The author’s ballistic gelatin tests with 9mm bullets such as Remington’s Golden Sabre demonstrate the round’s excellent mushrooming and weight retention.

Perhaps at one time the "bigger bullets are better bullets" advocates had a point, but only to a degree. Ever since the less-than-positive interaction with the Moros of the Philippine islands, an influential clique in the U.S. Army has insisted that it was folly to go in harm's way armed with any handgun whose caliber did not start with a "4," and it is generally held that, when restricted to FMJ bullets, larger pistol cartridges are more effective than smaller ones.

Similar Performance
While partisans of the .45 ACP claim it has a proven track record as a close-range fight stopper, the 7.62mm and 9mm cartridges used by other armies have their advantages, namely better penetration and superior long-range performance. While we have all heard it claimed that the .45 will knock 'em flat even it hits 'em in their little finger, a number of studies have shown that, when using full-metal-jacket bullets, the performance of the .45 ACP and 9mm Parabellum are quite similar.

Early knocks against the cartridge’s capabilities stemmed from lackluster ammo, which is no longer a problem with today’s excellent and varied jacketed hollowpoint loads.

According to the now-famous Strasbourg Tests, the Average Incapacitation Time of animals shot with .45 ACP hardball was 13.84 seconds while that of 9mm FMJ was 14.40 seconds. Further, Marshall and Sanow's study of one-shot stops in actual police shootings gives 9mm FMJ a higher rating (70 percent) than .45 ACP hardball (62 percent).

For all practical purposes, the accusation that the 9mm Parabellum lacks stopping power has been rendered largely moot by the development of high-performance ammunition. Beginning in the early 1970s, American ammunition makers developed jacketed hollowpoint bullets for the 9mm Parabellum, many of which are now offered in +P and +P+ loadings. These have been constantly improved to the point where they now provide both reliable penetration and expansion.

According to the aforementioned tests, results from 9mm JHP and .45 JHP are surprisingly similar. The Strasbourg tests of the best 9mm load (Federal 115-grain +P+) gave an Average Incapacitation Time of 8.9 seconds while the highest rated .45 ACP (Remington 185-grain +P) came in at 7.98. Marshall and Sanow rate the best 9mm load, also the Federal, with 91 percent of one-shot stops; the highest-scoring .45 ACP (Federal 230-grain HydraShok) had 96 percent.

There can be no denying that the .45 ACP is an excellent combat cartridge. But I think the results of these tests show that the 9mm Parabellum is not the ineffective pipsqueak many of its detractors claim it to be.

The 9mm also gets knocked for a lack of accuracy. Until the 1960s, most American shooters' only exposure to the 9mm Parabellum usually consisted of shooting beat-up European military pistols with horrible sights and bad triggers. At the time, the only 9mm ammunition readily available in this country was the standard commercial FMJ load or surplus ammunition. But with the rise of the Wondernines came an increased use of 9mm pistols in bullseye, PPC, USPSA, IDPA and steel matches, which resulted in the development of high-performance match ammunition.