Retired Army & Glock certified armorer here. Been shooting seriously for 20+ years and I'm here to tell you one thing about the Beretta/Glock stories you hear. First off, that whole berettas slides cracking all the time is shit. It's total bullshit. The only M9's that broke were the early models that had a few mistakes in them, just as EVERY manufacturer has.
Everyone, even Glock and Sig makes mistakes. The cracks were limited and fixed right away. Never seen one since. Plus, our M9's have WAYYYYYY more rounds thru them than ANYone here will EVER be able to afford to put to put thru them, and they still work. The only way you'll see a dicked up M9, is from a pogue ass armorer that was lazy and never did his job. (which was 99.9 % of them) If you maintain them correctly, they'll last forever.
As for the Glock, the only reason you see blown up Glocks is because they're soo affordable, and so everyone buys them to modify and shoot shit ammo thru them that isn't supposed to be shot thru them. Noone experiments with a 900 dollar Sig because A. they blew all their mod money on the guns itself, and B. there isn't any mod parts available for them anyways lol. People play with Glocks and so you're going to see a broken one from time to time. I have 11,000 or so rounds thru mine and it's as good as it was from day one. There are MANY, MANY Glocks out there with over 50,000 rounds thru them. I'd be willing to wager there's more Glocks in department hands with over 30,000 rounds thru them, than there is Sigs PERIOD is private homes. I've owned and tested MANY handguns, and I can tell you if the balloon goes up, it's my 4th gen G17 that's getting put in my holster when I leave the house. I LOVE all my handguns, but I wouldn't even consider my Walthers or Colts or Brownings. It's Glock hands down.
And as for the whole .38 thing. Guys, I don't care if you're loading Underwood or Buffalo Bore ammo in them, .38's are nothing more than longer .380 acp's, and NOTHING more. When I carry a .380 due to the clothes I have on, I have more rounds, a faster reload, and a better trigger pull on it, than any outdated .38 will ever dream of having when it grows up. Ditch the 34 pound trigger pull 5 shot .38, and buy a modern .380 automatic. It's a much better defensive handgun.
Your 9mm might expand, but my 45s will never shrink.
That whole "bigger hole" theory is just that; a theory. When all is said and done, the 9, .40, and .45 all penetrate to about the same depth, and end up with very similar temporary and permanent wound channels. Their imparted energies with normal rounds are all pretty similar as well. Imparted energies and penetration within these 3 standard cartridges shouldn't be the deciding factor-it should be price of gun, price & availability of ammo, and comfort with the shooting platform. When push comes to shove, if a person takes two to the chest in rapid succession at CQB distances with anything from the garbage hydra shok 9mm all the way up to a plus p .45 load from Underwood ammo (super hot stuff), it's going to be game over regardless. Buy what you an afford to shoot well, and often. The "punch" from any of these standard issue service calibers shouldn't be the deciding factor-you're wasting your time and money.
