This debate will perhaps live on forever, even this thread is now 8 years old. To me though, its simply personal preference, they all will do the job with a set of hollow points and good shot placement. I wouldn't want to be shot with any of them, would you? To some it comes down to cost of ammo, others its capacity, recoil level, and others its frame size. Popularity also matters I believe- its harder & more expensive to find the other stuff.
I did a lot of research on the top three (9,40,45) for my self-defense needs and I chose the 40 b/c it is a modern American born caliber, designed to offer better terminal performance than the ultra popular 9, widely used & respected by law enforcement, good capacity, uses the same medium frame size as a 9, and ammo cost is in between 9 & 45. In my opinion, I can see the military switching to the 40 someday- it would make good sense. I also like the 45 but I'm one that believes the ancient caliber needs an update that will actually catch on, higher ammo cost is also a factor though... My choice was a Springfield XDM .40 (16+1) w/ 4.5" barrel
I did a lot of research on the top three (9,40,45) for my self-defense needs and I chose the 40 b/c it is a modern American born caliber, designed to offer better terminal performance than the ultra popular 9, widely used & respected by law enforcement, good capacity, uses the same medium frame size as a 9, and ammo cost is in between 9 & 45. In my opinion, I can see the military switching to the 40 someday- it would make good sense. I also like the 45 but I'm one that believes the ancient caliber needs an update that will actually catch on, higher ammo cost is also a factor though... My choice was a Springfield XDM .40 (16+1) w/ 4.5" barrel
