Stopping gun !

[SHOOTALL]

I've owned both and shot alot of plates And did not have the same results you have , I'll stick with the J frame .

[mcwoodduck]

maybe my problem is that my 2' is a late 1960's early 70's vintage Colt Detective Special and my 380 is a Sig P230.
I would not feel under gunned with a J frame.

[SHOOTALL]

There could be many reasons really temp, rounds used etc. I shot plates we made on the job . They were 6-8 inch swingers that looked likr frying pans. I used a PPKs , Sig 230 , AMT BACK UP , HSc and Colt 1911 . I really wanted to use a 380 . The AMT jammed alot , HSc is very heavy , Colt I wish I still had. The PPKs would fill with pocket lint and jam. The sig was big also but nice. Shooting and hitting with any was a challenge at a distance that felt safe aginst bounce backs. The Colt and Sig were most accurate . Now these plates run from 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick. The 308's would knock it back but not around. The 357 was a S&W 66 2.5 bbl it would flip them around , the 1/2 plate was slow but made it . The 38 J frame with 158 LSWHP would knock the thin plates around but not the 1/2 inchers .
That said the police shootings would be a better source of what to expect each round to do. BTW 44 mag dents the steel and really spins them . 45 acp hits no harder than a 38 +p with some loads .But the extra weight of the 45 would be a factor . To be honest if hitting plates was the way to pick a 158 gr. bullet seems to hit the plates harder than 125's go figure 

[Mohawk]

I respect Marshall. I don't agree with him a lot, but he did his time. I don't think his top rated is that "good" and his lowest rated is that "bad". I respect him for his effort though, and knowledge. He did give a good " platform " to go from. Will LRN stop an attacker, sure. How often? My personal experience is anything through the bread basket works. Who would else take the time to examine so much?  And the Strasbourg Tests...... After 60 seconds the animal was shot in the head with a .22. Nothing about 5 seconds was in the eval. I will say the .38 LHP was pretty close all things considering....... I am eating the deer sausage as I type. One thing Mr. Marshall did was point us in the right direction. Just remember finding cover, using concealment has nothing to do with a cartridge.........

[Shortgun]

Bullet placement trumps bullet diameter..if you can't shoot it well it does you little service. There are a lot more variables to defensive shooting that rate serious consideration above caliber and choice of weapon. Greybeard makes good points in that the situation is one of those considerations. Not all guns or calibers work in all situations..really tough to choose just one. Knock down/stopping tables make for interesting reading and rate only as a comparison between calibers within those given peramiters;;don't place a lot of value in those figures.
The 125 grain .357 mag load would be my very last choice for home/self defense...you ever shot one of them in low light conditions with out hearing protection?..you will never be the same afterwards. For sure the best choice one can make is to choose a firearm that you can shoot WELL. The more practice the better..and don't only practice in controlled conditions with slow well aimed shots as they are a rare occurance in a gunfight. Mutiple shots in a hurry will most likely rule the field and stress will rule the shooter as he will have more than the caliber to worry about.

Today I ran 550 rounds through a few of my defensive arms. Targets and water jugs and clay birds ARE lots of fun but they ain't shooting back. You gotta get your mind right and you need the utmost confidence in YOU and your gun. Load and unload in a hurry or with one hand or with the off(weak) hand. BE prepared but expect the unexpected.

Choice of caliber is a personal thing and lots of things go into that choice, Paper ballistics may be one of them but not the most important by any means.

Poossibly the BEST protection gun in the world is the one you have with you when you need it.

[williamlayton]

With kudos to bullet placement I shall disagree on a couple of points.
Moving objects under pressure and no time to think--just reaction time---makes each hit a more serious/critical thing. It needs to do some damage because they probably will not all be critical hits.
Legs and shoulders need to be damage beyond immediate use. Flesh wounds should, at least, result in stunning--not just pass thru's.
Blessings

[Shortgun]

Yessir William that is why you need the gun you have confidence in and shoot well. Familiarity begets confidence in ones shooting and makes hitting things much easier under stress as it takes some of the edge off the situation. HITS with any caliber are much prefered over misses. IE shot placement. Understand all senarios are unique unto themselves but the shooters ability with the chosen weapon is the common denominator. The mind set is a problem with most shooters as well, they think too much and react to slow or incorrectly and exaborate the situation. Shooting blindly out of fear is never optimum but a common occurance. It begets poor shooting and the bad guys bank on it and use it to their benifit. Determined assailants prevail often because they fear little and command fear of their victims. The senario changes a good bit if the victim responds in the reverse and gets the fear factor working in their favor as much as possible in the given circumstance. CNS hits will rule the day for sure with any caliber,but bad guys don't like to be shot with anything I would suspect and any hits will discourage them much faster than no hits. Your shooting skills are at least as important as your caliber and your survival instincts are your allies. Often you being armed is a deterrant to continued aggression from the perp. Your reference to moving targets is well founded and is something that should be practiced as well. Just make sure of the direction of travel by the bad guys if they are running away shots in the back will likely not score points in the good shooting catagory by local LEO.
Shooting should be a last resort in any confrontation and carefully considered but when your life is threatened YOUR reaction and response may save yer bacon and even marginal calibers are a better choice that yer fist.

I guess my thoughts center more on my skills with a given weapon rather than the caliber of that weapon. All that said I mostly carry .45 caliber 1911's because I shoot them well. I have several other larger calibers including 10mm and 40 S@W. On hot summer days with light clothing I often carry a small .380 or a nice little .22 auto and I don't feel unconfident with them either.

Probably one often over looked componet in performance of any given caliber is the projectile choice. All ammo is not created equal within a caliber designation..something that is often given little thought.

[Merle]

I would stay close to the girl friend. She's a hell of a shot with a derringer.

Add me to that list .....

       

[Brett]

When I typed that I was envisioning the distance to be within 10 feet so I would not think she would have to be a Qualified Distinguished Expert.  Heck my wife routinely places 5 shots from her .38 snubby in the kill zone of a B72 at 7 yards.   

[SHOOTALL]

I  have shot 357 mag at night and in a closed in place . Loud yes if you know its comming deal with it , it might be a help if bad guy gets suprised. As for flash , a lot has been done to lessen that.

[Mike in Virginia]

With today's ammo, caliber has lessened in importance.  If ballistic gelatin tests are any indication of stopping power, ammo choice is critical.  Remington Golden Saber, Speer Gold Dots, and Winchester Ranger ammo will do a good job of protecting you.  Choose caliber according to ability to control it.  Most state police agencies use .40 caliber.  Second in use is 9mm.  Only 4 states use .357 Sig.  30,000 plus New York City officers are issued 9mm.   

I used to be a .45acp man.  Before that I was a .357 Magnum man.  Now, after generations of shooting, my two favorites for confidence in carrying are 200 grain .44 Special Speer Gold Dots, and 127 grain Winchester Ranger 9mm +P+.  My reasoning is that the .44 can't be improved.  It surpasses even the .44 Magnum in stopping human beings.  I like the 9mm because of the bullet design and the fact I will not run out of ammo. 

[SHOOTALL]

In reality if you can get off more than one shot it would be best to do so.