Which bullet is more powerful: .357 magnum or .45 ACP?

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NTKB

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Which bullet is more powerful: .357 magnum or .45 ACP?

I noticed the new SOCOM pistol will use .45 ACP ammo. Will this have more recoil than the DE or will it be more powerful? Anyone who actually knows please answer. Dont answer if you "think" you know. Thank you.
 

Bullzeye

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Jan 30, 2001
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The .357 mag has more power because of the fact that it is a smaller bullet and has more powder... But smaller bullet equalls less stopping power... and it has more recoil than the .45

The .45 ACP is all about stopping power... .45 FMJ can knock the living $hit out of someone and with a lot more structaral damage. If you want to stop 'em in their tracks with one shot, go with the .45 anytime... Personally, I don't think the SOCOM should be introduced until the team fine tunes the ballistics system. This whole, two shots yer dead no matter what Idea has got to go. At close range, a .45'll drop your ass with one shot. Any Viet Nam vets in this who saw combat should be able to confirm.

I'm sure some ignorant prick will flame me now... :rolleyes:
 

Zundfolge

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Originally posted by Bullzeye

The .45 ACP is all about stopping power... .45 FMJ can knock the living $hit out of someone and with a lot more structaral damage. If you want to stop 'em in their tracks with one shot, go with the .45 anytime...
First of all a .45FMJ will more then likely just pass through you doing less damage, now a .45JHP will knock you on your ass (so will a .357Mag JHP or a 9mm JHP ... the JHP part is the important part).

At close range, a .45'll drop your ass with one shot. Any Viet Nam vets in this who saw combat should be able to confirm.
.45acp has less of a "1 shot stop" record then .357mag (and not just according to Evans & Marshall).
Both hover around 90% 1 shot stops.
Any beat cop will tell you that most handguns don't drop someone in 1 shot (that's why God invented the 12ga ;) )

I'm sure some ignorant prick will flame me now... :rolleyes:
I'm not even going to comment, ShakKen please fire when in position :p
 

Goat Fucker

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The two cant really be compared like that, they aim to do two different jobs.

The 45 .ACP is a rather blunt round, it will go into the target, but it wont come out the other side, it will however cause massive damege where it does penetrate.
In essence, its a low penetration-low velocity round with allot of stopping power on soft tagets, it wont travel very far though, and it will bouce off most body armour.

The 357 Mag is the opposite, its a slim long projectile with a big casing to send it on its way, meaning its a high penetration-high velocity round.
It will penetrate allot more, making it superior to the 45 .ACP against hard targets, but it wont do as much damage to soft tagets, it will however overpenatrate, meaning instead of one bleeding hole, theres two, and the target will die from loss of blood faster if youre aim was off.

So it really depends on what situation you find youreself in, against a soft target, i would want the 45 .ACP, against a hard target, i would want the 357 MAG, but thats in the real world, in INF...meh, we'll see how well they pull it off :D

EDIT: Damn you Zündy and youre slightly faster typing skills!
 

DRmechanic

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The 45ACP has the best "stopping power" because of its shear wieght (230gr). The 357 mag, on the other hand, is on record as having the most "one-shot kills". Both rounds are excellent handgun rounds but I'll stick with wieght over velocity any day.

Yes, the 357mag can and will over penatrate it's intended target (not many crooks wearing body armour) and strike another unintended target.
 
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The_Fur

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May i point out that "stopping power" and "1 shot drop" are just buzzwords? Neither means anything. If you go up against anything whatever penetrates the best wins, that is why 9mm is about the worlds most standard ammunition and .45 is not.
It's a left over from the days that people still thougt that bigger caliber=better, which it is not (that is why the glaser safety slug failed so bad, it makes only large superficial wounds, they may look messy but they are a lot less likely to be lethal then a 9mm trough your spleen or some other organ).

.45 lacks range and velocity and combined with it's poor aerodynamic design about the only thing that is keeping it out of obsolence are the aforemented buzzwords.

If you shoot to kill you want something that makes holes, the deeper the better, because metal objects in your body don't kill you, holes in vital organs do.
And as GF said, 1 shot hardly ever drops a suspect, you want something that carries as much rounds as possible... another reason to opt for anything but .45
 

DRmechanic

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Here's a buzzword for you... Spray n Pray! The idea being, if you throw enough lead in a given direction... your bound to hit something:p To bad marksmanship doesn't mean much anymore... only large capacity magazines:rolleyes:
 

Gryphon

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"People say, this is everything. Velocity is everything. Caliber is everything. Placement is everything. Permanent cavity is everything. Temporary cavity is everything. Look, nothing is everything, but everything is something."

- Massad Ayoob

I think that just about sums it up.
 

NTKB

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Ok so let me ask another question. If I wanted the "bad as$" gun in the game: DE or SOCOM? For instance right now to have a "bad as$" I would use the DE. The friggen thing is almost the size of an MP5 and kicks hard!
 

the real pacman

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Originally posted by Bullzeye
The .357 mag has more power because of the fact that it is a smaller bullet and has more powder... But smaller bullet equalls less stopping power... and it has more recoil than the .45

The .45 ACP is all about stopping power... .45 FMJ can knock the living $hit out of someone and with a lot more structaral damage. If you want to stop 'em in their tracks with one shot, go with the .45 anytime... Personally, I don't think the SOCOM should be introduced until the team fine tunes the ballistics system. This whole, two shots yer dead no matter what Idea has got to go. At close range, a .45'll drop your ass with one shot. Any Viet Nam vets in this who saw combat should be able to confirm.

I'm sure some ignorant prick will flame me now... :rolleyes:

But yourea stupid persin why wuld we care about you'r eappinion??
 

Dupre

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Originally posted by The_Fur
If you go up against anything whatever penetrates the best wins, that is why 9mm is about the worlds most standard ammunition and .45 is not.

And as GF said, 1 shot hardly ever drops a suspect, you want something that carries as much rounds as possible... another reason to opt for anything but .45

True, but there is also a trend starting for the .40 - the compromise between power and capacity. The kick of the .40 is more than the 9mm but the penetration is much greater. That's why the USP .40 F/S is on my shopping list.
 

LoTekK

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Jul 26, 2001
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while the .357 is the most effective street round, as shak's already pointed out, i'd personally go for a .40SW if and when i get a handgun (although seeing as i reside in washington, dc, that's not really an option right now... :con: )

of course, that's after i get used to the recoil of the sucka... :p i'll shoot a 9mm and a .45 just fine, but put a .40SW in my hands and i get markedly larger groupings... :con:
 

jaunty

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You should try a .357sig, LoTekk.

It's recoil is halfway between 9mm and .40S&W, very effective round.
 

Gryphon

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No yuor stupid its a SKS Drugsanov Model 16CQB Super High Velosity Death Killer Rifle. I know this cuz I am a 1337 army seal special forses comanddo!!!!!!11

If I had my choice in a gunfight, I would probably take the .45 ACP simply because it's rimless. That usually means autoloaders, which can be reloaded faster than a revolver and typically hold more rounds. I also find the .45 recoils less than the .357.