Opinion: The Caliber Debate

Its an age old debate with no scientifically-defined correct answer. If you've ever purchased a gun, you probably at one point have been asked why you choose one caliber over another, why its better, why its worse, etc etc ad nauseam. Don't get me wrong, taking a look at the seemingly trivial stuff like muzzle velocity, ft-lbs of energy, and other terms you'd hear in a science class are important, but doing so without the understanding that modern advancement exists, and two, that self defense calibers are far more often than not are simply used to punch holes in paper would be misguided. Because of this, I won't waste time in letting you know my stance:

It doesn't matter.

I can almost hear the social media warriors scoffing and tapping away at their phones in rebuttal that I didn't come out shouting about how the ever popular 9MM is the greatest caliber to ever grace a feedramp. But the fact of the matter is, it just really doesn't matter. Its important to remember that at one point, the .25Auto and 32ACP cartridges were widely regarded as viable and commonly adopted, self defense calibers. Someone nowadays however that advocated for either of these two cartridges as the go-to self defense calibers would likely be met with a confused stare.

Everyone has an opinion on what the best option is and why, and those opinions change with time. But what works best for them won't necessarily work best for you. At risk of sounding facetious, time travel back with me to my 10th grade Bible class where my teacher exhibited to us the many different types of logical fallacies - spoiler: the caliber debate is filled with them. When .40S&W was designed by Bob Klunk at Smith & Wesson, it was designed to mimic the reduced velocity 10MM and was shaped to aid in penetrating vehicle glass (as well as other things). At the time, the round proved to do exactly what it was designed for and saw adoption by an almost endless list of law enforcement and government agencies as their issued caliber. Because of this, people filled gun stores wanting the latest and greatest .40S&W handgun from their favorite manufacturer. The good - customers got a good (that's right, I said it) self defense caliber. The bad - the customer didn't know why. Because of this, customers fell prey to the perfect non-sequitur fallacy, or the classic "If A is true, then B must be true." Or in this case, "Law enforcement uses it, therefore it must be the best." it just might be the best, but it may not be the best for you.

I can argue till I'm blue in the face about how muzzle velocity, ft-lbs of energy (aka the proverbial 'stopping power'), reliability, and my self assigned level of competency in mitigating the recoil of a .357Sig round makes it the finest semi-auto round of the past two decades, but if you don't like the recoil, decreased capacity (to that of a 9MM), or simply don't want to pay nearly double the price than that of 9MM to go shoot at the range - its simply isn't the caliber for you. The perfect choice (while heavily influenced by ballistic capabilities) isn't simply dictated by its performances and falls heavily within the realm of practicality. Remember, practical is tactical.

Disagree with me or have rationale as to why you prefer a certain caliber over another? Post below!