38 Special vs 9mm: Nearly the Same Bullet, Double the Pressure
The bullets are two thousandths of an inch apart. The pressure ceilings are more than double. One maker’s line loaded in both settles the energy question.
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9mm vs 40 S&W: Same Pressure, Different Bullet
Both are loaded to 35,000 psi and tested in the same 4-inch barrel. Hornady publishes both at 1,010 fps — which makes the comparison unusually clean.
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9mm vs 45 ACP: The Two FBI Papers Everyone Cites Disagree With Each Other
Buy the 9mm — more rounds, far less recoil, cheaper practice. But the popular reason why is a misreading of the document everyone cites, and the FBI’s own earlier paper says the opposite. We quote both, because they disagree.
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380 vs 9mm: The Comparison Is Rigged Before Anyone Writes a Word
9mm wins on the numbers — 1.63 times the pressure ceiling, roughly 1.8 times the energy once barrel length is controlled. But the comparison is measured dishonestly at the source, including by SAAMI and by the ammunition makers, and almost nobody says so.
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Best 9mm Self-Defense Ammo: What the Published Test Data Actually Shows
Federal HST, Speer Gold Dot and Hornady Critical Duty are the right answers — but the usual reason given for them does not survive the published gel data. Manufacturer specs, third-party test numbers and live prices, all sourced.
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Ammo Shortage Tracker: The Real State of the 2026 Ammunition Market
Case-lot prices read automatically from one retailer’s product pages; background-check and policy figures checked by hand, each with its own date. There is no ammunition shortage — there is a price problem driven by copper, brass and tariffs.
