I think I am going to consolidate to one pistol caliber...

[MickAK]

Kinda surprised by some of the sentiments in this thread.

'More bullets' has little to do with choice of 9mm. I'd pick 10 9mm over any other common service caliber for other reasons I thought had been done to death here. There's an occasional case for 10mm or .45 Super or some other niche caliber but those aren't common and rarely occur in ban states.

Otherwise if you like stuff you like stuff. Another thing I thought had been done to death here was how little choice of common service caliber was going to matter. You can load with .367 Mystique in moonlight bathed powder if you understand what you have to do with it.

[Lester Polfus]

So here's something I've had a think on:

9mm with quality barrier blind expanding bullets absolutely makes the most sense to me as an urban/suburban round.

If I only had urban/suburban needs, and was restricted to 10 rounds (as I currently am) I'd probably still pick a 9mm, even if it meant I had unused capacity in the gun's grip.

And...

If we posit a situation where quality barrier blind expanding bullets aren't available, and we're rolling with hard cast, or FMJ or whatever, then maybe something that starts with "4" has an advantage.

Dunno.

[shane45]

Kinda surprised by some of the sentiments in this thread.

'More bullets' has little to do with choice of 9mm. I'd pick 10 9mm over any other common service caliber for other reasons I thought had been done to death here. There's an occasional case for 10mm or .45 Super or some other niche caliber but those aren't common and rarely occur in ban states.

Otherwise if you like stuff you like stuff. Another thing I thought had been done to death here was how little choice of common service caliber was going to matter. You can load with .367 Mystique in moonlight bathed powder if you understand what you have to do with it.

If i was behind enemy lines my platform would likely be a ss 1911 in 45. Also established as an inherent concern here at PF is the belief that 9mm in a ss 1911 is less reliable than 45. But I think an underlying question/point here is, are 9 and 45 truly equal or does 45 offer some minor advantage even if that advantage was not based in terminal ballistics, being better on auto glass or something to that effect that, most things being equal, tilt it in favor of 45.

On another note, i prefer the recoil impulse of 45 over 9.

[Dov]

Just couple of my observations, YMMV.

A 1911, if normal steel, is same nominal 40 oz as a 4" N frame, though N frame is of course wider.

Both can be had bit lighter with non steel frames.

Though I like the 45 ACP a lot, I don't think it has any advantage over a 9MM for self defense.

I am a strong supporter of carrying what you like or trust, as long as it is a reasonable choice, because I firmly believe that falls under the important category of mindset.

If you believe something is better you will certainly have more positive mindset, and I have experienced enough times in the gym the impact of belief/mindset on performance. Ether when spotting for someone or them telling me after a set when they spotted for me, when the spotter just gets hands under the bar for a bench press to help force out last rep or three the moment the spotter's hand gets under the bar the person doing the press thinks spotter is already helping and zoom bar goes to full extension.

This is with serious lifters that are consciously trying as hard as possible, when I first started lifting my buddy that got me into that told me that happened a few times, and I thought he was lying to encourage me until one day it happened when I was spotting for him.

That said if you want something more than a 9mm for objective reasons, I think something like a 357 mag, 41 mag, or possibly a 44 mag (not a lot of loads for 44 mag I like for general CCW vs niche) has more logic behind it.

For 357 mag I can see argument for something like Federal 140 DPX load @ ~1400 fps as possibly being a step up from service calibers for barrier blind situations. Or ability to switch from cup and core JHP to DPX to 180 hardcast if you live in rural area where shooting critters is a concern when transitioning from city to countryside. I know some LEO that have to frequently put down horses, cattle, etc that have been injured near roads, to the point at least one kept a rifle for that task specifically in unit to do so as humanely and quickly as possible. He noted the owners would often be standing by, and he hated seeing the animals suffer.

For the 41 mag & 44 mag, before AR pistols and such or if in banned area where they aren't legal, I can see utility of red dot or low power scope on magnum revolver in place of AR pistol or SBR.

Yeah a rifle, shotgun, or carbine is more effective than a handgun, but they are harder to conceal and in some places like where I live I can CCW a 2nd or 3rd handgun on my CCL but not long gun.

[RJ]

<Pulls Pin on a 4-Banger>

And that caliber is...45 ACP.

You may all now opine about the various levels of sanity and sense involved in this decision and proceed to attempt to talk me out of it.

All kidding aside, I could get down to one caliber, but it would be 9mm.

I only have two others, .38 and .45 ACP. The .38 is my Ruger LCR. I could sell that and just use a P365. It works very well as a pocket / take out the trash gun, and is about the same size as the Ruger, but 10+1. I only use .45 for fun, as in, my full size 1911 for pin shoots and general messing around with. But I could sell the 1911 tomorrow and not be that worse off in terms of covering essential needs. I have a P365XL X-Macro TACOPs that could take it's place as a range/competition gun. And it's fun to shoot.

So with a couple three different configurations of P365, a bunch of grip modules and some slides, I would be pretty much all set I think.

[shane45]

On the topic, I can see the attraction to minimize the caliber load/logistics, but I guess for me, I would never go down to 1 because that would start removing useful tools from the tool box and others that are purely for enjoyment(45LC). But if ccw is the only objective your trying to fullfill, then i guess i can see the pursuit if you were really trying to simplify things....but what shooter does that?!?!?!

[MGW]

Probably single greatest challenge to this idea is the lack of a pocketable, reliable, available, snub.

If I convince myself to keep .22s on hand, then maybe a .22 LCR could do the job.

Two words. Fanny Pack.

I love simple. I shot nothing but 45 for awhile. Most of my rounds were turned down reloads. The two primary pistols were a full sized 1911 and an HK45c. Even with the match reloads my hands and elbows felt it after awhile. I shot the first day of Gabe’s class with the 1911 and switched to a Glock 17 for day two. I didn’t think my hands could take it on day two. But that was after a couple of years of pretty high volume shooting. I would have to find my logs but if I remember correctly I went through close to 20k of large pistol primers over those two years. I did have a 442 I could carry when needed. Today I would have a snubby in 22. If nothing else it would give me a recoil friendly pistol to reset any flinching from shooting 45s all the time.

45 is a really versatile round especially if you are a reloader. Mild match rounds all the way up to 45 super in the right gun. I could literally do anything I wanted with it.

All that to be said I really enjoyed only needing to worry about buying and reloading for 45. Replace the 1911 with an HK45 and I would have arguably had two of the most reliable pistols on the planet at my disposal. Two hand guns that are also very friendly for magazine restricted states too. I think the 45c is really underrated as a smallish carry pistol. I instantly regretted selling mine.

Damn. You shouldn’t put ideas in my head.

[mmc45414]

My first-gen M&P45 fits perfectly in the same holster I use for my M&P9 M2.0 Compact.

My M&P45 Compact (full-size grip, 4" slide/barrel) uses the same holster as my full-size M&P40.

Holster compatibility was a motivation when I consolidated (thread topic! Hahah) to M&P (for striker guns). I like them just fine, and was buying M&P 45 holsters before I even had one, back when the 9mm was 4.25" and the 45 was 4.5". And now most of my holsters are 5", and my lone M&P 45 would fit into all of them.

[TGS]

On the topic, I can see the attraction to minimize the caliber load/logistics, but I guess for me, I would never go down to 1 because that would start removing useful tools from the tool box and others that are purely for enjoyment(45LC). But if ccw is the only objective your trying to fullfill, then i guess i can see the pursuit if you were really trying to simplify things....but what shooter does that?!?!?!

Ditto. I try to not add calibers willy-nilly. If I were to buy a snub-nose revolver, it'd be a 38/357 instead of 327 solely for the reason that I already have 6 wheelguns in that caliber and a lot of ammunition. I try to keep my calibers consolidated. I've got 22, 38/357, 380, 9mm and 45...the latter solely because God wills the 1911 in 45.

To me, that seems pretty reasonable for simplifying life as opposed to the extremes: only having 1 caliber, or buying all sorts of boutique calibers for one off examples of guns. There's a happy medium.

[mmc45414]

Ditto. I try to not add calibers willy-nilly. If I were to buy a snub-nose revolver, it'd be a 38/357 instead of 327 solely for the reason that I already have 6 wheelguns in that caliber and a lot of ammunition.

Me too, though I am starting to consider that oddball stuff might be more allowable if it is in the same type as something I already have. Like if I have four J-frame revolvers in 38 and 357 (and plan to add one in .22), would it really be that big a deal to have one more in something like .327? I would probably never shoot much volume through it and wouldn't need to stockpile much ammo for it. In my case I have always wondered about 10mm, and am more and more wondering about 38 Super. So if I get either in a 1911 (maybe just a barrel for 38 Super) I can have some fun without needing to shoot a bunch to become familiar with the gun.

Then I remind myself that I will still be shooting the same guns I have been shooting every weekend and reel myself back in. But maybe after I retire...