45 vs 9mm

In my misspent youth, many armchair wars and comparisons were made in the highschool library before and between classes on this mighty topic. Indeed, many magazine articles were penned on the subject in the early and the late 1980's. You see many police departments across the country were switching from revolvers to autoloaders, and the 9mm was autoloader king. Although it seems that the debate should have been between the merits of the 9mm vs. .38 special, or 9mm vs. .357 magnum. Now the military switch from the 1911 to the 92 stirred the fires even more, and was more on topic, although magazines seemed to want to compare both the 9mm and the .357 to the .45.

Now in the olden days I was a fierce defender to the .45 auto over all other handguns, mainly fueled by old Mike Hammer novels and episodes of Magnum P.I. My friend was a big fan of the Beretta Brigadier, which evolved in the 92. After much reading I changed my allegiance from the 1911 to the Sig P220, but other than that no change. My friend agreed that the Sig P226 might be a match for the Beretta, too.

Now, I never owned a 9mm parabellum or shot more than a few round through one until last year. I had owned a .45 Ruger, and shot a 1911. I had also owned a couple of .38 specials and .357 magnums. I know have in my limitted collection, 2 9mm's, 1 .45 ACP, and a .380 ACP. I recently had the opportunity to unleash my weaponry at unsuspecting paper targets, jugs of water, and aluminum cans.

First of all let me explain my reasoning behind the purchase of a 9mm. Ammo's cheap. I no longer reload, so I buy the stuff. The local organization to make people think they are buying cheap stuff at reasonable prices, Walmart, sells a 100 round box of Full Metal Jacket Winchester value packs for about $10. The same package in .45 ACP is $26. Oddly enough .45 and .22 are the only calibers they carry hollowpoints in.

Now to effectively compare the 9mm to the .45, one would need to have identical firearms chambered for each. Since the 9mm generally uses a smaller, lighter frame, this is difficult. The only way I could think to do it would be to aquire a 1911 in both calibers to fire side by side. Than is not currently in my power to do. My test guns were as follows.

9mm Parabellum: One Hungarian made Hi-Power. It is a little over 5" tall, 1.5" wide, with a 4.6" barrel. It weights about 2 lbs unloaded. You can add about .5 lbs to that with a 15 round magazine.

One Cobra Derringer: it is 5.5" long, 3.5" of which is barrel. It is 3.3" tall and weights 16 ounces empty. It holds 2 rounds of 9mm.

45 acp: One Llama Minimax: 7.3" long, with a 3.5" barrel. It is about 4.6" tall and weighs 2lbs. It holds 7 rounds in the magazine. The magazines weight a little less than the ones for the Hi Power.

One Volunteer Commando Mark 3, not mine, borrowed. Weight 8 lbs, I have no idea on the other dimensions, but I know it had a barrel longer than 3.5".

Now this isn't a fair test. The Hi Power has over an inch longer barrel than the LLama. But I didn't have a chronograph, or wet pack or anything remotely scientific. This is all strickly subjective.

First off, I am very happy with the Hi Power, it just feels good in my hand and the more I shoot it, the better I do. The recoil is not bad at all. There are two things I don't like. One, the stupid magazine disconnect makes the trigger feel stiffer than the 7.5 lbs it is and slows reloads as you have to pull the clips completely out. Second, the hammer bites me a bit. Given time and a nice gunsmith, I will soon fix both issues. I can shoot the Hi Power well single handed. I like the layout of the safety, mag release and slide release. I also like the weight and barrel length. The profile of the old design is much slimmer than most of the double actions I've handled. Only the CZ-75 seems to approach it for comfort in my hand.

Well, the overall layout of the Llama is similar, so most of what I just said applies here, also. Now, .45's are loud, but I have never felt they kicked that bad. My last .45 was a Ruger KP90D, which was an aluminum frame with steel slide and barrel. I no longer have it, but if I remember correctly the Llama is smaller, but heavier. The Llama feels lighter than the Hi Power loaded. The shorter barrel makes the Llama feel less balanced to me and it also feels flatter and taller. It shoots well though. I can fire both one and two handed and it does good enough for almost any self defense situation. I don't really like the grip safeties on the 1911 design and this one rattles a little, so it might need some attention. The other bothersome item is that spent brass often bounces off my head, especially firing 2 handed. A firmer grip helped the issued a lot, but occasionally I still took a hot piece of brass in the forehead. The Llama has more barrel lift than the Hi Power, and a bit more recoil. I put most of the barrel lift to the shorter barrel. The recoil is from the larger cartridge. It isn't much worse than the Ruger, the all steel gun's weight probably makes up for the loss of barrel length on recoil.

The Commando is a semi-auto replica of the Thompson. Auto-ordinance makes a more authentic replica, as the Volunteer used aluminum and plastic, resulting in a reduction from 14 to 8 lbs. The commando uses M3A1 magazines. With a thirty round magazine, it is a handful, and I had never fired one before. I don't like the sights and couldn't hit very well with it, but it absorbed the recoil and lessened the noise considerably. I would place the recoil as similar to a field load out of a 410 shotgun.

The Cobra barks bad. The 9mm out of the shorty barrel lets you know you fired a gun. It isn't uncontrollable, and I thought it was more pleasant than .38 specials I've fired through similar weapons, but it is not an experience for a novice.

My wife shot her Bersa, complained a little about the recoil. I let her shoot the Hi Power, then her gun again and she seemed to like hers better, especially the double action trigger, which is nice. I also let her shoot the Llama, she only made it through 3 rounds and gave it back. She felt the recoil was too much. I think it may have been the sound more than the recoil though.

Okay, 9mm vs .45, get one or two of each, both are good. All things being equal, I can shoot the 9mm accurately a little faster than the .45. It really boils down to the guns. The Llama and the Hi Power are very similar in size, so I can carry either in a similar situation. The Hi Power gives me double the number of shots and a little less recoil, flash, and noise. On the other hand if it comes down to extra ammo, the Hi Power's loaded clips weight quite a bit more. I tend to carry the Hi-Power more if I'm out and about. The Llama tend to go with me when I'm working outside. Don't know why, just the way it is. The Cobra tends to go everywhere with me.

I want to aquire 4 more firearms soon. I want a Makarov, just for a smaller, reliable concealed weapon. I might take the FEG version of one if the price is right. I also want a full size 1911 pattern weapon. I am looking at the Rock Island Armory stuff, as I am on a budget. I missed a good deal on a Norinco and am kicking myself. I would like a short barreled Hi Power. I've seen them. I also want to get a Firestorm 9mm for the wife. I also need to pick up a .22, either an auto or revolver, but not a little one, I want a target model for eliminating barn rats and other small vermin. It doesn't even have to be double action.