Why more police officers choose the .45 ammo over 357 magnum round?

Nightrider

Quite a few honorable opinions above me and I will give you one more.

The .357 round has excellent penetration and has always been considered a very good caliber for stopping an opponent.

For years, the police departments carried revolvers in .38 caliber and then upgraded to .357. The bad guys were outgunning the cops with automatics holding more rounds and to maintain parity, most departments switched to autos. Most started with 9MM. It was discovered that the 9MM has too much penetration with not enough expansion ( knock down power). Quite a few then switched to the .45 ACP round for far superior knock down power. The .45 is also known for quite a felt recoil and muzzle climb in rapid fire, so the .40 caliber in either 150 grain or 170 grain was tried and is currently in use today.

The .40 has just as much knock down due to the flat point on the bullet head, but with the lighter weight has less felt recoil and lower muzzle climb.

Knock down power is known as kinetic energy. Picture a pond of water. Drop a rock in the pond and you will see ripples spreading outward from the point of impact. The human body does the same thing. A fat, heavy slow moving bullet will generate far more kinetic energy than a smaller, lighter and faster bullet. Using the .40 or .45 will stop an assailant faster and have less chance of just punching straight through.

I hope this helps and you can find it useful

poppyg

Most officers in the US carry semi auto pistols, so the 357 is not a choice. The .40 S&W is much more popular than the .45 because of its greater stopping power.

â€ M178 I love you all M178 â€

That's strange, I always see them with 9mm, occasionally I see Sheriffs with higher powered guns like 357s.

mebe1042

Most if not all, Police Departments carry a semi-automatic style duty weapon. While the .357 mag has considerable power over other handgun rounds, because of the cartridge length, there has not been a practical semi-auto that has been chambered in .357mag.

DynaFlowHum

The .45 has more knock down power than a .357 without the over penetration problems of the .357.

Copgirl

We don't choose what gun we carry. The Chief does.

DaCop88

Most departments used to use .357 mag or .38 special rounds in the 80's. The departments around here moved from the Smith and Wesson Model 681 .357 (and other related models) to the Smith and Wesson POS 9mm. (I know an ex-cop in a town near me who got in a shootout in the late '80s and his gun fired about 2 rounds before jamming, and one of the rounds apparently deflected off of the shirt the guy was wearing, leaving scorch marks.) We then moved to SigSauer P229s in .357 sig and .40s (depending on which department, state .357, most local .40) Some of our local departments also carry Glocks chambered in a .45GAP. I've fired all of these rounds, and find that the Sig Sauer P229 chambered in .40 is my favorite (I own one and use it off-duty).

On Duty, it depends on what department you're in, as you're issued a weapon. Off duty/home defense, I find myself using what I'm most comfortable with. (Although I also have a .357 magnum for home defense, with hollow points to hopefully stop over-penetration)

wjp1200

simple they both work.45 has an edge in power.most who carry 357 dont use full power rounds most with a 45 do.when it is your life you tend to be a little careful.

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