El Protoolio wrote:dontfeartheringo wrote:THAT SAID, just get a shotgun...Don't go there. It's not healthy.
I'm not buying a gun of any kind I was just reading up on them and wondered what people preferred. From my understanding a semi auto has to be cleaned and maintained constantly as well as taken apart when cleaned. Whereas a revolver doesn't require disassembly and doesn't require the same frequency of cleaning? So I was trying to suss out that kind of info.
Also when talking about caliber where does a 9 mm sit relative to say a .45? It's two different scales so I get confused. Also is a .45 a larger caliber than a .357? I've never been quite sure how to read that.
This is how a guy gets to be known as the forum's gun queer, and I never wanted that. But here goes:
Semiautos do require a little more maintenance, but if you're shooting any gun, you need to be cleaning it that day/night, when you get home, because gunpowder is nasty stuff, and mil.-spec ammunition has corrosive ingredients, which will pit the bore and eat away at some of the parts. Also, a gummed up pistol is more likely to jam, turning into a one-time use projectile weapon, much like a rock or dead cat.
in order of size of projectile: 9mm--->.357 magnum--->.45 cal ACP (that's the automatic .45. There's a revolver .45 that is the old school cowboy-era .45 that doesn't work in semi-auto pistols)
in order of power 9mm---> .45 cal ACP ----> .357 magnum
the .45 is a larger bullet, but the automatic cartridges are smaller, so as to fit into a magazine.
That's a very broad overview.
There are loads of other factors to consider, too, but I don't recommend going down that rabbit hole- However, Plus P rounds for the 9mm will add velocity to the round, giving it more A in the F=M*A equation, but not more M.
The details of cartridges and ammunition can be overwhelmingly arcane and tedious, and there's always the gun shop version of the Simpsons Comic Book guy, who is a study is Freudian symptoms. He'll know ALL of the answers, and that's all he's got in the world, so don't argue with him.
Pig, mud, you know the rest.