Hi Guys,
I chimed in on page one with one of the first posts and have been in FL for about ten days, stopped by my in-laws in SC on the way home, checked the site and am amazed at how this has progressed.
As an avid (maybe rabid) shooter I have taken LFI 1, 2,3 and Advanced Handgun, Tactical Defense Institute 1-5 and Tac Rifle and also a number of courses at Midwest Training Group (IL), including ones taught by Farnham, Hackathorn and Cirillo. In FL I just completed two days at Universal Shooting Academy with a top instructor ( almost 3000 rounds in two days), mostly on steel.
In the past I have been reluctant to chime in too deeply on guns, not knowing the crowd on this site. I am impressed.
On 9mm vs 40 vs 45. ALL of the above instructors have stated in classes that with modern hollowpoint high performance bullets, pushed at +p or +p+ velocities, show negligible performance differences in self defense encounters, based on EMPIRICAL evidence.
Interestingly, the USA class in FL this week was taught by a steel champ, world class shooter, etc. Practical side, he has spent much of the last two years working in Iraq as a been-there done-that kind of guy. He's heading back in about a month. He told us that everyone in the company that employs him carries a Glock 19 with HP ammo. All of them have SF credentials.
My carry gun is a Glock 19 loaded with CorBon 124 gr +p hp's.
416 Rigby, I'm with you on the 45/70. I used one as my heavy gun in Africa last July, loaded with Garrett heavy loads, and my PH was so impressed with it that he had to shoot it himself. He didn't hang on enough though, and wound up with a "Weatherby eyebrow"! The gun is a modified Guide Gun, an early one modified by Jim Brockman from Gooding, ID.
Nick
"Valkyrie"