PICK YOUR AMMUNITION CALIBER
When it comes to ammunition, different rounds have different attributes and serve different purposes.
.22 LR - The .22 round is the most prevelant bullet on the planet today. It is also one of the cheapest to shoot. It is excellent for hunting small game, as well as target practice. .22 ammo is cheap and plentiful, even when other caliber ammo is out of stock, you can usually find it. It is a great way to improve your shooting. It is the least noisy of all pistol rounds. .22LR rounds typically travel at anywhere from 1,080 ft/sec to 1,750 ft/sec, and have impact energy of 104 ft lbs to 204 ft lbs. .22 rounds are also available in a sub-sonic version, which has no sonic crack. Sub-sonic .22 rounds are often a favorite of small game hunters.
9mm - This is the standard NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) round. It is also called 9mm Luger, 9x19, and 9mm parabellum (Latin for "prepare for war"). 9mm is the most popular round for semi-auto pistols in the world. The 9mm pistol cartridge was first introduced in 1902 for use in the German Luger semi-auto pistol. The 9 mm cartridge has been manufactured by, or for, more than 70 different countries and has become a standard pistol caliber for military forces around the world. The 9mm round has a muzzle velocity of 900 ft / sec to 1,200 ft / sec, but can go as high as 1,300 ft / sec with certain loads. It has an impact energy from 430 ft lbs to 519 ft lbs. As far as pistol ammo availability goes, 9mm is one of the most common semi-auto pistol rounds.
.357 Sig - The .357 Sig round was developed in 1994 by Swiss firearms maker Sig-Sauer as a way to shoot .357 caliber revolver bullets out of an auto-loading pistol. Muzzle velocity for the .357 Sig round is 1,550 ft / sec to 2,410 ft / sec, with an impact energy of 614 ft lbs to 774 ft lbs. The .357 Sig is a fairly specialized round. For the practical range shooter or plinker, this may not be the best choice, due to the fact that ammo of this caliber is somewhat specialized and may be hard to find.
.40 S&W - Introduced in 1990 by Smith and Wesson, this is a rimless, high energy pistol cartridge that was created in an attempt to combine the speed of a 9mm round with the heavier bullet of a .45 ACP. The goal was a round that combined power and high round capacity. The .40 S&W is dinemsionally identical to the 10mm, with the exception of case length. The .40 S&W has become a huge success among law enforcement agencies in the United States, because it adds nearly 50% more energy than a 9mm parabellum round, while retaining nearly identical accuracy, drift and drop, yet it still has a more managable recoil than the 10mm. The .40 S&W has a muzzle velocity of 985 ft / sec to 1,190 ft / sec, and a impact energy of 400 to 490 ft lbs. The .40 S&W was originally designed to be a "light" 10mm for the FBI to use. Today, .40 S&W has become quite a popular round, and ammunition is generally fairly easy to come by.
10mm - The 10mm is a modern pistol cartridge designed to be more powerful than the 9mm, and lends itself quite well to handgun hunting. Although respected for its power, the 10mm never garnered the level of mainstream acceptance that the .40 S&W did. Originating in Sweden, it has better stopping power than the 9mm, and better trajectory and range than the .45 ACP. With full power loads, the 10mm cartridge can be used for deer, bear, and even boar. The 10mm does have a reputation for possibly battering guns, though, since there is so much barrel pressure. As often happens, modern trends are influenced by the movies. The 10mm round rose in popularity when "Sonny Crockett" was seen using a 10mm Bren Ten pistol on TV's popular "Miami Vice". Pistols chambered in 10mm tend to have a niche market, and ammunition tends to be more expensive and harder to find than the common .40 S&W. In fact, at the time of this writing, the price of factory loaded 10mm ammo can go as high as $37.00 for 25 rounds. 10mm rounds have a muzzle velocity of 1,300 ft / sec to 1,600 ft / sec, and an impact energy of 728 ft lbs to 767 ft lbs.
.45 ACP - The .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) is a true American classic. Developed by the venerable arms designer John Browning, this rimless pistol cartridge was first to be used in the Colt 1911 pistol, the gun adopted by the US Military for decades, until it was eventually replaced in the 1990's by pistols chambered in 9mm. The .45 ACP round was developed in response to the previous Army's sidearm, the .38's inibility to stop determined Moro warriors during the Phillipine Insurrection of the 1890's. During that time, Army officers armed with a .38 would often empty their revolvers into charging Moro warriors armed with machetes and spears, and still not be able to kill them. The reason for this is that the Moros would tie off their extremeties to limit bleeding, and would often take narcotics (i.e. smoke opium) before heading into battle, to deaden pain. The .45 ACP, with it's larger, heavier bullet than the .38, was able to dump more of its energy into its target, and knock the adversary down. It's been said that, "if something ain't broke, don't fix it". The venerable, time proven .45 ACP round remains a favorite of law enforcement and shooting enthusiasts to this day, almost 100 years later, and there are more companies making a variant of the Colt 1911 than one can shake a stick at. Muzzle velocity for .45 ACP is 830 ft / sec to 1,060 ft /sec, and impact energy is 352 ft lbs to 412 ft lbs. The .45 ACP is a proven, hard-hitting round that served our country well for decades.
.45 GAP - The .45 GAP (Glock Auto Pistol) round was designed by CCI / Speer, at the request of Glock, to provide a cartridge that would rival the firepower of the .45 ACP, but would be shorter to fit in a more compact semi-auto pistol. The .45 GAP round is the newest pistol round to be backed by a major firearms producer, Glock. Due to it's new-ness the only pistols to fire it are the Glock 37, 38 and 39. For the practical shooter, the .45 GAP might not be the best choice, due to ammo availability and the somewhat specialized nature of the round. Most .45 enthusiasts choose the .45 ACP. The .45 GAP is sort of like the DeLorean of the pistol ammo world. New, cool, and slightly exotic, but not mainstream and somewhat hard to come by. Muzzle velocity for the .45 GAP is 880 ft / sec to 1,000 ft / sec, and impact energy is 395 ft lbs to 411 ft lbs.
