what I would consider a very realistic distance for a pistol shot I don't see a significant difference between these two at all shooting at 60 yards brings up the subject of accuracy specifically to what degree will grip size and recoil negatively affect accuracy when shooting these two guns with similar bullet weights at similar velocities I was experiencing similar recoil but when I start shooting the 40 with 165 grain projectile in the 45 with the 230 grain projectile I'm experiencing a lot more recoil with the 45 also although I have an average to above-average sized hand the grip on this model 21 is too big it's significantly bigger than the grip on the model 22 and I find it uncomfortable to shoot this system so how will that affect my accuracy well I'll go back 25 yards and I'll shoot the target on your left with the 40 Smith & Wesson's with 165 grain projectile and the target on your right with 45 ACP with a 230 grain projectile and we'll see how the accuracy compares well the group of the 45 might look a little better but if you were to put a numerical score on it with this I got 43 and with 40 I got a score of 41 so not much difference so we can't really say the heavier recoil is affecting accuracy in terms of slow fire but what if we were trying to shoot past well let me show you something now I've got two bigger shootin C's set up and I'm going to shoot from 15 yards and again I'll shoot the target on your left with 40 and target on your right with the 45 but this time what I'll do is I'll shoot each of these with 10 shots and I'll fire as fast as I think I can hit the target and we'll see how the two guns compare for speed and accuracy so is the group I got with the 45 better yeah it looks like it but if you put a numerical score on it this has a 97 and with the 40 I got a 96 but in shooting the 45 was I slower yes was I enough slower to make a difference you'd be the judge now what if you're trying to shoot from multiple targets quickly I've got nine knock down plates set up and what I'll do is shoot one through nine do a magazine change during which one through six will pop back up then I'll shoot those again for a total of 15 rounds and I'll start with the 40 Smith & Wesson and then we'll repeat that with the 45 ACP and see how they compare for speed and accuracy now let's try that with the 45 and see how we do now let's try the 45 [Applause] well there's no difference in accuracy a difference in speed you be the judge now while we're shooting is not bangs like sub you were asked about how this setup works well there's six plates and you put them up and they're just held in place with gravity and then in front of each one of them is a bolt that can be adjusted so their angle can be changed requiring a more powerful hit to knock them over and when they're all down someone pulls the rope and sets them back up now this leverage system is put in place because these plates are pretty heavy and so with this it allows you to have greater leverage so that a person of moderate strength can set them up and although this is more complex than it would initially appear it really is a good system now it's time for our favorite target soda bottles now we were shooting those knock down plates for 40 Smith & Wesson 165 M versus 45 ACP 230 grain but how will those two compare against the target like soda bottle well I got the 40 Smith & Wesson loaded with Winchester white box 165 grain Full Metal Jacket so I'll shoot these six soda bottles then we'll see how that compares to the 45 not too bad for Full Metal Jacket ammo now let's see how the 45 compares I've got the 45 loaded with Winchester white box 45 ACP 230 grain Full Metal Jacket well if the goal was to get me wet I'd say 2:45 was a lot better now cement blocks and soda bottles in the cronograph give us a lot of good information but what I consider a definitive test is the meet target now for those of you who haven't seen this it's porkchop's to simulate a pectoral muscle followed by pork ribs watermelon lung tissue more pork ribs on the back and then behind that as always the high-tech police bullets stop I've also added to the front these raw pig ears to act as skin I found them in the meat department at the grocery we'll cover that with four layers of t-shirt and we'll shoot from seven yards now I'm going to start with the 40 Smith & Wesson and this Remington golden saber 180 grain jacketed hollow-point so let's see how we do well the bullets went through the fronton where they hit the ribs shattered them chewed up our watermelon really well went through the ribs on the back and all of the bullets are either stopped by the t-shirt or the first layer of fleece and as is very typical with golden Sabres a couple of them lost their jackets let me show you a close-up of them so the penetration was good the expansion is very good and as is typical of golden Sabres some of them lost their jacket now we'll repeat that with our golden saber 45 acp 185 grain jacketed hollow-point we'll see if there's a difference well with the 45 where the bullets hit the ribs on the front pulverizing did a lot of damage to our watermelon where the bullets hit the ribs on the back shattered them and again all four projectiles are stopped either by the t-shirt for the first layer of fleece now let me show you a close-up of the bullets and the expansion is extremely good and with the 45 three of the four kept their jackets there's no question with the golden saber ammo both the 40 and 45 are quite effective but was the 45 more so you be the judge now you'll recall that the chronograph showed us that the golden saber ammo the 45 add a little more velocity than the 40 but with the horn to the American gunner ammunition the 40 had slightly more velocity than the 45 so let's repeat this with a Hornady american gunner and see if our results are any different and we'll start with the 40 Smith & Wesson 180 grain jacketed hollow-point and again we'll shoot from 7 yards well where our bullets hit the ribs on the front broken chewed up our watermelon really well put holes through the ribs on the back and again all of the projectiles were stopped by the t-shirt or the first layer of fleece now let me show you a close-up of the bullets and these Hornady american gunner projectiles kept their jackets and the expansion is pretty good now we'll try our hundred american gunner 45 acp with its hundred and eighty-five grain jacketed hollow-point well where bullets hit the ribs on the front put holes in them chewed up our watermelons fairly well put holes out the back and again every projectile will stop by the first layer of fleece now let me show you a close-up of these projector and you can see that with our Hornady american gunner 45 acp ammo the expansion is there but it's not all that impressive so what can we take away from everything we've seen today well hopefully several things now to reiterate when you had two handguns of similar design one to 45 and the others of 40 very typically the 45 has a bigger grip and a smaller magazine capacity and that's the case here this 45 has a grip that is uncomfortably large for me which means it's going to be uncomfortably large for a lot of people now if you're someone who has huge hands then it might be a plus as far as magazine capacity goes that has been an argument for as long as there has been multiple shotguns and the only thing I could say to that argument is if you had two handguns that were similar except one had an 8 shot magazine and the other head of 6 I think it's a valid argument that 8 is better than 6 but when you're talking about the difference between 15 and 13 especially given how fast you can reload handguns I don't think the argument that 15 is better than 13 is all that valid but every person has to make that choice for themselves but the main thing we're talking about is some of the conceived notions people have such as because the 40 can fire a much lighter bullet that it will have a lot less drop at distance depending on which ammunition room you select that's probably very true but at the 60 yards we shot today I couldn't see any difference and 60 yards is probably about as far as most people are going to shoot if you envision if you're going to shoot a hundred or 150 yards then that might make a difference but as we've seen depending on which ammunition you select you can overcome that also the idea that because the 40 with its lighter bullet can have less recoil therefore you can shoot it more accurately and faster well I couldn't see any difference in accuracy as far as the speed there was very little difference was it enough to be a difference you be the judge but the main thing we're talking about in the difference between these two calibers is which one is more powerful and or more effective and what I think we can determine is that that is affected far more by which ammunition you select than by the caliber we saw that according to the coronagraph with our golden saber ammunition the 45 was a little more powerful and it seemed to be more effective on the meet target as where we get just the opposite results with this American gunner ammunition the 40 was slightly more powerful and seemed to be the more effective of the two so ammunition selection is paramount in discussing which one of these is better but the real bottom line that I would say to all of this is everybody has to select the right gun for them it has to fit you fit your hand fit your budget fit your needs fit your local laws and so on and the only thing I can conclude from all of this is if I had either of these guns as long as I got to select which ammo I wanted I would not feel under guns with either up so as always don't try this at home on what you call a professional and thanks for watching the 40 versus 45 video [Music] the [Music]

Channel: Paul Harrell

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Id: uaKiPRcWX90

Length: 23min 9sec (1389 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 28 2017