A Recent Debate

Well, I was stuck at the jail the other day awaiting a parole hearing where I was the prosecuting officer. Another officer, female was there. She was prosecuting another parolee and had a city police officer there as a witness. We still don't carry duty weapons other than mace and baton if qualified, but many of us have carry permits and hit up every training session we can make for handguns. This officer had recently recently completed a citizen's acadamy class and was doing night ride alongs with city police officers. At some point she apparently decided that she wanted a .45 and has been saving up for it. She and the officer were talking. The city police here carry Glock .40's. He was telling her that she needed to get the single stack Glock .45 because of her hand size. I butted in and asked his opinion of the .45 GAP. My theory being that this would give her the .45 power in a 9mm size package, possible letting her have a higher capacity weapon without sacrificing much in the way of power or size. I have no personal experience with the GAP cartridge yet, but it looks good on paper. He didn't like it, saying in his experience it was too much power like the .357 Sig.

At this point I began to think. The only Glock I ever owned was a Model 17 9mm. I have shot Glocks in .40, 9mm, .45 ACP, and .357 Sig. I don't like the way a Glock feels and points for me, and I have short pudgy fingers, so the hi-cap weapons aren't always the most comfortable for me in any brand. I personally think the .45 ACP Glock has more felt recoil than a 1911 or Ruger P-90. On the other hand, I didn't find it that unpleasant, I mean we aren't talking .44 magnum range or anything. I think the .45 ACP to be a little more pleasant than the .40. I also felt the .357 Sig might have been a little louder and had a little more muzzle flash, but I didn't think it actually kicked any harder than the .40.

Personally, if the dimensions of the weapons are the same, comfort level is the same, ammo capacity is the same, and recoil is the same, I would take the .45 GAP over the .40 just because the bullet is a little larger. The .45 GAP is using the lighter weight .45 bullets, so it falls into the same range of bullet weights as the .40. I think the .45 GAP might be a little better suited to self-defense carry. On the other hand, I would want to know about penetration also. Police work might require the shooting of someone inside a car or behind a baracade, while self-defense shooting for a civilian shouldn't. The .40 might be a little faster and offer a little more penetration, which might suit it more for police work. Personally, I liked the Sig round. I want Browning to offer the Hi-Power in it soon. I like it better than the .40. I know it penetrates more, although the bullet weights are in the 9mm range. It is really a zippy round and offers more power than the 9mm or .38 super. I think it is a fun round to shoot, and should make a very nice police or self-defense round.